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PREFACE, 


The  present  work  is  intended  to  supply  a  chasm  that  has  long  been 
felt  by  ministers,  theological  students,  and  other  intelligent  protes- 
tants,  in  the  historical  and  religious  literature  of  the  age. 

While  a  multitude  of  works  have  been  published  (many  of  great 
value)  on  the  subjects  of  controversy  between  protestants  and 
papists,  or  on  special  topics  illustrative  of  particular  periods  in  the 
history,  or  particular  traits  in  the  character  of  Popery,  the  need  has 
long  been  felt  of  a  complete,  yet  comprehensive  History  of  Roman- 
ism, through  the  whole  period  of  its  existence,  which,  in  the  com- 
pass of  a  single  volume,  might  present,  in  chronological  order,  the 
origin  and  history  of  its  unscriptural  doctrines  and  ceremonies,  the 
biography  of  its  most  famous  (or  infamous)  popes,  the  proceedings 
and  decrees  of  its  most  celebrated  councils,  with  so  much  of  the 
details  of  its  tyranny  over  monarchs  and  states  in  the  days  of  its 
glory — of  its  inquisitions,  massacres,  tortures,  and  burnings — and 
of  the  successful  or  unsuccessful  efforts  of  reformers,  in  various 
ages,  to  rescue  the  world  from  its  thraldom,  as  might  be  necessary 
for  a  full  exhibition  of  its  unchanging  character. 

There  are  comparatively  but  few  ministers  or  private  Christians 
who  can  spare  either  the  leisure  or  the  expense  to  procure  and  to 
study  the  library  of  works — Roman  Catholic  as  well  as  protestant, 
Latin  as  well  as  English — through  which  are  scattered  the  multi- 
plicity of  facts  relative  to  this  subject,  a  knowledge  of  which  is 
necessary  to  all  who  would  understand  the  true  character  of 
Popery,  and  be  prepared  to  defend  against  its  Jesuitical  apologists 
and  defenders  the  doctrines  of  Protestantism  and  of  the  Bible. 
Hence  the  desirableness  of  a  work  which  should  collect  together 
all  such  facts  as  might  be  necessary  for  this  purpose  from  these 
sources,  and  present  them  in  systematic  order,  and  in  as  striking 
a  point  of  light  as  the  importance  of  the  subject  might  demand. 

Such  a  work  is  attempted  in  the  present  volume.  The  subject 
has  for  years  past  occupied  the  attention  of  the  author,  and  much 
of  his  reading  and  research  has  been  directed  into  this  channel. 


iv  PREFACE. 

Probably,  however,  years  more  might  have  elapsed  before  he  would 
have  summoned  courage  to  present  such  a  work  to  the  world,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  persuasions  of  his  enterprising  publisher,  Mr. 
Walker,  and  his  assurances  that  if  the  author  would  prepare  his 
materials  for  the  press,  he  would  spare  no  expense  to  issue  the 
work  in  a  style  of  mechanical  execution  and  artistical  embellish- 
ment superior  in  these  respects  to  any  work  that  has  ever  been 
published  in  America  upon  the  character  or  the  history  of  Roman- 
ism. How  completely  Mr.  Walker  has  redeemed  this  promise,  the 
appearance  and  illustrations  of  the  volume  must  testify. 

With  respect  to  the  matter  of  the  work,  the  author  has  availed 
himself  of  all  the  standard  and  authentic  works  on  general  and 
ecclesiastical  history,  on  the  Inquisition  and  Persecution  of  Popery, 
on  the  Reformers  and  the  Reformation,  and  on  the  points  of  contro- 
versy between  Popery  and  Protestantism  to  which  he  could 
gain  access,  either  in  private  collections  or  in  public  libraries. 
Among  Roman  Catholic  authors,  the  Latin  annals  of  Baronius  and 
Raynaldus  (the  great  storehouse  of  Romish  history),  and  the  Church 
histories  of  Floury  and  Dupin,  have  been  freely  examined,  besides 
the  works  of  Bellarmine,  Paul  Sarpi,  and  many  others  of  a  more 
special  or  limited  scope,  relating  to  particular  pontiffs,  councils  or 
events.  Full  extracts  have  been  made  from  the  bulls  of  Popes  and 
the  decrees  of  Councils,  especially  of  the  council  of  Trent,  illustra- 
tive of  the  doctrines  and  character  of  Popery.  These  valuable 
and  authentic  documents  are  taken  from  their  own  standard  works, 
and  printed  generally  in  the  original  Latin,  with  the  English  trans- 
lation in  parallel  columns.  This  plan  has  been  adopted,  so  as  to 
permit  Popery  to  speak  for  itself,  and  for  the  purpose  of  obviating 
the  common  objection  of  Romanists,  of  inaccurate  translations. 

Among  protestant  writers,  most  of  the  standard  historians  and 
writers  on  Romanism  have  been  consulted,  and  from  them  impor- 
tant facts  have  been  freely  gleaned.  The  references  at  the  foot  of 
the  page  will  show  the  extent  of  the  author's  obligation  to  Gieseler, 
Edgar,  Conycrs  Middleton,  Isaac  Taylor,  Mosheim,  Jones,  Bower, 
Walch,  Ranke,  Robertson,  Waddington,  Hallam,  George  Stanly 
Faber,  Southey,  Townley,  Sismondi,  Russell,  Tillotson,  Jortin,  Bar- 
row, Chillingworth,  L'Enfant,  Bonncchose,  D'Aubigne,  Cox,  Lim- 
borch,  Llorcnte,  Puigblanch,  Perrin,  Cramp,  Elliott,  M'Crie,  Lorimer, 
Browning,  &c.  &c,  besides  a  multitude  of  other  authors  referred  to 
in  the  course  of  the  work.  The  learned  "  Text-book  of  Ecclesiastical 
History"  by  Gieseler,  and  the  "  Variations  of  Popery"  by  Dr.  Edgar, 


PREFACE.  v 

have  been  found  especially  valuable,  for  the  copious  citations  from 
original  authorities,  many  of  which  are  not  to  be  found  in  America. 
In  some  instances,  the  facts  mentioned  in  these  authorities  have 
been  translated  and  incorporated  in  the  present  work  ;  and  in  others, 
some  of  the  most  remarkable  citations  from  original  Romish  author- 
ities have  been  copied,  on  account  of  their  immense  value  to  the 
scholar  and  the  theologian,  as  illustrative  of  the  character  of 
Romanism,  as  drawn  by  her  own  writers. 

The  copious  analytical  and  alphabetical  Indexes,  Glossary,  and 
full  Chronological  Table,  have  been  prepared  with  much  labor  and 
care  ;  and  the  author  hesitates  not  to  say,  from  the  inconvenience 
he  has  often  experienced  in  consulting  works,  from  the  want  of  such 
tables,  will  be  found  a  most  valuable  addition  to  the  work. 

The  engravings  were  executed  by  Mr.  B.  J.  Lossing,  of 
New  York,  and  are  not  mere  fancy  sketches  for  the  sake  of 
embellishment,  but  are  illustrative  of  unquestionable  facts,  and 
intended  to  impress  those  facts  more  vividly  upon  the  memory.  A 
full  description  of  the  subject  of  each  will  be  found  in  the  page 
adjoining  ;  an  important  desideratum,  the  absence  of  which  de- 
stroys more  than  half  the  value  of  many  pictorial  embellishments. 

The  author  only  deems  it  necessary  to  add,  that  he  has  en- 
deavored to  avoid  all  matters  of  controversy  between  the  differ- 
ent denominations  of  protestant  Christians.  He  has  written  as  a 
member  of  the  great  protestant  family,  and  not  as  a  member  of  any 
one  particular  branch  of  that  family.  It  is  his  belief  that  all  pro- 
testants  should  unite  in  the  conflict  with  Rome ;  and  it  has  been 
his  aim  to  furnish,  from  the  armory  of  truth,  weapons  for  that  con- 
flict, which  shall  be  alike  acceptable  to  all — to  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copalian, the  Presbyterian,  the  Lutheran,  the  Dutch  Reformed,  the 
Congregationalist,  the  Methodist,  the  Baptist,  and,  in  a  word,  to 
every  one  who  is  not  ashamed  of  the  name  of  PROTESTANT. 

To  that  God,  who  has  declared  in  the  sure  word  of  prophecy, 
that  "  Babylon  the  Great"  must  fall,  the  author  humbly  commits  his 
book.  If  the  work  shall  be  the  means  of  extending  light  through- 
out our  yet  happy  America,  upon  the  history  and  character  of  that 
hierarchal  despotism,  which  is  straining  every  nerve  to  reduce  the 
people  of  this  land  to  its  tyrannical  sway,  and  of  thus  arresting  the 
efforts  of  Rome  to  spread  over  the  western  continent,  the  darkness, 
the  superstition  and  the  mental  and  spiritual  thraldom  of  the  middle 
ages,  he  will  feel  that  he  is  richly  rewarded.  J.   D. 

Berean  Parsonage,  Bedford  street,  ) 

New  York,  July  10th,  1845.  f 


ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


HISTORY    OF    ROMANISM. 


BOOK   I.— POPERY   IN  EMBRYO.— From   the   earliest  corruptions   of 
Christianity  to  the  papal  supremacy,  a.  d.  606. 


Chapter  I. — Christianity  Primitive  and  Papal. 


PAGE 


{1. — Christ's  kingdom  not  of  this  world,  ------  25 

5  2. — Apostles  despised  all  worldly  honors,       ------  25 

§  3. — Primitive  and  papal  Christianity  contrasted,    -----  26 

§  4. — Purifying  effect  of  pagan  persecutions, 26 

§  5. — Popery  a  subject  of  prophecy.     Tertullian  quoted,  27 
§  6. — The  hindrance  to  the  revela'ion  of  the  "man  of  sin"  removed  in  the 

time  of  the  emperor  Constantine, -  29 

Chapter  II. — Religion  in  alliance  with  the  State. 
ij  7. — Supposed  miraculous  conversion  of  Constantine,  30 

5  8. — Undertakes  to  remodel  the  government  of  the  church.     Dignity  of  the 

Patriarchs,  &c.s         ----  ----31 

5  9. — Bishops  of  Rome.     Spiritual  assumption  and  tyranny  of  Victor.     First 

instance  of  pretended  authority  of  Rome  over  other  bishops,  -         32 

5 10. — Stephen,  bishop  of  Rome,  excludes  St.  Cyprian  of  Carthage,  but  the 
excommunication  regarded  as  of  no  authority.  Increasing  wealth 
and  pride  of  the  bishops.     Martin  of  Tours  and  the  emperor  Maximus,     33 

Chapter  III. — Steps  toward  papal  Supremacy. 
5  11. — Simple  organization  and  government  of  the  primitive  churches,        -        36 
§  12. — Gieseler's  and  Mosheim's  account  of  the  first  changes  in  this  primi- 
tive form.     This  change  the  first  step  toward  Popery,  36 
§  13. — Another  step  toward  papal  supremacy.     Council  of  Sardis,  in  347,  al- 
lows of  appeals  to  Rome.     Decision  of  Zosimus,  in  415,  in  the  case 
of  an  appeal,  rejected  by  the  African  bishops,  who  refused  to  ac- 
knowledge the  authority  of  the  decree  of  Sardis,  39 
§  14. — Other  steps.     Law  of  Valentinian.     Romish  decretals.     Council   of 

Chalcedon, 40 

J 15. — Favor  of  the  different  barbarian  conquerors,     -----        42 
'(j  16. — Willingness  of  the   Roman   pontiffs  to  conciliate  them,  by  adopting 

heathen  rites.     Testimony  of  Robertson  and  Hallam,  42 

Chapter  IV. — Divine  right  of  supremacy  claimed  and  disproved. 

§  17. — A  superiority  of  rank  had  been  tacitly  conceded  by  many  to  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  on  account  of  the  importance  of  that  city.  After  the  fall 
of  Rome,  its  bishops  began  to  demand  supremacy  as  a  divine  right,      44 


viii  ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTKNTS 


PAGE 


j  18. The  claim  examined.    No  proof  that  Peter  was  ever  bishop  oi  Elome,  44 

§  19. — Nor  if  he  had  been,  that  he  was  constitute!  by  Christ  Bupreme  liead  of 

the  church, *6 

§  20. — (  Mhera  more  worthy,  Paul,  Peter,  and  John,  and  w  berefore,     -        -  47 

§21. If  Peter   had  been  supreme,  BtiU  bo   proof  that  the  supremacy   de- 

scended.     Note.     Qncertainty  about  the  first  bishops  of  Rome,    -  4!s 

Chapter  V. — Popery  fully  established. — The  man  of  tin  revealed. 
$22. — Disgraceful  and  bloody  struggles  between  rival  pontiffs,  -        -        -        50 

j  23. Contests  between  the  bishops  of  Rome  and  Constantinople,  for  the  title 

of  Universal  Bishop, 51 

I  24 . — Gregory's  letter  to  the  patriarch  John,  against  the  "  blasphemous  "  title,   52 
J25. — His  letters  to  the  emperoi  .Mauritius  on  the  same  subject.    The  title  ob- 
tained by  pope  Boniface  III.,  for  himself  and  his  successors,  by  the 

grant  of  the  tyrant  Phocas,  A.  D.  606, 

§  26. — Henceforward  the  religion  of  Rome  properly  termed  Popery,  or  the 

religion  of  the  Pope, .--- 55 

Chapter  VI. — Papal  Supremacy. —  The  acton  in  its  establishment. —  The  tyrant 
Phocas.  the  Saint  Gregory,  and  the  pope  Boniface. 

5  27. — Effect  of  the  establishment  of  the  papal  supremacy,  ...         57 

5  28. — Biography  of  the  emperor  Phocas,  the  author  of  the  papal  supremacy,       58 
J  29. — His  cruel  massacre  of  the  emperor  Mauritius  and  five  sons.     His  mur- 
der of  the  queen  and  daughters,  ------- 

§30. — Gibbon's  character  of  this  blood-thirsty  tyrant,  ...         -         59 

§  31-33. — Saint  Gregory's  flatteries  of  the  tyrant  Phocas,  and  joy  at  his  suc- 
cess, on  account  of  his  favor  to  the  Roman  See,  -         -         -         -  0 

5  34. — Boniface  exercises  his  newly  obtained  supremacy.  His  decree  de- 
claring all  elections  of  bishops  null  and  void,  unless  confirmed  by 
the  Universal  Bishop,  the  Pope, 64 

BOOK  II.— POPERY  AT   ITS  BIRTH,  A.  D.  606.— Its  doctrinal  and  ri- 
tual  CHARACTER   AT   THIS   EPOCH. 

Chapter  I. — Romish  errors  traced  to  their  origin. —  Their  early  growth  no  argu- 
ment in  their  favor. 

5 1. — The  germs  of  popish  errors  of  early  date.     No  argument  in  their  favor,    65 
§  2. — Chillingworth's  noble  sentiment  quoted,  "  The  Bible  only  the  religion 

of  Protestants,"  ----  66 

§  3. — Protestantism  defined.     Refuses  to  receive  any  doctrine  upon  the  mere 

authority  of  tradition,  ..------66 

§  4. — Papists  and  Puseyites  place  the  Bible  and  Tradition  upon  a  level,    -        67 

Chapter   II. — Origin  of  Romish  errors  continued. — Celibacy  of  the  clergy. 

J  5. — Forbidding  to  marry  a  mark  of  anti-Christ.     Note :  Is  marriage  a  ne- 
cessary qualification  for  a  minister  ?   -         -         -         -         -         -         69 

{ 6. — Tertullian's   extravagant  praise  of  celibacy.     Consequences  of  such 

notions,     ---- .-70 

§7. — Sensible  remarks  on  this  subject,  by  Clement  of  Alexandria,    -         -  71 
\  8. — Cyprian's  address  to  female  devotees.     Consecrating  and  crowning  of 

Nuns, 71 

59. — Second  marriages  prohibited  to  the  clergy.  Next  step  in  the  innovation, 

thev  are  forbidden  to  marry  at  all,  alter  ordination,  72 

{  10. — Paphnutius,  at  the  council  of  Nice,  opposes  this  corruption,  72 


ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  ix 

PAGE. 

J 11. — Chrysostom's  singular  explanation  of  the  parable  of  the  ten  virgins,  75 

§  12. — Siricius,  bishop  of  Rome,  decrees  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  -  -  77 
5 13. — This  doctrine  plainly  contrary  to  the  New  Testament.    Note:  The  early 

Reformers,  Vigilantius  and  Jerome, 77 

5  14. — Instances  of  primitive  married  clergymen,       -----  79 

Chapter  III. — Origin  of  Romish,  errors  continued. —  Worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

J15. — Chrysostom's  description  of  the  sanctity  of  a  professed  virgin,  -        -        80 

§  16. — Fanciful  conceits  in  the  fourth  century,  relative  to  the  perpetual  virgin- 
ity of  Mary,       - 81 

5 17. — Origin  of  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary.     Sect  of  the  Collyridians,        82 

5  18. — Modern  worship  of  the  Virgin  worse  than  that  of  the  ancient  heretics. 

Instances  of  this  kind  of  modern  idolatry,    -----         82 

5 19. — The  idolatrous  reverence  of  the  Virgin  accelerated  by  the  Nestorian 
controversy,  about  the  title  "  mother  of  God."  Images  of  the  Virgin. 
Note :  Amusing  anecdote  of  the  emperor  Constantine  Copronymus,      85 

\  20. — Festivals  established  in  honor  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  86 

Chapter  IV. — Origin  of  Romish  errors  continued. — Monkery. 

3  21. — Monkery  of  heathen  origin.     Originated  in  Egypt,  87 

\  22. — Resemblance  between  heathen  and  Christian  anchorites,          -        -  88 

\  23. — Early  monks.     Paul,  Anthony,  Hilarion,  Martin  of  Tours,       -         -  88 

§  24. — Gregory  Nazianzen  quoted.     Symeon,  the  pillar  saint,  89 
\  25. — Monasteries  and  abbots,          --------90 

5  26. — Exempted  from  the  jurisdiction  of  bishops,  and  taken  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  popes.     Thus  become  the  tools  of  Rome.     Instance  of 

inhuman  severity  to  a  poor  monk,  by  Gregory  the  Great,     -        -  91 

\  27. — Monkish  saints  and  their  fabulous  legends,      -----  92 

Chapter  V. — Origin  of  Romish  errors  continued. —  Worship  of  saints  and  relics. 

§  28. — Invocation  of  saints  grew  up  by  degrees,  from  the  reverence  paid  to  mar- 
tyrs.    Relics  enshrined  in  altars,         ------         93 

§  29. — St.  Ambrose's  discovery  of  the  bodies  of  two  saints.    Relics  necessary, 

before  a  Romish  church  can  be  consecrated,  93 

§  30. — Bodies  of  saints  embalmed  in  Egypt.     Churches  dedicated  to  them,  94 

§  31. — Gregory  Nazianzen's  invocations  to  his  departed  father  and  St.  Cyprian,     97 
§  32. — Worship  of  images  unknown  to  Christians  in  the  fourth  century.  Let- 
ter of  Epiphanius,      ---------98 

5  33. — Pagan  ceremonies  imitated  and  adopted,  -----         98 

5  34. — Frauds.    Fictitious  saints  and  relics.    Bones  of  a  thief  reverenced  as  a 

saint,         --------         --.99 

§  35. — Mount  Soracte  converted  into  a  saint,     -         -         -         -        -         -100 

§  36. — Ludicrous  mistakes  in  saint-making.     Saints  Evodia,  Viar,  and  Amphi- 

bolus,  the  name  of  a  cloak.     St.  Veronica,  -  101 

5  37. — Two  pernicious  maxims  arose.     That  it  was  lawful  to  deceive,  and  to 

persecute  for  the  good  of  the  church,  -        -        -        -        -        -       102 

§  38. — Praying  at  the  sepulchres  of  the  saints.  Other  superstitions,  -  -  105 
5  39. — Increase  of  superstition  in  the  sixth  century.     Purgatory,  efficacy  of 

relics,  &c, --       106 

§  40. — St.  Gregory's  curious  letter  to  the  Empress,  in  reply  to  her  request  for 

the  head  of  St.  Paul.  Wonderful  prodigies,  -  -  -  -  107 
541. — St.  Gregory  exalts  the  merit  of  pilgrimages,  inculcates  Purgatory,  &c. 

First  mention  of  Purgatory,         -         -        -         -        -         -         -108 


x  ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

'  42. — With  few  exceptions,  Popery  at  its  birth,  in  606,  and  Popery  in  its  do- 
tage, in  the  nineteenth  century,  identical, 109 

Chapter  VI. — Striking  resemblance  between  pagan  and  papal  ceremonies. — The 
latter  derived  from  the  former. 

5  43. — The  classical  scholar  cannot  avoid  recognizing  the  resemblance,      -       109 
§  44. — Early  adoption  of  these  pagan  ceremonies.     This  policy  adopted  by 

Gregory  Thaumaturgus,    -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -110 

§  45. — After  Constantine,  this  sinful  conformity  to  Paganism  increased.    Chris- 
tianized Paganism.     Saying  of  Augustine,  -         -         -  1 1 1 
'  46. — Dr.  Conyers  Middleton's  visit  to  Rome.     His  object  not  to  study  Po- 
pery, but  the  pagan  classics.    Discovered  that  the  best  way  to  study 
Paganism,  was  to  study  Popery,  which  had  been  mostly  copied  from  it,  112 
j  47. — Instances  of  this  conformity,  -        -        -        -        -         -        -        -113 

(1.) — Worshipping  toward  the  East, 114 

(2.) — Burning  of  incense, 115 

(3.) — Use  of  holy  water.     Sprinkling  of  horses  on  St.  Anthony's  day,      -       116 
(4.) — Burning  of  wax  candles  in  the  day-time,        -        -        -        -        -121 

(5.) — Votive  gifts  and  offerings,      -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -121 

(6.) — Adoration  of  idols  or  images,         -         -         -         -         -         -         -123 

(7.) — The  gods  of  the  Pantheon  turned  into  popish  saints,       ...       124 
(8.) — Road  gods  and  saints,  ---------       125 

(9.) — The  Pope  and  the  Pontifex  Maximus,  and  kissing  the  Pope's  toe,    -       126 
(10.) — Processions  of  worshippers  and  self-whippers,        -        -        -  127 

(11.) — Religious  orders  of  monks,  nuns,  &c,    ------       128 

q  48. — This  conformity  acknowledged  by  a  Romish  author.    Hence  the  conclu- 
sion drawn  that  Popery  is  mainly  derived  from  Paganism,   -        -       129 
§  49. — St.  Gregory  instructs  Augustin  the  monk,  and  Serenus,  bishop  of  Mar- 
seilles, to  favor  the  pagan  ceremonies,        130 

BOOK    HI.— POPERY   ADVANCING.— From   the   establishment   of    the 

SPIRITUAL   SUPREMACY,  A.  D.  606,   TO   THE   POPE'S   TEMPORAL    SOVEREIGNTY,  756, 
AND   TO   THE    CROWNING   OF   THE    EMPEROR   CHARLEMAGNE,   800. 

Chapter  I. — Gradual  increase  of  the  papal  power. — Darkness,  superstition,  and 
ignorance  of  this  period. 

§  1 . — The  churches  did  not  all  immediately  submit  to  the  supremacy  of  the 

Pope, 133 

0  2. — Election  of  the  popes  confirmed  by  the  emperors  or  their  viceroys,  -  134 
\  3. — Rival  candidates  for  the  popedom.    Sergius  pays  the  Exarch  a  hundred 

pounds  of  gold  to  secure  his  election,  -        -        -        -        -        -135 

5  4. — Means  taken  by  the  popes  to  enlarge  their  power.     Pope  Vitatianus 

appoints,  by  his  own  authority,  Theodore  as  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  135 
§5. — Important  matters  of  dispute.  Different  modes  of  shaving  heads,  -  136 
§  6. — Arcbbishop  Theodore  detained  at  Rome  three  months,  to  have  his  head 

shaved,     -         -         -         -         - 139 

5  7. — The  popes  encourage  appeals  to  their  tribunal,  by  deciding  in  favor  of 

the  appellant.  Instance.  Appeal  of  Wilfred,  bishop  of  York,  -  139 
q  8. — First  instance  of  a  pontiff  requiring  an  oath  of  allegiance.     Boniface, 

bishop  of  Germany, --       140 

§  9. — Felix,  archbishop  of  Ravenna,  rejects  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  who, 

witli  the  Emperor,  inflicts  upon  him  the  most  horrid  cruelties.     His 

eyes  dug  out,  &c,    - --      141 


ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  \. 


riGE. 


j  10. — Origin  of  kissing  the  Pope's  foot.    Pope  Constantine's  visit  to  Constan- 
tinople.    Favored  by  the  emperor  Justinian,         -         -         -         -  14] 

{11. — Cruel  character  of  this  tyrant, 142 

{12. — Ignorance  and  darkness  of  this  age.     Bishops  unable  to  write,         -  143 
1 .'.. — Specimen  of  papal  reasoning,  to  prove  that  monks  are  angels.    St.  Peter 

in  person  consecrating  a  church,        .---..  144 

j  14. — Specimen  of  the  doctrine  of  this  age.     St.  Eligius,-        -        -        -       144 
; 15. — Rise  of  Mahometanism, 145 

Chapter  II. — History  of  the  Monothelite  controversy. — Pope  Honorius  condemned 
as  a  heretic,  by  the  sixth  general  council,  A.  D.  680. 

$16. — Origin  of  this  controversy, 146 

5 17. — Pope  Honorius  professes  himself  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  of  one  will. 

The  decree  called  the  Echthesis, 146 

§  18. — Pope  John  IV.  differs  from  his  predecessor  Honorius,  and  anathema- 
tizes the  doctrine, 147 

$19-20. — Progress  of  the  dispute, 148 

5  21. — Pope  Theodore  excommunicates  Pyrrhus,  and  signs  the  sentence  with 

the  consecrated  wine  of  the  sacrament,       -        -        -        -        -11!' 

{  22. — Pyrrhus  restored  to  his  dignity  of  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  notwith- 
standing the  Pope's  anathema,  -        -        -        -        -        -        -150 

5  23. — Pope  Martin  seized  and  banished  by  the  Emperor,  -        -        -        -       150 

5  24. — Pope  Eugenius  and  Vitalianus  more  moderate,        ....       151 

5  25. — Pope  Honorius  condemned  at  the  sixth  general  council,  for  heresy. 

Monothelitism  condemned, 151 

{26. — Lessons  from  this  controversy. 152 

(1.) — Popes  careful  to  advance  their  authority, 152 

(2.) — Their  authority  not  yet  universally  received, 152 

(3.) — Popes  did  not  yet  dare  to  anathematize  and  depose  kings,        -        -       153 
(4.) — Disproves  papal  infallibility.     Note :  Extracts  from  Bellarmine,  &c, 

on  infallibility,  ----------153 

Chapter  III. — Image-worship. — From  the  beginning  of  the  great  controversy  on 
this  subject,  to  the  death  of  the  emperor  Leo,and  of  pope  Gregory,both  in  the  same 
year,  A.  D.  741. 

{ 27-28. — Opinions  of  the  early  fathers  relative  to  image-worship,  -  -  154 
§  29. — Paulinus  adorns  a  church  with  pictures,  A.  D.  431,  ...       155 

§ 30. — St.  Gregory's  opinion.     Pope  Constantine  in  713,  curses  those  who 

deny  veneration  to  images, -156 

531. — Commencement  of  the  great  controversy,  in  726,  -  -  -  -  156 
§  32. — Efforts  of  the  emperor  Leo  to  destroy  image-worship.     Insurrection  in 

consequence  of  his  decree  in  730, -157 

5  33. — Pope  Gregory's  insulting  letter  to  the  emperor  Leo,  -  -  -  158 
§ 34. — Revolt  against  the  Emperor  at  Rome,  in  consequence  of  his  decree 

against  images,  -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -159 

5  35. — Letter  of  pope  Gregory  III.,  to  Leo, 160 

5  36. — Gregory  expends  vast  sums  on  images  and  relics  at  Rome.    The  Em- 
peror and  the  Pope  both  die,  A.  D.  741,      -        -        -  "      -        -       160 

Chapter  IV. — Continuation  of  the  controversy  on  Image-worship. — From  the  death 
of  Leo  and  Gregory,  A.  D.  741,  to  the  establishment  of  this  idolatry,  by  the  second 
general  council  of  Nice,  A.  D.  784. 

\  37. — The  emperor  Constantine  V.  and  pope  Zachary,     -        -        -        -      161 


xii  ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


g  38. — Image-worship  condemned  by  the  council  at  Constantinople,  in  754,  162 
§  39. — Crimes  of  the  empress  Irene,  wife  of  the  emperor  Leo  IV.,       -        -  162 
§  40. — Baronius  justifies  the  torture  or  murder  of  her  son,  -  163 
-,  ii. — She  assembles  the  second  council  of  Nice,  in  784,  which  finally  estab- 
lishes image-worship,          ........  164 

;  4-2. — Popish  idolatry  thus  established  by  law, 164 

Chapter  V. — The  Pope  finally  becomes  a  temporal  sovereign,  A.  D.  756. 

13. — Rebellious  tumults  at  Rome.     Rome  becomes  a  kind  of  republic  under 

the  Pope, 165 

1 1 — 15. — The  Pope  applies,  in  740,  to  Charles  Martel,  for  help  against  the 

Lombards,  -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -166 

0  46. — Pope  Zachary  and  Luitprand,  king  of  the  Lombards,  ...  167 
q  47. — Pepin  of  France,  with  the  approval  and  advice  of  Zachary,  deposes  his 

master  Childeric,       - -        -        -167 

5  48-49. — Rome  in  danger  from  Aistulphus,  king  of  the  Lombards,  -  -  167 
§  50. — Succored  by  Pepin,  who  forces  the  Lombards  to  yield  up  the  exarchate 

to  the  Pope, -        -       169 

'  51. — Aistulphus.  after  Pepin's  return,  refuses  to  deliver  up  the  places  to  the 

Pope,     ' 169 

552. — Pope  Stephen  applies  again  to  Pepin,      ------       170 

§  53. — Forges  a  letter  to  Pepin  from  St.  Peter  in  heaven,  -        -        -        -       171 

'  54. — Pepin  forces  Aistulphus  to  keep  his  engagement  with  the  Pope,  who 

thus  becomes  a  temporal  monarch,  A.  D.  756,     -        -        -        -       171 

Chapter  VI. — The  confirmation  and  increase  of  the  Pope's  temporal  power,  to  the 
coronation  of  Charlemagne,  A.  D.  800. 

c,  55. — Limits  of  the  papal  territories,        -------  174 

q  56. — Enlarged  by  Charlemagne, 174 

5  57-58. — Charlemagne  twice  visits  Rome, 175 

5  59. — Crowned  Emperor  by  the  Pope,  A.  D.  800, 175 

5  60-61. — Daniel's  little  horn  and  three  horns  or  kingdoms  plucked  up  by  it. 

Final  complete  establishment  of  the  independence  of  the  papal  states,  177 

BOOK   IV.— POPERY  IN  ITS   GLORY.— THE  WORLDS   MIDNIGHT.— 
From   the   coronation  of   Charlemagne,  A.  D.  800,  to  the  beginning  of 

THE   PONTIFICATE   OF   POPE   HlLDEBRAND,   OR   GREGORY   VII.,  A.  D.  1073. 

Chapter  I. — Proofs  of  the  darkness  of  this  period. — Forged  decretals. — Reverence 
for  monks,  saints,  and  relics.     Worship  of  the  Virgin.     Purgatory. 

5 1. — This  period  designated  the  dark  ages,  the  iron  age,  &c.     Lamentable 

ignorance,         ----------  181 

'  2. — False  decretals.     Pretended  donation  of  Constantine.     Extract  from  it,  182 

§  3. — The  world  duped  for  centuries,  by  these  forgeries.     Gibbon  quoted,  183 
4. — Acknowledged  by  Baronius,  Fleury,  and  other  Romanists,  to  be  forged. 

Opinions  of  Hallam,  Mosheim,  and  Campbell,     -        -        -        -  184 

5-6. — Increasing  reverence  for  monks,  relics,  &c,        -        -        -        -  185 

7-8. — Multiplication  of  new  saints.     Absurd  legends  of  their  lives,        -  186 
§  9. — The  popes  assume  the  exclusive  privilege  of  saint-making,      -        -  187 
510. — Increase  of  festivals  or  saints' days.     Feast  of  All-Saints,        -        -  188 
{  1 1 . — Rosary  of  the  Virgin.    Absurd  stories  invented  to  do  her  honor.  Speci- 
mens,      -- .---  189 

j  12.— Fears  of  Purgatory.     Feast  of  All-Souls, 190 


ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xiii 

PAGE. 

Chapter  II. — Proofs  of  the  darkness  of  this  period  continued. — Origin  and  Jim  it 
establishment  of  Transubstantiation. — Persecution  of  Berenger,  its  famous  op- 
poser-. — Popish  miracles  in  its  proof. 

,^13. — Transubstantiation  an  insult  to  common  sense.     Stated  in  the  words 

of  its  advocates,         -        -         -         -        -         -         -         -         -192 

\  14. — First  traces  of  the  doctrine  in  754.     Tillotson  quoted,      ...       193 

<  15. — Paschasius  Radbert  in  931,  first  formally  propounds  this  absurdity,  -  193 
5  1G. — Rabanus  Maurus's  treatise  in  opposition  to  it,  A.  D.  847.     Quotation 

from  it, -         -         -194 

j  17—18. — The  celebrated  Berenger  opposes  Transubstantiation.     His  perse- 
cutions and  death,  in  1088, 195 

'  1<». — First  made  an  article  of  faith,  in  the  fourth  council  of  Lateran,  A.  D. 

1215.     The  decree  quoted, 197 

5  20. — Means  by  which  the  worship  of  the  wafer  idol  was  established;     Pre- 
tended miracles  of  bees,  asses,  dogs,  and  horses  worshipping  it.     Six 

specimens,  as  given  by  Romish  writers, 198 

3  21. — Cannibalism  of  the  doctrine.     Romish  authors  quoted  showing  why 

the  consecrated  wafer  does  not  look  like  "  raw  and  bloody  flesh,"       201 
,j  22. — "  Lying  wonders,"  a  characteristic  of  anti-Christ,  -  202 

5  23-24. — Horrid   blasphemies  of  a  pope  and  a  cardinal.     Creating  God,  the 
Creator  of  all  things.     The  decree  of  Trent  on  Transubstantiation. 
Curses  upon  all  who  do  not  believe  it, 203 

<  'hapter  III. — Proofs  of  the  darkness  of  this  period  continued. — Baptism  of  bells, 

and  Festival  of  the  Ass. 

3  25. — Baptism  of  bells  first  introduced  by  pope  John  XIII.,  in  972,  -  -  207 
5  26-27. — Descriptions  of  this  absurd  ceremony  at  Montreal  and  Dublin,  -  207 
5  28. — Curious  ancient  description  of  bell-baptism  from  Philip  Stubbes,  a.  d. 

1582, 211 

5  29. — Feast  of  the  ass.     Original  and  translation  of  the  ode  sung  by  the 

priests  in  honor  of  the  ass, 213 

Chapter  IV. — Profligate  popes  and  clergy  of  this  period. 
)  30. — Holy  links  in  the  unbroken  chain  of  apostolic  succession,        -        -      215 

g  31. — John  VIII.,  a  monster  of  cruelty, 216 

5  32. — Sergius  III.,  the  father  of  pope  John  XI.,  the  bastard  son  of  the  harlot 

Marozia, --....       217 

5  33. — John  X.  the  paramour  of  the  harlot  Theodora,  sister  of  Marozia, 

raised  to  the  papal  throne  by  her  means, 217 

§  34. — John  XL  the  bastard  of  pope  Sergius  III., 217 

\  35. — John  XII.  nephew  of  John  the  bastard.     His  monstrous  tyranny,  de- 
bauchery, and  cruelty, 218 

5  36. — These  facts  admitted  by  Romanists.     Baronius  quoted,  -         -         -       219 
\  37. — Attempts  of  Romanists  to  reconcile  the  profligacy  of  their  popes  with 
apostolic  succession  and  papal  infallibility.     Father  Gahan  quoted. 
"  Do  all  that  they  say,  and  not  what  they  do,"     -  220 
q  38. — Benedict  IX.  described  by  pope  Victor  III.  as  "  a  successor  of  Simon 
the  sorcerer,  and  not  of  Simon  the  apostle."    No  doubt,  true,  but 
what  becomes  of  the  uninterrupted  apostolic  succession,     -        -      221 
5  39. — The  vices  of  the  popes  imitated  by  the  inferior  clergy,    -        -  221 
§  40. — Concubines  of  the  priests  confessing  to  their  paramours,         -        -      222 
541. — Priestly  concubinage  declared  by  Romanists  a  less  crime  than  mar- 
riage,                        -      223 


xiv  ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

TAGK. 

5  42-44. — Amidst  all  this  profligacy,  the  power  and  influence  of  the  popes  in- 
creased. Accounted  for  by  the  ignorance  of  the  Scriptures,  the 
authority  of  the  forged  decretals,  and  donation  of  Constantine,  and 
the  awful  terrors  of  excommunication  and  interdict,   -  224 

J  45. — The  iron  age  of  the  world  was  the  golden  age  of  Popery.  An  im- 
portant truth  taught  by  this  fact, 226 

Chapter  V. — Popery  in  England  prior  to  the  conquest.    Augustinihe  missionary, 
and  Dunslan  the  monk. 

§  46. — Primitive  Welsh  Christians  refuse  to  submit  to  Popery,  -  227 

§  47. — Augustin's  reception  in  England  by  king  Ethelbert.     Ten  thousand 

converts  in  a  day,      - 228 

J  48. — The   ancient  pagan  temples   of  England   converted   into   Christian 
churches  with  the  same  facility,  by  washing  the  walls  with  holy 
water,  and  depositing  relics  in  them,   ------       228 

§  49. — Increase  of  popish  superstitions.     The  Pope's  cunning  contrivance  to 

raise  a  tribute  in  England,  -------       229 

§  50. — Odo,  an  archbishop  of  the  school  of  Hildebrand,      -  230 

§  51. — Saint  Dunstan,  abbot  of  Glastonbury,  pulls  the  devil's  nose  with  red- 
hot  tongs  (!)  and  performs  other  wonderful  miracles,  -  230 
J  52. — Description  of  the  remains  of  Glastonbury  Abbey,          ...       231 
0  53-54. — Dunstan  is  made  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  works  miracles  to 

show  the  wickedness  of  marriage  in  the  clergy,  ...       232 

J  55. — Dunstan  pays  a  visit  to  Heaven,  learns  a  song  from  the  angels,  and  re- 
turns to  teach  it  to  his  monks.     His  death  in  988,       ...       235 

BOOK  V.— POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT.— From  the  accession  of 
pope  Gregory  vii.,  A.  D.  1073,  to  the  death  of  Boniface  vm.,  A.  D.  1303. 

Chapter  I. — The  life  and  reign  of  pope  Hildebrand  or  Gregory  VII. 
§  1. — Hildebrand's  influence  at  Rome  before  he  became  pope,  -        -        -       237 
§  2. — Robert  of  Normandy  persuaded  to  acknowledge  himself  a  vassal  of 

Rome, 238 

§  3. — The  decree  confining  the  election  of  pope  to  the  cardinals,  -  -  238 
§  4. — Hildebrand  chosen  Pope.  His  inordinate  ambition  and  tyranny,  -  239 
§  5. — His  plans  for  a  universal  empire,  with  the  Pope  at  the  head,  -  -  240 
§  6. — Commencement  of  his  contest  with  the  emperor  Henry  IV.,  -  -  241 
§7. — Dispute  about  investitures  with  the  ring  and  the  crosier,  -        -       241 

§  8. — Gregory  threatens  the  Emperor  with  excommunication,  -        -        -       243 
§  9. — Executes  his  threats,  and  deposes  him  from  the  empire.     Henry's  ab- 
ject humiliation.     He  waits  three  days  at  the  gate  of  the  palace, 
where  the  Pope  was,  before  he  is  granted  the  privilege  of  kissing 

the  Pope's  toe, 243 

§  10. — Henry  renounces  his  submission,  and  is  a  second  time  excommuni- 
cated.    Extracts  from  the  Pope's  anathema,       -  244 
§  11. — Sequel  of  Henry's  life.     His  own  sons  seduced  to  rebel  against  him,     217 
$  12. — Unnatural  conduct  of  his  son  Henry.     Misfortunes  and  death  of  the 

unfortunate  old  Emperor, 248 

Chapter  H. — Life  of  Gregory  VII.  continued.     Other  instances  of  his  tyranny 

and  usurpation. 

\  13. — Pope  Gregory  claims  Spain  as  belonging  to  St.  Peter,     -        -        -       249 
§  14. — His  demand  of  Peter-pence  in  France.     His  claim  of  Hungary  as  the 

property  of  the  Holy  See, 250 


ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xv 

PAGE. 

)  15. — Makes  similar  claims  upon  Corsica,  Sardinia,  Dalmatia,  and  Russia. 

Meets  with  less  success  in  England  than  anywhere  else,     -        -       251 

J 16. — Maxims  or  Dictates  of  Hildebrand,  -  ....       252 

j  17. — Question  of  their  genuineness.  The  tyrannical  doctrines  of  Hilde- 
brand advocated  in  the  nineteenth  century.  This  pope,  Gregory 
VII.,  still  reverenced  by  papists  as  a  Saint,        ....       253 

j  18. — The  learned  Deylingius's  account  of  the  gradual  rise  of  papal  power 

and  tyranny, 254 

Chapter  III. — Pope  Urban  and  the  Crusades. 

')  19. — Rival  popes,  Victor,  Clement,  and  Urban.  Ceremony  of  sprinkling 
with  ashes  on  Ash-Wednesday  established  by  pope  Urban.  Incens- 
ing of  crosses,  .........       256 

)  20. — Pope  Urban  establishes  the  crusades  at  the  council  of  Clermont  in  1095,  259 
Note. — Popular  and  wide-spread  panic  of  the  end  of  the  world  in  the  year 

1000, 260 

)  2 1 . — Peter  the  hermit  visits  Palestine,  and  upon  his  return  preaches  the 

crusades,- 261 

j  22-23. — Eloquent  speech  of  pope  Urban  in  favor  of  the  crusades,   -        -  262 

}  24. — General  enthusiasm  of  the  people.  Multitudes  set  out  for  Jerusalem,  263 

)  25. — Effects  of  the  crusades  in  enriching  the  popes  and  the  priesthood,    -  264 

j  26. — Vast  quantities  of  pretended  relics  introduced  from  Palestine,  -  265 

Chapter  TV. — Popery  in  England  after  the  conquest.     Archbishops  Anselm  and 

Thomas  a  Becket. 
5  27. — William  of  Normandy  obtains  the  Pope's  sanction  of  his  intended  in- 
vasion of  England,  who  sends  him  as  a  token  of  his  favor,  a  ring 
with  one  of  St.  Peter's  hairs.  (/)------       266 

■j  28. — After  William's  conquest.  Gregory  requires  him  to  do  homage  to  him 

for  the  kingdom  of  England,  but  king  William  refuses,  -  -  267 
j  29. — Quarrel  between  archbishop  Anselm  and  king  William  Rufus,  -  268 
j  30. — Honors  to  Anselm  at  Rome.  The  English  required  to  kiss  his  toe,  268 
■j  31. — Anselm  refuses  to  do  homage  to  king  Henry,  the  successor  of  William,  269 
5  32. — Haughty  claims  of  pope  Pascal,  and  overbearing  insolence  of  Anselm,  270 
3  33. — Cardinal  Crema,  the  Pope's  legate  in  England,  detected  in  gross  licen- 
tiousness, ..-■----■--«       271 

5  34. — Cruel  measures  against  the  married  clergy  of  England,  -  271 

5  35. — Cruel  persecution  of  some  disciples  of  Arnold  of  Brescia.     First  in- 
stances of  death  for  heresy  in  England,         .....       272 
j  36. — King  Henry  II.  of  England,  and  Louis  VTL  of  France,  leading  the 

Pope's  horse,     ----------      273 

j  37. — Commencement  of  the  quarrel  between  king  Henry  and  Thomas  a 

Becket.     The  Pope  releases  the  Saint  from  the  obligation  of  his 

oath  to  submit  to  the  laws  of  England  against  clerical  criminals,        274 
.)  38. — Becket  refuses  to  obey  a  summons  to  the  King's  court.     He  is  tried 

and  found  guilty  by  the  Parliament,  but  refuses  to  submit,  -         -       277 
)  39. — Declines  the  jurisdiction  of  the  King  and  barons,  and  appeals  to  the 

Pope, 278 

'40. — The  death  and  canonization  of  Becket.     Pilgrimages  to  the  tomb  of 

the  Saint, 279 

Chapter  V. — Popery  in  England  continued.     Pope  Innocent  and  king  John. 

h  41. — Innocent  III.  treads  in  the  steps  and  acts  upon  the  maxims  of  Gregory 

VII., 279 


xvi  ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

§  42. — Orders  an  episcopal  palace  to  be  demolished  which  was  being  erected 
at  Lambeth,  in  London.  The  King,  terrified  by  the  thunders  of 
Rome,  unwillingly  obeys, 280 

§  43. — The  palace  is  subsequently  erected.     Description  of  Lambeth  palace 

and  Lollard's  tower, -         -         -281 

§  44. — Pope  Innocent  orders   Stephen  Langton  to  be   chosen  archbishop  of 

Canterbury,  which  gives  rise  to  the  dispute  with  king  John,         -       282 

§  45. — The   Pope  endeavors  to  reconcile  king  John  to  this  usurpation  by  a 

present  of  four  golden  rings.     The  'King's  angry  letter  to  the  Pope,  285 

§  46. — Innocent  lays  England  under  an  interdict.     Fearful  consequences  of 

this  sentence,   ----------      286 

J  47. — Insolence  of  the  Pope's  legate  to  the  King.  Papal  sentence  of  depo- 
sition against  John,  ---------       287 

5  48. — The  Pope  invites  king  Philip  of  France  to  invade  and  conquer  Eng- 
land. King  John's  abject  submission.  Yields  up  his  crown  on  his 
knees  to  the  legate  Pandulph,  and  receives  it  back  as  a  vassal  of 

the  Pope, 288 

5  49. — Copy  of  John's  deed  of  surrender  of  England  to  the  Pope,       -        -      291 
§  50. — Henceforward  king  John  an  obedient  vassal  of  the  Pope.     Innocent's 

thunders  of  excommunication  against  the  barons  of  England,      -       291 

Chapter  VI. — More  instances  of  papal  despotism.     Popes  Adrian  IV.,  Alexander 
III.  and  Innocent  III. 

§  51. — Contest  between  the  Pope  and  the  empire  renewed.     Adrian  TV.  and 

Frederick  Barbarossa, 293 

J  52. — Frederick's  submission  to  pope  Alexander  III.     Leads  the  Pope's  horse 

in  St.  Mark's  Square,  Venice, -      294 

5  53-56. — Instances  of  the  tyranny  of  Innocent  III.  toward  several  of  the 

sovereigns  and  nations  of  continental  Europe,    -        -        -        294-298 

Chapter  VII. —  The  ]Yaldenses  and  Albigenses. 

§  57. — These  spiritual  tyrants  could  brook  no  opposition.  Hence  their  perse- 
cution of  the  VValdensian  heretics.  Testimony  of  Evervinus,  one 
of  their  persecutors,  relative  to  their  character  and  doctrine,         -       299 

§  58-59. — Similar  testimony  of  Bernard,  Claudius,  and  Thuanus,       -         -       301 

§  60-61. — Bloody  decree  of  pope  Alexander  III.,  and  the  third  council  of 

Lateran,  for  exterminating  these  heretics, 302 

';  G2. — Burning  of  Waldenses.     Thirty-five  in  one  fire,     -  304 

5  63. — The   church   of  Rome   responsible   for  these    butcheries.      Another 

bloody  edict  of  pope  Lucius  III.  ---...       304 

5  64. — The  emperor  Frederick's  cruel  decrees  issued  to  oblige  the  Pope.    The 

priest  the  judge,  and  the  king  the  hangman,        -  305 

Chapter  VIII. — Pope  Innocent's  bloody  crusade  against  the  Albigenses,  under  his 
Legate,  the  ferocious  abbot  of  Cileaux,  and  Simon,  earl  of  Montfort. 

\  65. — Emissaries  of  the  Pope  dispatched  to  preach  the  crusade  against  the 

heretics,  throughout  Europe.     Specimen  of  their  texts  and  sermons,  307 

\  66. — Raimond  VI.,  count  of  Thoulouse,  unwilling  to  engage  in  exterminat- 
ing his  heretical  subjects.     Excommunicated  in  consequence,       -       307 

\  67. — Innocent's  fierce  letter  to  Raimond.     The  Legate  killed  in  a  quarrel 

with  one  of  Raimond's  friends,  -------       308 

\  68. — Pope  Innocent's  bulls.     No  faith  with  heretics.     Indulgences  for  those 

\\  liu  would  engage  in  the  crusades  against  the  Waldenses,  -       309 

\  69. — Count  Raimond  submits  and  seeks  absolution  from  the  Pope,  -         -       310 


ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xvii 

hob. 

{  70. — His  degrading  penance.     Whipped  on  the  naked  shoulders  in  a  church 

by  the  Pope's  legate.     Siege  of  Beziers,    -         -         -         -  313 

{71. — The  taking  of  Beziers.  Inhuman  cruelty  of  the  Pope's  legate.  Sixty 
thousand  killed,  and  not  a  human  being — man,  woman,  or  child — 
left  alive, 314 

J  72. — Roger,  the  young  count  of  Beziers,  treacherously  entrapped  by  the 

Pope's  legate.     He  dies  in  prison,  probably  of  poison,  -         -       315 

)  73. — The   inhabitants   of   Carcassone   escape    from   the   popish    butchers 

through  an  underground  passage.     Horrible  cruelty  of  Montfort,        316 

fj  74. — Menerbe  taken  by  the  papists,  and  the  inhabitants  slaughtered.     One 

hundred  and  forty  burnt  in  one  fire,    ------       317 

•  75. — Lavaur  taken,  and  the  heretics  burnt  (in  the  words  of  the  popish  his- 
torian), "  with  the  utmost  joy,"  -         ------       319 

j  76. — Sixty  more  heretics  at  Cassoro  burnt  "  with  infinite  joy,"  -         -       319 

5  77. — The  bloody  crusades  against  the  Albigenses  prove  that  the  right  to  ex- 
tirpate heresy  and  to  put  heretics  to  death,  is  properly  a  doctrine  of 
the  unchangeable  Roman  Catholic  church,  -  320 

*>  78. — Proofs  that  the  Romish  church  claims  the  right  of  dissolving  oaths, 

and  instances  of  its  exercise,     - -321 

\  79. — Unjust  slanders  against  the  Albigenses.     If  true,  the   Pope  had  no 

right  to  send  his  armies  to  invade  their  country  and  butcher  them,      322 

Chapter    IX. — Establishment  of  the   Mendicant  Orders.      Saint  Dominic   and 

Saint  Francis. 

'(<  80. — Profligacy  of  the  orders  of  the  monks  and  nuns,     -  323 

5  81. — Contrast  between  their  character  and  the  holy  lives  of  the  teachers  of 
the  Waldensian  heretics,  even  according  to  the  confession  of  their 
enemies,  -----------      323 

{  82. — Hence  Innocent  III.  encourages  the  establishment  of  Mendicant  Orders, 
who,  by   their   austerity  and   sanctity,   might  rival   the   heretical 

doctors, -       324 

5  83. — Dominicans  and  Franciscans.     Life  of  St.  Dominic,  the  inventor  or  the 

first  inquisitor-general  of  the  holy  Inquisition,  -  -  -  -  324 
ij  84. — Extravagant  stories  of  Dominic's  pretended  miracles,  -  -  -  325 
§ 85. — Dominicans,  great  champions  of  the  Virgin.     Marvellous  Dominican 

miracles  of  the  Virgin  and  the  Rosary,       -----       32G 
J  86. — Life  of  St.  Francis,  founder  of  the  Franciscans,  the  "  Seraphic  Order,"  329 
§  87. — Rapid  and  vast  increase  of  the  Franciscans,  .         -        -         -         -       329 
,s  88. — Pretended  miracles  of  St.  Francis.     The  holy  stigmas,  or  wounds  of 
Christ,  inflicted  upon  the  Saint  by  the  Saviour  himself.     This  hor- 
rible imposture  still  commemorated  as  a  fact  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
church.    Day  of  its  commemoration,  according  to  the  Romish  calen- 
dar, September  17th, 330 

5  89. — Prodigious  influence  acquired  by  the  Mendicant  Orders,  -         -        -       330 

Chapter    X. — The  Fourth  council  of  Lateran  decrees  the  extermination  of  here- 
tics, Transubstantiation,  and  Auricular  Confession. 

£90. — Fourth  council  of  Lateran  held  A.  D.  1215.  Bestow  the  dominions 
of  the  unfortunate  count  Raimond  upon  the  bloody  Montfort,  on  ac- 
count of  the  tardiness  of  the  Count  in  exterminating  heretics,     -       331 

{91. — Decree  of  the  Pope  and  council  commanding  princes,  under  heavy 
penalties,  to  exterminate  heretics.  Extract  from  this  bloody  edict 
of  the  highest  legislative  authority  in  the  Romish  church,  -         -       332 

\  92. — Auricular  confession  once  a  year  decreed  by  this  council.     Priestly 

solicitation  of  females  at  confession,  ------       333 

2 


Xviii  ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

j  93. — Inquiry  in  Spain  relative  to  the  solicitation  and  seduction  of  females 
by  popisb  priests  at  confession.  Females  commanded,  under  penalty 
of  the  Inquisition,  to  lay  informations.  Inquiry  hushed  up,  on  ac- 
count of  the  immense  number  of  criminals.  One  hundred  and 
twenty  days  consumed  in  the  city  of  Seville  alone  in  taking  infor- 
mations from  females, --       335 

\  94. In  this  council  also,  Transubstantiation  first  decreed  as  an  article  of 

faith.     In  after  ages,  this  was  the  great  burning  article,      -         -       337 

s  95. Worship  of  the  host,  or  wafer.     Origin  of  the  festival  of  Corpus 

Christi, 337 

^96. — Manner  of  its  celebration  in  popish  countries.  Spain,  Italy.  Vio- 
lence to  an  American  stranger  in  Rome  for  not  bowing  the  knee  to 
the  idol, 338 

Chapter  XI. — Contest  between  the  popes  and  the  emperor  Frederick  II.     C 

and  Ghibelines. 

j  g^. — Honorius  III.  succeeds  Innocent  III.     The  Isle  of  Man  ceded  to  the 

Pope,  and  received  back  as  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See,     -  342 

j  98. — Frederick's  successful  expedition  to  Palestine,  -         -         -         -       3  12 

>j  99. — Pope  Gregory  IX.  makes  war  on  his  dominions  in  his  absence.  Fred- 
erick's reprisals  on  his  return.     He  is  excommunicated,      -         -       343 

0 100-101. — Innocent  IV.  at  the  council  of  Lyons  in  1245,  pronounces  a  sen- 
tence of  deposition  against  the  Emperor,  and  absolves  his  subjects 
from  their  allegiance.  Frederick's  death,  and  the  unbounded  jov 
of  the  Pope, '    3-1 1 

)  102. — Successors  of  Innocent  IV.  The  quarrel  continued  by  Frederick's 
son,  Manfred,  king  of  the  two  Sicilies.  Pope  Urban  invites  Charles, 
count  of  Anjou,  to  conquer  from  Manfred  the  kingdom  of  Sicily,        345 

j  103. — Amusing  instance  of  the  care  which  the  Pope  took  of  his  own  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  agreement  with  Manfred,    ...        -      346 

5  104. — Defeat  and  death  of  Manfred,  and  conquest  of  Sicily  by  Charles, 

who  murders  the  youthful  Conradin,  nephew  of  Manfred,    -         -       347 

5  105. — Sicily  delivered  from  the  dominion  of  Charles  and  the  French  by  the 

popular  outbreak  and  massacre  called  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  -       347 

!  106. — The  council  of  Lyons  in  1274,  decrees  the  election  of  Pope  in  con- 
clave of  the  cardinals, 348 

j  107. — Horrible  profligacy  of  Henry,  bishop  of  Liege,      ...        -       34* 

t 108. — Pope  Gregory  X.  threatens  the  German  princes  unless  they  imme- 
diately choose  an  emperor,  to  do  it  for  them.  Note :  Annals  of 
Baronius  and  Raynaldus,  - 349 

^  109. — Under  pope  Nicholas  III.,  the  Papal  States  become  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  the  empire,  about  A.  D.  1278,  -        -  :>.r;n 

J 110. — Pope  Martin  IV.  excommunicates  the  emperor  of  Constantinople  and 
Don  Pedro,  king  of  Arragon.  The  latter  treats  the  papal  thunders 
with  derision.  The  terror  of  these  spiritual  weapons,  since  the 
successful  resistance  of  the  emperor  Frederick,  gradually  declining,  350 

'  ill. — Pope  Celestine  the  hermit.      Rare  spectacle.      A  good  man  for  a 

Pope.     Soon  persuaded  to  resign  as  unfit  for  the  office,       -        -       351 

)  112-113. — Cardinal   Benedict  Cajetan,  who  had  been  chief  in  persuading 
Celestine  to  resign,  succeeds  him  as  Boniface  VIII.     His  dispute 
with  Philip  the  Fair,  king  of  France,         ....         -       352 
114. — Pope   Boniface's  lordly   arrogance.     Extract   from   the   bull    Unam 

Sanctum,  ----------      353 

$115. — Boniface  excommunicates  Philip.     The  Pope,  arrested  by  Nogaret, 

dies  of  ra<re  and  vexation. 354 


ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTEXTS.'  xix 


i'A..E 


I)  116. — Sensible  decline  of  the  papacy  from  the  death  of  pope  Boniface  VIII. 

Eloquent  extract,  on  this  subject,  from  Hallam,  ....      354 

Chapter  XII. — Purgatory,  Indulgences  and  Romish  Jubilees. 

\  117. — Establishment  of  the  Jubilee  by  Boniface  VIII.     Inquiry  on  the  Ro- 
mish doctrine  of  Indulgences,     -------       3.p,,j 

\  118. — Unknown  to  the  ancients.     Proved  by  extracts  from  Alphonsus,  Poly- 

dore  Virgil,  and  cardinal  Cajetan,       .--...       35?j 

)  119. — Indulgences  dependent  for  all  their  importance  on  the  fiction  of  Pur- 
gatory,       357 

j 120,  121. — Origin  of  the  purgatorian  fiction.    Augustine,  Gregory,  -        -      358 
5 122. — Visit  of  Drithelm  to  Purgatory.     Horrible  descriptions,  -        -      361 

J123. — Indulgences  grafted  on  Purgatory,         ......       361 

\  121. — Works  of  Supererogation, 362 

)  125-7. — Wholesale  Indulgences  at  Jubilee  of  Boniface,  &c.     Other  Jubi- 
lees,   

BOOK  VI.— POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE.— From  the  death 
of  Boniface  VIII.,  A.  D.  1303,  to  the  commencement  of  the  council  of 
Trent,  A.  D.  1545. 

Chapter  I. — The  residence   of  /la:    Popes   <ii   Avignon,   and  the  great    Western 

Schism. 

£  1-3. — Decline  of  the  power  of  the  Popes,  after  Boniface  VIII.,        -        -  367 

}  4. — The  Avignon  Popes.     Saint  Catherine. 369 

)  5-9. — Occasion  of  great  Western   Schism.     Election  of  two  rival  popes, 

Urban  VI.  and  Clement  VII.     Consequences  of  this  schism,       -  370 

)  10. — Council  of  Pisa  elects  a  third  pope,  Alexander  V.,  ...  373 

)  11-12. — Fierce  and  bloody  contests.     John  Huss  writes  against  pope  John's 

bull  of  crusade  against  Ladislaus,     ----..  374 

J 13. — Council  of  Constance  deposes  the  rival  popes  and  elects  Martin  V.,  376 

Chapter  II. —  Wickliff"  the  English  reformer.     The  condemnation  of  his  works,  and 
the  burning  of  his  bones  by  order  of  the  council  of  Constance. 

§  14-16.— Life  and  labors  of  Wickliff, 376 

§  17. — His  translation  of  the  New  Testament.     Specimen,         ...       38O 

§  18-19. — The  hatred  of  the  papists  to  an  English  bible.     Wickliff's  bold 

protestations  on  behalf  of  the  Scriptures,     -         -         -         -         .       383 

§  20-22. — The  council  of  Constance  order  his  bones  to  be  dug  up  and  burnt. 

Execution  of  the  sentence,        --...-.      385 

Chapter  III. — John  Huss  of  Bohemia.     His  condemnation  and  martyrdom  by  the 
council  of  Constance. 

\  23,  24.— Early  life  of  Huss.     Reads  Wickliff's  writings,         -         -  387 

5  25-26. — Gives  himself  to  his  destined  work.     Wickliff's  writings  burnt  in 
Bohemia.     Prague  laid  under  an  interdict  by  John  XXIII.,  on  ac- 
count of  Huss,  who  solemnly  appeals  to  Jesus  Christ,         -         -       389 
\  27. — His  pious  letters,  and  presentiment  of  martyrdom,  -         -         -         -       390 
\  28. — Jerome  of  Prague  unites  with  Huss  in  the  work  of  reform,     -         -       391 
\  29,  30. — Their  opposition  to  indulgences  and  the  Pope's  bull  of  crusade. 

Tumult  at  Prague, 392 

\  31. — Huss  writes  against  the  rival  popes.     The  Six  Errors,  &c,     -         -       396 
\  33-40. — Goes  to  the  council  of  Constance.     Safe-conduct  of  the  Emperor 


xx  ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

treacherously  violated  ;  and  Huss  imprisoned,  condemned,  degraded 
and  burnt, 399-404 

Chapter  IV. — Jerome  of  Prague  at  the  council  of  Constance.     His  condemnation 

and  martyrdom. 

j41. — Jerome  sets  out  for  Constance,  but  flees  in  alarm  and  is  arrested,    -      407 
a  42-44. — He  is  cruelly  imprisoned  and  recants ;  but  soon  renounces  his  re- 
cantation, and  courageously  professes  his  faith  before  the  council,       407 
§  45. — Contends  for  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Scriptures,     -  410 

§46-48. — Sentenced  by  the  council  and  burnt, 410 

j  49. — Copies  of  the  decrees  of  the  council  establishing  the  doctrine  of  no 

faith  with  heretics,      -         -        -         - 413 

5  50. — The  same  doctrine  openly  avowed  by  pope  Martin  V.,  -        -      414 

J  51,  52. — Close  of  the  council.     The  members  rewarded  with  indulgences. 

Denial  of  the  cup  to  the  laity, 415 

Chapter  V. — Popery  and  the  Popes  for  the  century  preceding  the  Reformation. 

§  53. — Pope  Martin  V.     His  pompous  titles, 417 

§  54-50. — Pope  Eugenius  IV.     His  violent  dispute  with  the  council  of  Basil,  418 
{57,  58.— Jubilee  of  1450.     Capture  of  Constantinople,  -        -        -        -      420 
^  595  60. — Pope  Pius  II.  (^Eneas   Sylvius)  proposes  to  go  to  the  aid  of  the 
eastern  Christians  against  the  Turks.     His  change  of  views  on  the 

supreme  authority  of  the  Pope, -      420 

^61,62. — Pope   Innocent  VIII.  and   his   seven  bastards.     His   cruel  edict 

against  the  Waldensian  heretics. 425 

\  63,  64. — Pope  Alexander  VI.  the  devil's  master-piece.    His  horrible  profligacy 

and  miserable  death  by  poison  he  had  prepared  for  another,  -  -  426 
§  66. — America  discovered  and  given,  by  a  papal  bull,  to  the  Spaniards,  -  428 
§  66-68. — Pope  Julius  a  warrior.     Absolves   himself   from    his   oath.     His 

quarrel  with  Louis  XII.  of  France  and  with  the  council  of  Pisa,         429 
§  69-71. — Leo  X.  and  the  fifth  council  of  Lateran.     Laws  against  the  free- 
dom of  the  press,  and  enjoining  the  extirpation  of  heretics,  -       434 

Chapter  VI. — The  Reformation — Luther  and  Tetzel.    The  reformer's  war  against 

indulgences. 

5  72,  73. — Indulgences  the  occasion  of  the  Reformation.     Tax  book  for  sins,  436 

^  74-77. — Tetzel,  and  his  mode  of  peddling  indulgences.     Incidents,  -  439 

§  78,  79. — Luther  opposes  indulgences.     His  celebrated  theses,        -        -  445 

§  80. — Tetzel  burns  Luther's  theses,  and  the  Wittemberg  students  burn  his,  447 

5  81,  82. — Luther's  Solutions,  and  letter  to  pope  Leo  X.,    -  448 

Chapter  VII. — Luther  and  Cqjelan.     The  noble  constancy  of  the  reformer. 
§  83. — Leo  commissions  Cajetan  to  reduce  Luther  to  submission,         -         -       451 
§  84. — Leo  writes  to  the  elector  Frederick,  to  persuade  him  to  withdraw  his 

protection  from  Luther.     Arrival  of  Melancthon  at  Wittemberg,         452 
5  85-91. — Luther  goes  to  Augsburg,   and  appears  before  cardinal  Cajetan. 
His  constancy  and  courage  in  defending  the   truth,  and  return  to 
Wittemberg,  after  ten  days, 452 

Chapter  VIII. — Luther  strikes  at  the  throne  of  anti-Christ.     The  breach  madt 

irreparable. 
{  92. — The  legate,  Charles  Miltitz.     Luther  reads  the  decretals,  and  gradually 

discovers  that  the  Pope  is  anti-Christ, 459 


ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.         xxi 


PAGE. 


J93. — Disputes  with  Eck,  at  Leipsic,  on  the  pope's  primacy,     ...      460 
§  94-96. — Ulric  Zwingle  tries   to  befriend    Luther.     Pope  Leo's  bull  against 

Luther,  who  burns  it,  with  the  Decretals,  at  Wittemberg,     -        -       461 
J  97. — Luther  finally  excommunicated  as  an  incorrigible  heretic.     Aleander 
the  papal  legate  burns  his  books,  but  is  not  permitted  by  the  Elector 
to  burn  him,      -- --       463 

Chapter     IX. — Luther  at  the  Diet  of  Worms,  and  in  his  Patmos  at  Wartburg. 

j  98. — Aleander,  the  papal  legate's  efforts  against  Luther  at  Worms,  -       465 

.}  99,  100. — Luther's  courage   in  going  to  Worms,  and  his  constancy  when 

there,       -----------      466 

J 102-104. — His  constrained  retreat  to  his  Patmos  at  Wartburg.  Translates 
the  New  Testament.  His  return  to  Wittemberg.  His  peaceful 
death, 468 

§  105,  106. — Loyala  the  founder  of  the  Jesuits.  Popish  parallel  with  Lu- 
ther,   472 

BOOK  VII.— POPERY  AT  TRENT.— From   the   opening   session   of    the 
council  of  Trent,  A.  D.  1545,  to  the  closing  session,  A.  D.  1563. 

Chapter  I. —  The  first  four  sessions.     Preliminaries,  and  decree  upon  the  author- 
ity of  Tradition  and  the  Apocrypha. 

51,2. — Opening  of  the  council  about,  two  months  before  Luther's  death. 

The  Pope's  opposition  to  measures  of  reform,  -  -  -  -  475 
J  3-5. — The  three  first  sessions.  Cardinal  de  Monte,  President,  -  -  477 
§  6. — The  fourth  session.  Tradition  placed  on  a  level  with  Scripture,  -  478 
§  7,  8. — The  Apocryphal  books  inserted  in  the  Scriptures.     Proofs  that  they 

are  not  inspired,        ---------      480 

Chapter  II. — Fourth  session  continued.  Latin  Vulgate  exalted  above  the  inspired 
Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures.  Private  judgment  and  liberty  of  the  press  for- 
bidden, and  a  popish  censorship  of  the  press  established. 

§  9. — Decree  on  the  Latin  Vulgate.     Its  numerous  errors.     Dr.  Jahn  quoted,   485 
5  10. — Two  editions  of  the  Vulgate  published  by  popes  Sixtus  and  Clement, 

both  declared  infallible,  and  yet  2000  variations  between  them,    -       487 
5 11,  12. — Decrees  against  private  judgment  and  liberty  of  the  press,         -       488 
§  13. — Protestants  indignant  at  these  decrees.     Congregation  of  the  Index,       490 
§ 14. — The  famous  ten  rules  adopted  by  the  council  concerning  prohibited 
books,  describing  the  kinds  of  books  prohibited,  the  examination  of 
bookseller's  shops  by  popish  inquisitors,  and  the  punishments  of  ex- 
ercising the  liberty  of  the  press, 491 

§  15. — Names  of  some  authors  prohibited.     Copy  of  a  papal  license  granted 

to  Sir  Thomas  More,  to  read  heretical  books  (note),     -         -         -       497 

Chapter  III. — Original  sin  and  Justification, 
y  16. — The  fifth  session.     Decrees  on  original  sin  and  Justification,  -         -      499 
X  17. — Christ's  work  made  a  stepping-stone  for  human  merit.     Extracts  from 

Romish  prayer  books,         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -501 

§  18. — Extract  from  Tyndal.     Experience  of  Luther  on  Justification,         -      502 

Chapter  IV. — The  Sacraments  and  the  doctrine  of  Intention.     Baptism  and  Con- 
firmation. 

J  21. —Seventh  session.     Decree  on  the  Sacraments  in  general,         -         -       505 
§  22-24. — Doctrine  of  Intention.     Its  absurdity.     Defects  in  the  Mass,      -       506 


xxii  ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAdlS 

Chapter  V. — Suspension  of  the   Council  in  1549.  and  resumption   under  pope 
Julius  III.  in  1551.     Decree  on  Transubstantiation. 

\  25,  26. — Council  adjourned  to  Bologna.  Suspended.  Death  of  pope  Paul 
HI.,  and  choice  of  I)e  Monte,  the  legate,  a  notorious  Sodomite,  as 
Julius  III., 511 

§  27  28. — Council  resumed.  Thirteenth  session.  Decree  on  Transubstan- 
tiation,       512 

Chapter  VI. — Of  Penance,  Auricular  confession,  Satisfaction,  and  Extreme  Unc- 
tion— to  the  second  suspension  in  April,  1552. 

§29. — Fourteenth  session.  Decrees  on  Penance  and  Auricular  confession.  514 
h  30,  31. — Indecency  of  female  confession.     Questions  from  "  Garden  of  the 

Soul," 515 

§  32,  33. — Insult  to  a  female  at  confession.     Confessing  sick  ladies  at  Rome,    518 
§  34. — Confession  declared  necessary  to  salvation.     Bigotry  and  tyranny,  521 

§  35. — Decree  on  Satisfaction.     Penitents  redeeming  themselves.       -        -       522 
§  36. — False  translations.     "  Doing  penance"  for  "  repent."     Bordeaux  Tes- 
tament (note),   ----------       522 

§37,  38. — Decree  on  Extreme  unction.     Adjournment  April  28th,  1552,     -      524 

Chapter  VII. — From  the  seventeenth  to  the  twenty-fifth  and  closing  session.  De- 
nial of  the  cup  to  the  laity.  The  Mass.  Sacraments  of  Orders  and  Matri- 
mony.    Purgatory,  Indulgences,  Relics,  <Src. 

5  39-41. — The  council  re-opened  January  8th,  1562.  Eighteenth  to  twen- 
tieth session,     ----------       526 

\  42. — Twenty-first  session.  Decree  on  refusing  the  cup  to  the  laity,  -  527 
§  43,  44. — Twenty-second  session.     Decree  on  the  Mass  and  use  of  Latin 

tongue, ------      528 

\  45. — Twenty-third  session.  Decree  on  the  sacrament  of  Orders,  -  -  530 
§46. — Twenty-fourth  session.  Decree  on  the  sacrament  of  Matrimony,  -  531 
547. — Twenty-fifth   session.      Decrees   on   Purgatorv,  Indulgences,   Relics, 

&c,  -        -  .---•----      532 

Chapter  VIII. — Conclusion  of  the  Council.     Acclamations  of  the  Fathers,  and 

pope  Pius's  creed. 

§  48. — Decree  of  Confirmation  of  the  Decrees, 535 

5  49. — Acclamations  of  the  Fathers.     Curses  on  all  heretics,     -        -        -  535 

§  50. — Pope  Pius's  creed,  containing  a  summary  of  the  decrees  of  Trent,  537 
§51. — According  to  this  creed,  Leighton,  Baxter,  Nevins,  Payson,  Milnor, 

&c,  all  now  in  Hell, 539 

BOOK  VIII.— POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  THE  SAINTS.— 

Persecutions  of  Popery  to  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  A.  D. 
1685. 

Chap.  I. — Persecution    proved  from  decrees  of  general  councils  and  writings  <  / 
celebrated  divines  to  be  an  essential  doctrine  of  Popery. 

§  1. — Ingenious  cruelties  of  Popery.     Fifty  million  victims,       -  541 

\  2. — Decrees  of  general  councils,  enjoining  persecution.  -  -  -  -  542 
\  3. — Citations  from  Aquinas,  Dens  and  Bellarmine  defending  persecution,  545 
§4. — Popery  unchangeable.     Charles  Butler  quoted.      Peter  Dens  teaches 

that  heretics  should  be  put  to  death.     Rhemish  testament  (note),        548 


ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xxiii 

P40K 

Chapter  II. — Sufferings  of  the  English  protestants  under  Bloody  Queen  Mary. 

The  burning  of  Latimer,  Ridley,  Cranmer,  <.\\ 
§5. — Number  of  Victims.     288  burned  alive  by  Bloody  .Mary,  -  549 

$6-9. — Latimer  and  Ridley.     Ceremony  of  degradation.     Martyrdom,        -       550 
]  10-13. — Cranmer.     Hia  recantation,  renunciation  of  that  recantation,  noble 

dying  testimony,  and  martyrdom,         ------       55C5 

{  14. — Last  band  of  martyrs.     Death  of  Mary,  and  joy  of  the  people,         -       562 
;  15. — Grief  of  pope  Paul  IV'.,  at  the  death  of  bis  "  faithful  daughter"  Mary. 

Copy  of  his  Bull,  excommunicating  and  deposing  queen  Elizabeth,     563 

Chapter  III. —  The  Inquisition.     Seizure  of  the  Victims.     Modes  of  Torture,  and 

celebration  of  the  Auto  da  Fe. 
J  16. — The  masterpiece  of  popish  cruelty.     Pollock's  description,       -         -       567 
§  17-19. — Apprehension  of  the  victims.     Different  kinds  of  tortures,  -       568 

§  20-22. — Auto   da   fe.     Procession  of  the  victims,  Dresses,  the  caroza,  san 

beniio,  &c.     Great  burning.     Joy  of  the  people,  ...       574 

Chapter  IV. — Inhuman  Persecutions  of  the  Waldenses. 
)  23. — Cruelties  on  the  Waldenses  in  the  valley  of  Pragela,  A.  D.  1400,     -       579 
§24,25. — Similar  outrages   in   the  valleys  of  Loyse  and  Frassiniere,  under 

pope  Innocent  VIII.,  &c,  -------       580 

\  26. — Horrible  cruelties  on  the  Waldenses  of  Calabria,     -         -         -         -       581 

\  27,  28. — Waldenses  of  Piedmont.     Interference  of  Oliver  Cromwell.     Mil- 
ton's Sonnet.     Sufferers  of  Mount  Cenis,   -        -        -        .         -      585 

Chapter  V. — Persecutions  in  France.     Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  Revo- 
cation of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

§29-31. — Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  in  1572.     Numbers  slain,    -        -  587 
§  32. — Joy  of  the  Pope  and   cardinals  at  the  news.     Procession  at  Rome  to 
return  thanks  to  God  for  the  extirpation  of  heretics.     Medal  struck 

in  honor  of  the  event.     Recent  issue  of  that  medal  at  Rome,       -  590 
§33. — Tolerating  edict  of  Nantes  in   1598.     Revocation  by  Louis  XIV.  in 

1685,  at  the  instance  ot  his  Jesuit  confessor,       ...         -  593 

§  34. — Cruelties  consequent  upon  the  revocation.     Dragoonading,       -         -  594 

5  35. — The  galleys.     Popery  loves  to  persecute  the  holiest  men,        -        -  594 

J  36-38. — Proofs.     Extracts  from  letters  of  Le  Febvre,  Marolles,  and  Maiwu,  595 

§  39. — Fiendish  cruelty  to  a  mother  and  her  babe, 597 

§  40. — Pope's  letter  applauding  Louis  for  persecuting  the  heretics,      -        -  598 

BOOK  IX.— POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE.— From   the   Revocation   of   the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  A.  D.  1685,  to  the  present  time,  A.  D.  1845. 

Chapter  I. — The  Jesuits.     Their  missions.     Their  suppression,  revival,  and  pre- 
sent position. 

i  1. — Early  Jesuit  missions.     College  De  Propaganda,  &c,       -  599 

§  2. — Temporizing  policy.     Adoption  of  Heathen  ceremonies,    -  600 

5  3. — The  Jansenists.     Pascal  and  Father  Quesnel,  -        -        -        -        -  601 

(j  4. — The  Jesuits,  notorious  assassins  of  sovereigns,           ...         -  602 
§  5,  6. — Their  suppression  in  various  countries,  and  final   abolition  of  the 

order  by  pope  Clement  XIV.,     -------  604 

\1. — Revival  of  the  order  by  pope  Pius  in  1814.     Jesuits' oath,        -        -  605 

Chapter  II. —  The  persecuting  and  intolerant  spirit  of  Popery  in  the  eighteenth 

and  nineteenth  centuries. 
58  9. — Persecutions  in  the  Cevennes.     Cruel  death  of  Boeton,       -        -        606 


xxiv  ANALYTICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PACK 

)  10,  11. — Still  later  persecutions.  Desubas  in  1745,  R.ochette  in  1762,  .  607 
§ 12. — Efforts  of  the  French  priests  to  revive  the  persecution  so  late  as  1772. 

French  Revolution,  .--.--.-         609 

J 13. — Last  victim  of  the  Inquisition  in  Spain.  Inquisition  still  in  Rome,  609 
5  14. — Raffaele  Ciocci.  Popery  still  a  wolf,  though  in  the  skin  of  a  lamb,  610 
5  15. — Public  burning  of  Bibles  at  Champlain,  N.  Y.,  in  1842,  -         -         612 

j 16. — A  woman  condemned  to  death  for  heresy  in  1844,  -         -         -         613 

J 17. — Persecution  part  of  the  si/stem  of  Popery.  Bishop's  oath,  -  -  615 
§  18,  19. — Annual  cursing  and  excommunication  of  all  the  classes  of  heretics 

on  Maunday  Thursday,  by  the  Pope.  &.c,         -         -         -         -         61  ^ 

Chapter  III. —  Popery  unchanged.     Modern  documentary  evidence  of  its  hatred  to 
liberty  of  opinion,  separation  of  church  and  stale,  freedom  of  the  press,  and  a 
translated  Bible. 
J  20. — A  Romish  author  cited  on  the  unchangeableness  of  Popery,  -         -         CIS 
§21. — Popery  still  opposed  to  freedom  of  thought.     Pope  Gregory's  bull  of 

1832  cited, 619 

j  22. — Opposed  also  to  separation  of  church  and  state,  political  liberty,  &c. 

Quotations,      --  .......         619 

§  23. — Still  opposed  to  liberty  of  the  press.     Quotation,  ....         620 

)  24,  25. — To  the  Bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue.   Pope  Pius  quoted  in  1816,  Gre- 
gory in  1844,  .........         621 

j  26,  27. — No  Bibles  allowed  without  popish  notes.      Burning  of  Catholic 

testaments  because  without  notes,  in  South  America,         -         -         624 

Chapter   IV. — Popery  as  it  now  is.     Testimony  of  eye-witnesses.     Its  modern 

pious  frauds  and  pretended  miracles. 
J  28. — Unchanged  in  its  grovelling  superstitions  and  lying  wonders,  -         626 

}  29. — Interesting  letter  from  a  recent  traveller  on  the  continent  and  in  Rome,  626 
530. — Parallel  between  Popery  and  modern  Heathenism  by  Rev.  E.  Kincaid,  627 
J31. — Miracle  of  liquefying  the  blood  of  St.  Januarius,  -  -  -  -  629 
§  32. — The  holy  house  at  Loretto.     Flight  through  the  air  from  Nazareth  (!), 

holy  porringer  and  all  (! !).  -         -         -         -         -         -         630 

j  33. — The  miraculous  virgins  of  the  Tyrol  exhibited  in  1841  with  the  wounds 

of  Christ.    The  Adolorata  and  Ecstatica,  ...        -        630 

j  34. — Virgin  Mary  weeping.     The  imposture  detected,  ...         631 

^35. — The  miraculous  medal  of  1830,  and  its  wonders,  -         ...         632 

Chapter  V. — Recent  events.     Discontent  in  Italy.     Puseyism.     The  holy  coal. 

and  the  priest  Ronge.     Jesuits  in  Switzerland.     Statistics.     Conclusion. 

■j  36. — Spirit  of  liberty  in  the  Papal  States.     Pope's  dread  of  it,      -        -  633 

j  37. — Puseyism  in  Oxford.  Pleasing  to  the  Pope,  ....  634 
)  38-39. — Movement  in  Germany.     Imposture  of  the  Holy  Coat  at  Treves  in 

1844.     Fearless  expostulation  of  John  Ronge.     A  new  Church,  635 

j  40-41. — Recent  proceedings  of  the  Jesuits  in  Switzerland,   ...  639 

']  42. — Popish  missions  to  the  United  States,  &c.     Sums  expended,           -  641 

0  43. — Statistics  of  Popery  in  America,  -------  642 

544. — Designs  of  the  Pope  and  his  adherents  in  America,       ...  643 

j  45. — Statistics  of  Popery  in  Britain.     Maynooth  college,       -  644 

j  46. — Total  of  Romanists  throughout  the  world.  Popery  is  in  its  Dotage,  644 
547. — Concluding  remarks.     The  Pope  is  anti-Christ.     Authors  who  have 

believed  this,  ---..*..---  646 

\  48. — Probably  some  of  God's  people  in  the  Romish  Babylon.     All  exhorted 

to  come  out  of  her, -        647 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 

BOOK    I. 

POPERY   IN   EMBRYO. 

FROM    TirE   EARLIEST   CORRUPTIONS   OF   CHRISTIANITY   TO   THE 
PAPAL    SUPREMACY,   A.  D.,    606. 

CHAPTER  I. 

CHRISTIANITY    PRIMITIVE    AND    PAPAL. 

§  1. — The  blessed  founder  of  Christianity  chose  to  make  his  advent 
among  the  lowly  and  the  despised.  This  was  agreeable  to  the  spirit 
of  that  Holy  Religion  which  he  came  to  establish.  There  was  a 
time  when  a  multitude  of  his  followers,  astonished  and  convinced 
by  the  omnipotence  displayed  in  his  wondrous  miracles,  were  dis- 
posed to  "  take  him  by  force  to  make  him  a  king,"  but  so  far  from 
encouraging  their  design,  the  inspired  historian  tells  us  "  that  he 
departed  again,  into  a  mountain  himself  alone."  (John  vi.,  15.) 
In  reply  to  the  inquiries  of  the  Roman  governor,  he  uttered  those 
memorable  words,  "  my  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,"  and  his 
whole  conduct  from  the  manger  to  the  cross,  and  from  the  cross  to 
the  mount  of  ascension,  was  in  strict  accordance  with  this  char- 
acteristic maxim  of  genuine  Christianity. 

§  2. — In  selecting  those  whom  he  would  send  forth  as  the  apostles 
of  his  faith,  he  went,  not  to  the  mansions  of  the  great  or  to  the 
palaces  of  kings,  but  to  the  humble  walks  of  life,  and  chose  from 
the  poor  of  this  world,  those  who,  in  prosecuting  their  mission,  were 
destined,  like  their  divine  master,  to  be  despised  and  rejected  of 
men.  In  performing  the  work  which  their  Lord  had  given  them  to 
do,  the  lowly  but  zealous  fisherman  of  Galilee,  and  the  courageous 
tent-maker  of  Tarsus,  with  their  faithful  fellow-laborers,  despising 
all  earthly  honors  and  worldly  aggrandizement,  were  content  to  lay 
every  laurel  at  the  foot  of  Christ's  cross,  and  to  "  count  all  things 
but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus,  their 
Lord,"  for  whom  they  had  "  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things."  (Phi- 
lippians,  iii.,  8.) 


26  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [booki. 

Contrast.  Effect  of  pe nwcution. 

§  3. — A  few  centuries  afterward,  we  find  the  professed  successor 
of  Peter  the  fisherman,  dwelling  in  a  magnificent  palace,  attended 
by  troops  of  soldiers  ready  to  avenge  the  slightest  insult  offered 
to  his  dignity,  surrounded  by  all  the  ensigns  of  worldly  greatness, 
with  more  than  regal  splendor,  proudly  claiming  to  be  the  sovereign 
ruler  of  the  universal  church,  the  Vicegerent  of  God  upon  earth, 
whose  decision  is  infallible  and  whose  will  is  law.  The  contrast 
between  these  two  pictures  of  Primitive  Christianity  in  the  first 
century,  and  Papal  Christianity  in  the  seventh  or  eighth,  is  so 
amazing,  that  we  are  irresistibly  led  to  the  inquiry,  can  they  be  the 
same  ?  If  one  is  a  faithful  picture  of  Christianity,  can  it  be  possible 
that  the  other  is  worthy  of  the  name  ? 

Leaving  the  reader  to  answer  this  question  for  himself,  after  ac- 
companying us  in  the  present  history,  we  proceed  to  remark  that 
this  transformation  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  taken  place  all  at 
once.  The  change  from  the  lowliness  of  the  one  to  the  lordliness 
of  the  other,  required  ages  to  complete,  and  it  was  not  till  the  lapse 
of  more  than  five  centuries  from  the  death  of  the  last  of  the  apostles* 
that  the  transformation  was  entire. 

§  4. — The  apostle  Paul  tells  us  that  even  in  his  day  "  the  mystery 
of  iniquity  "  had  begun  to  work,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  purify- 
ing influence  of  the  fires  of  persecution  kindled  by  the  emperors 
of  pagan  Rome,  the  advance  of  ecclesiastical  corruption  and  spir- 
itual despotism  would  probably  have  been  far  more  rapid  than  it  was 
— and  at  an  earlier  period  "  the  man  of  sin  "  have  been  "  revealed," 
even  that  "  son  of  perdition,  who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself  above 
all  that  is  called  God  or  that  is  worshipped ;  so  that  he  as  God, 
sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God."  For 
three  Centuries  after  the  ascension  of  Christ,  his  disciples  were  ex- 
posed, with  but  few  and  brief  intermissions,  to  a  succession  of  cruel 
and  bitter  persecutions  and  sufferings.  The  pampered  wild  beasts, 
kept  for  the  amusement  of  the  Roman  populace,  fattened  upon  the 
bodies  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus  in  the  amphitheatres  of  Rome  or  of 
other  cities  of  the  empire,  and  hundreds  of  fires  were  fed  by  the 
living  frames  of  those  who  "  loved  not  their  lives  unto  the  death." 
"  They  were  stoned,  they  were  sawn  asunder,  were  tempted,  were 
slain  with  the  sword ;  they  wandered  about  in  sheep  skins  and  goat 
skins,  being  destitute,  afflicted,  tormented  (of  whom  the  world  was 
not  worthy);  they  wandered  in  deserts  and  in  mountains,  and  in 
dens  and  caves  of  the  earth." 

Under  such  a  state  of  things,  there  was  of  course  but  little 
inducement  to  the  worldly  minded  and  ambitious,  to  seek  admission 
to  the  church ;  and  if  during  a  season  of  relaxation  some  such  might 
creep  within  its  pale,  it  required  only  the  mandate  of  another  em- 

*  St.  John  is  supposed  to  have  died  about  A.  D.  100.  "He  lived,"  says  Dr. 
Cave,  "  till  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Trajan,  about  the  beginning  of  whose  reign, 
he  departed  this  life,  very  aged,  about  the  ninety-eighth  or  ninety-ninth  year  of  his 
age,  as  is  generally  thought."     See  Cave's  Lives  of  the  Apostles,  page  104. 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  27 

How  Popery  proves  the  Bible.  Because  predicted  in  it. 

peror  to  kindle  anew  the  fires  of  persecution  in  order  to  separate 
the  dross  from  the  gold.  This  opposition  of  the  powers  and  poten- 
tates of  the  earth,  constituted  the  most  effectual  barrier  against  the 
speedier  progress  of  corruption  in  the  church,  and  according  to  the 
prediction  of  St.  Paul,  before  "  the  man  of  sin  "  could  be  revealed 
it  was  necessary  that  this  let  or  hindrance  should  be  removed.  It 
can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  the  apostle  referred  to  the  continu- 
ance of  persecuting  pagan  Rome,  when  he  said, "  and  now  ye  know 
what  withholdeth,  that  he  might  be  revealed  in  his  time,  for  the 
mystery  of  iniquity  doth  already  work,  only  he  who  now  letteth  will 
let  until  he  be  taken  out  of  the  way ;  and  then  shall  that  wicked 

BE  REVEALED." 

§  5. — It  is  an  important  fact  that  Popery  is  plainly  a  subject  of 
prophetic  prediction  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  though  the 
almost  entire  subversion  of  true  Christianity,  which  occurred  in  the 
course  of  only  a  few  centuries,  might  otherwise  have  a  tendency  to 
stagger  our  faith  in  its  divine  origin,  yet  when  it  is  remembered 
that  this  great  antichristian  Apostasy  or  "falling  away"  (cmooTaoca) 
happened  in  exact  accordance  with  "  the  scriptures  of  truth,"  the 
fact  serves  to  strengthen  rather  than  to  shake  our  faith  in  the  divinity 
of  our  holy  religion.  Not  long  ago,  the  remark  was  made  by  a 
Roman  Catholic,  "  The  Bible  cannot  be  true  without  Holy  Mother 
of  Rome."  He  meant  to  say  that  the  Pope  gives  it  all  its  evidence 
and  authority.  "  Very  true,"  said  a  Protestant :  "  for  as  the  Holy 
Bible  has  predicted  the  rise,  power,  and  calamities  of  Popery — if 
these  predictions  had  not  been  fully  manifested  in  the  actual  exist- 
ence and  tremendous  evils  of  Popery,  the  Bible  would  have  wanted 
the  fulfilment  of  its  prophecies,  and  therefore  would  not  have  been 
true  !"  The  same  thought  was  recently  suggested  in  an  eloquent 
discourse  by  Professor  Gaussen,  of  Geneva,  before  his  Theological 
class.  "  In  pointing  to  the  Pope,"  said  he,  "  we  point  to  a  miracle 
which  calls  upon  us  to  believe  the  Bible !  Considered  in  this  view, 
the  obduracy  of  the  Romanists,  like  the  obduracy  of  the  Jews, 
wonderfully  instructs  the  church,  because  it  has  been  foretold;  and 
thus  it  is  that  the  scandals  of  Rome  are  transformed  into  an  eloquent 
argument.  The  sovereign  pontiff  and  the  Romish  hierarchy  be- 
come, in  this  way,  admirable  supports  of  the  truth." 

To  prove  that  Popery  is  the  subject  of  prophetic  prediction,  it 
would  be  easy  to  produce  a  multitude  of  passages,  but  we  shall 
content  ourselves  for  the  present  with  citing  entire  the  full  length 
portrait  of  the  Romish  Apostasy  in  the  second  epistle  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians,  chap,  ii.,  v.  1,  &c,  and  in  first  Timothy,  chap,  iv.,  v.  1,  &c. 
"  Now  we  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  by  our  gathering  together  unto  him,  that  ye  be  not  soon 
shaken  in  mind,  or  be  troubled,  neither  by  spirit,  nor  by  word,  nor 
by  letter  as  from  us,  as  that  the  day  of  Christ  is  at  hand.  Let  no 
man  deceive  you  by  any  means ;  for  that  day  shall  not  come, 
except  there  come  a  falling  away  first,  and  that  man  of  sin  be  re- 
vealed, the  son  of  perdition ;  who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself 


28  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 

Inspired  descriptions  of  the  Romish  Apostasy.  Tertullian  quoted. 

above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  worshipped  ;  so  that  he, 
as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God. 
Remember  ye  not,  that  when  I  was  yet  with  you  I  told  you  these 
things  ?  And  now  ye  know  what  withholdeth  that  he  might  be  re- 
vealed in  his  time.  For  the  mystery  of  iniquity  doth  already  work  : 
only  he  who  now  lctteth  will  let,  until  he  be  taken  out  of  the  way. 
Anil  then  shall  that  wicked  be  revealed,  whom  the  Lord  shall 
consume  with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth,  and  shall  destroy  with  the 
brightness  of  his  coming:  Even  him  whose  coming  is  after  the 
working  of  Satan,  with  all  power  and  signs  and  lying  wonders, 
and  with  all  deceivableness  of  unrighteousness  in  them  that  perish  ; 
because  they  received  not  the  love  of  the  truth,  that  they  might  be 
saved."  "  Now  the  Spirit  speaketh  expressly,  that  in  the  latter  times 
some  shall  depart  from  the  faith,  giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits, 
and  doctrines  of  devils  ;  speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy,  having  their 
conscience  seared  with  a  hot  iron  ;  forbidding  to  marry,  and  com- 
manding to  abstain  from  meats,  which  God  hath  created  to  be  re- 
ceived with  thanksgiving  of  them  which  believe  and  know  the 
truth."  How  accurate  is  this  inspired  portrait  of  the  great  Apos- 
tasy of  Rome,  although  penned  five  or  six  centuries  before  its 
complete  development !  Aside  from  the  accurate  symbolical  de- 
scriptions of  the  same  power  in  the  prophecies  of  Daniel  and  the 
Revelations,  these  two  passages  alone  constitute  a  complete  pro- 
phetical picture  of  the  Papal  anti-Christ,  in  which  every  feature, 
every  lineament  is  drawn  to  the  very  life  ;  nor  is  this  to  be  won- 
dered at,  for  it  was  sketched  by  the  pencil  of  Omniscience  itself. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  wicked  power  which  in  the  former  of  these 
passages  is  the  subject  of  the  apostle's  discourse,  and  denominated 
the  ma*  of  sin,  had  not  then  been  fully  displayed,  and  that  there 
existed  some  obstacle  to  a  complete  revelation  of  the  mystery  of 
iniquity.  The  apostle  uses  a  particular  caution  when  hinting  at  it ; 
but  the  Thessalonians,  he  says,  knew  of  it ;  probably  from  the 
explanation  he  had  given  them  verbally,  when  he  was  with  them. 
It  can  scarcely  be  questioned,  that  the  hindrance  or  obstacle,  refer- 
red to  in  these  words,  was  the  heathen  or  pagan  Roman  govern- 
ment, which  acted  as  a  restraint  upon  the  pride  and  domination  of 
the  clergy,  through  whom  the  man  of  sin  ultimately  arrived  at  his 
power  and  authority,  as  will  afterwards  appear.  The  extreme 
caution  which  the  apostle  manifests  in  speaking  of  this  restraint, 
renders  it  not  improbable  that  it  was  something  relating  to  the 
higher  powers  ;  for  we  can  easily  conceive  how  improper  it  would 
have  been  to  declare  in  plain  terms,  that  the  existing  government 
of  Rome  should  come  to  an  end. 

There  is  a  remarkable  passage  in  Tertullian's  Apology,  that  may 
serve  to  justify  the  sense  which  Protestants  put  upon  these  verses  ; 
and  since  it  was  written  long  before  the  accomplishment  of  the  pre- 
dictions, it  deserves  the  more  attention.  "  Christians,"  says  he,  "  are 
under  a  particular  necessity  of  praying  for  the  emperors,  and  for 
the  continued  state  of  the  empire  ;  because  we  know  that  dreadful 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  29 

Constaniine  the  Emperor.  Kingdom  of  the  clergy. 

power  which  hangs  over  the  world,  and  the  conclusion  of  the  age, 
which  threatens  the  most  horrible  evils,  is  restrained  by  the  continu- 
ance of  the  time  appointed  for  the  Roman  empire.  This  is  what  we 
would  not  experience  ;  and  while  we  pray  that  it  may  be  deferred, 
we  hereby  show  our  good-will  to  the  perpetuity  of  the  Roman 
state."*  From  this  extract  it  is  very  manifest  that  the  Christians, 
even  in  Tertullian's  time,  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  before  the 
pagan  government  of  Rome  came  to  its  end,  looked  forward  to  that 
period  as  pregnant  with  calamity  to  the  cause  of  Christ ;  though  it 
is  probable  they  did  not  accurately  understand  the  manner  in  which 
the  evils  should  be  brought  on  the  church.  And  this,  indeed,  the 
event  proved  to  be  the  case.  For  while  the  long  and  harassing 
persecutions,  which  were  carried  on  by  the  pagan  Roman  emperors, 
continued,  and  all  secular  advantages  were  on  the  side  of  Paganism, 
there  was  little  encouragement  for  any  one  to  embrace  Christianity, 
who  did  not  discern  somewhat  of  its  truth  and  excellence. 

§  6. — Many  of  the  errors,  indeed,  of  several  centuries,  the  fruit  of 
vain  philosophy,  paved  the  way  for  the  events  which  followed  ;  but 
the  hindrance  was  not  effectually  removed,  until  Constantino  the 
emperor,  on  professing  himself  a  Christian,  undertook  to  convert  the 
Ttingdom  of  Christ  into  a  kingdom  of  this  world,  by  exalting  the 
teachers  of  Christianity  to  the  same  state  of  affluence,  grandeur,  and 
influence  in  the  empire,  as  had  been  enjoyed  by  pagan  priests  and 
secular  officers  in  the  state.  The  professed  ministers  of  Jesus  hav- 
ing now  a  wide  field  opened  to  them  for  gratifying  their  lust  of 
power,  wealth,  and  dignity,  the  connection  between  the  Christian 
faith  and  the  cross  was  at  an  end.  What  followed  was  the  king- 
dom of  the  clergy,  supplanting  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Every  feature  in  the  inspired  description  corresponds  to  that  of 
a  religious  power,  in  the  assumption  of  Divine  authority,  Divine 
honors,  and  Divine  worship ;  a  power  which  should  arrogate  the 
prerogatives  of  the  Most  High,  having  its  seat  in  the  temple  or 
house  of  God,  and  which  should  be  carried  on  by  Satan's  influence, 
with  all  deceit,  hypocrisy,  and  tyranny  ;  and  with  this  corresponds 
the  figurative  representation  given  of  the  same  power,  in  the  thir- 
teenth chapter  of  Revelations. 

As  many  things  in  the  Christian  profession,  before  the  reign  of 
Constantine,  made  way  for  the  kingdom  of  the  clergy,  so,  after  they 
were  raised  to  stations  of  temporal  dignity  and  power,  it  was  not 
wholly  at  one  stride  that  they  arrived  at  the  climax  here  depicted 
by  the  inspired  apostle.  Neither  the  corruption  of  Christianity,  nor 
the  reformation  of  its  abuses,  was  effected  in  a  day  ;  "  evil  men  and 
seducers  waxed  worse  and  worse." 

In  the  sequel,  it  will  appear,  that  when  the  bishops  were  once 
exalted  to  wealth,  power,  and  authority,  this  exaltation  was  of  itself 
the  prolific  source  of  every  corrupt  fruit.  Learning,  eloquence,  and 
influence,  were   chiefly  exerted   to  maintain   their  own  personal 

*  Tertullian's  Apology,  ch.  xxxii. 


30  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 

Christ's  kingdom  not  of  this  world.  Effect."  of  losing  sight  of  this  important  principle. 

dominion  and  popularity.  Contests  for  pre-eminence  over  each 
other,  became  the  succcdaneum  of  the  ancient  contention  for  the 
faith,  and  its  influence  over  the  world. 

All  the  violent  contentions,  the  assembling  of  councils,  the  perse- 
cutions alternately  carried  on  by  the  different  parties,  were  so  many 
means  of  preparing  the  way  for  the  assumption  of  spiritual  tyranny, 
and  the  idolatry  and  superstition  of  the  Roman  hierarchy.  In  all 
these  transactions,  the  substitution  of  human  for  divine  authority ; 
contentions  about  words  instead  of  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the 
saints  ;  pomp  and  splendor  of  worship,  for  the  primitive  simplicity  ; 
and  worldly  power  and  dignity  instead  of  the  self-denied  labors 
of  love  and  bearing  the  cross  ; — this  baneful  change  operated  in 
darkening  the  human  mind  as  to  the  real  nature  of  true  Christianity, 
until,  in  process  of  time,  it  was  lost  sight  of. 

When  Jesus  Christ  was  interrogated  by  the  Roman  governor 
concerning  his  kingdom,  he  replied,  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world."  This  is  a  maxim  of  unspeakable  importance  in  his  religion ; 
and  almost  every  corruption  that  has  arisen,  and  by  which  this 
heavenly  institution  has  been  debased,  from  time  to  time,  may  be 
traced,  in  one  way  or  other,  to  a  departure  from  that  great  and 
fundamental  principle  of  the  Christian  kingdom.* 


CHAPTER  II. 

RELIGION    IN    ALLIANCE    WITH    THE    STATE. 

§  7. — It  was  owing  to  forgetfulness  or  disregard  of  the  important 
principle,  mentioned  at  the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  viz.,  that  Christ's 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  that  the  emperor  Constantino,  soon 
after  his  remarkable,  and  as  some  suppose,  miraculous  conversion 
to  Christianity  in  the  year  312,  took  the  religion  of  Christ  to  the 
unhallowed  embraces  of  the  state,  assumed  to  unite  in  his  own 
person  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  dominion,  and  claimed  the  power 
of  convening  councils  and  presiding  in  them,  and  of  regulating  the 
external  affairs  of  the  church.  The  account  of  Constantino's  con- 
version, which  is  related  by  Eusebius  in  his  life  of  the  Emperor, 
by  whom  the  particulars  were  communicated  to  the  historian,  is  as 
follows  :  (Eusebius,  vita  Const.,  lib.  i.,  chap.  28.,  &c.)  At  the  head  of 
his  army,  Constantino  was  marching  from  France  into  Italy,  op- 

*  See  Jones's  Ch.  Hist.,  ch.  ii.,  sect.  4. 


chap,  n.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  600.  31 

Constantine's  pretended  miraculous  conversion.  Increase  of  dignities  in  the  church. 

pressed  with  anxiety  as  to  the  result  of  a  battle  with  Maxentius. 
and  looking  for  the  aid  of  some  deity  to  assure  him  of  success,  when 
he  suddenly  beheld  a  luminous  cross  in  the  air,  with  the  words 
inscribed  thereon,  "By  this  overcome."  Pondering  on  the  event 
at  niorht,  he  asserted  that  Jesus  Christ  appeared  to  him  in  a  vision, 
and  directed  him  to  make  the  symbol  of  the  cross  his  military 
ensign.  Different  opinions  have  been  entertained  relative  to  the 
credibility  of  this  account.  Dr.  Milner  receives  it,  though  in  evident 
inconsistency  with  his  creed  ;  Mosheim  supposes,  with  the  ancient 
writers,  Sozomen  and  Rufinus,  that  the  whole  was  a  dream  ;  Gre- 
gory, Jones,  Haweis,  and  others  reject  it  altogether,  and  Professor 
Gieseler,  with  his  usual  accuracy  and  good  sense,  reckons  it  among 
"  the  legends  of  the  age,  which  had  their  origin  in  the  feeling  that 
the  final  struggle  was  come  between  Paganism  and  Christianity." 
For  my  part,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  regarding  the  whole  as  a  fable. 
It  was  not  till  many  years  after  it  was  said  to  have  occurred,  that 
Constantine  related  the  story  to  Eusebius,  and  in  all  probability  he 
did  it  then  by  the  instigation  of  his  superstitious  mother  Helena,  the 
celebrated  discoverer  of  the  wood  of  the  true  cross  (?)  at  Jerusalem, 
some  250  years  after  the  total  destruction  of  that  city,  and  all  that 
it  contained,  and  the  disappearance  of  the  identity  of  its  very  foun- 
dations, under  the  ploughshare  of  the  Roman  conqueror  Vespasian. 
The  subsequent  life  of  Constantine  furnished  no  evidence  that  he 
was  a  peculiar  favorite  of  Heaven  ;  and  the  results  of  his  patronage 
of  the  church,  eventually  so  disastrous  to  its  purity  and  spirituality, 
are  sufficient  to  prove  that  God  would  never  work  a  miracle  to 
accomplish  such  a  purpose. 

§  8. — Soon  after  Constantine's  professed  conversion  to  Christianity, 
he  undertook  to  remodel  the  government  of  the  church,  so  as  to  make 
it  conform  as  much  as  possible  to  the  government  of  the  state.  Hence 
the  origin  of  the  dignities  of  patriarchs,  exarchs,  archbishops,  canons, 
prebendaries,  &c,  intended  by  the  Emperor  to  correspond  with  the 
different  secular  offices  and  dignities,  connected  with  the  civil  ad- 
ministration of  the  empire.  Taking  these  newly  constituted  digni- 
taries of  the  church  into  his  own  special  favor,  he  loaded  them  with 
wealth  and  worldly  honors,  and  richly  endowed  the  churches  over 
which  they  presided,  thus  fostering  in  those  who  professed  to  be  the 
followers  and  ministers  of  HIM  who  was  "  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart,"  a  spirit  of  worldly  ambition,  pride,  and  avarice.  And  thus 
was  the  let  or  hindrance  to  the  progress  of  corruption,  and  the 
revelation  of  "  the  man  of  sin "  spoken  of  by  Saint  Paul  in  the 
remarkable  prediction,  already  referred  to,  in  a  great  measure  re- 
moved. 

From  this  time  onward,  the  progress  of  priestly  domination  and 
tyranny  was  far  more  rapid  than  in  any  previous  age.  The  lofty- 
title  of  Patriarch  was  assumed  by  the  bishops  of  Rome,  Alexandria, 
Antioch,  and  Jerusalem,  and  also  of  Constantinople,  after  the  re- 
moval of  the  seat  of  empire  to  that  city,  claiming,  according  to 
Bingham  (Antiquities,  B.  II,  chap.  17),  "  the  right  to  ordain  all  the 


32  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 

Tlu-  live  patriarchates.  Earliest  instance  of  Romish  assumption. 

metropolitans  of  their  own  diocese  ;  to  call  diocesan  synods,  and  to 
preside  over  them  ;  to  receive  appeals  from  metropolitan  and  pro- 
vincial synods  :  to  censure  metropolitans  and  their  suffragan  bishops  ; 
to  pronounce  absolution  upon  great  criminals,  and  to  be  absolute 
and  independent  one  of  another." 

In  relation  t<>  these  live  patriarchates,  the  Romanists,  as  Coleman 
says  {Christian  Antiquities,  chap.  3,  Sect.  5),  are  careful  to  say 
that  "  there  were,  at  first,  five  patriarchs  in  the  church  ;  that  those  of 
Rome,  Alexandria,  and  Antioch  were  deservedly  so  called  per  se 
et  ex  naiurd,  but  that  those  of  Constantinople  and  Jerusalem  were 
by  mere  accident,  per  accidens,  graced  with  this  title."  The  fact  that 
these  patriarchs  were  absolute  and  independent  of  each  other,  shows 
that,  up  to  this  time,  notwithstanding  the  proud  pretensions  of  the 
bishop  or  patriarch  of  Rome,  he  was  not  as  yet  acknowledged  as 
head  of  the  universal  church. 

§  9. — The  bishops  of  the  three  great  cities  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
Rome,  Alexandria,  and  Antioch,  according  to  the  learned  and  accu- 
rate Gieseler,  had  the  largest  dioceses.  Hence  they  were  considered 
as  the  heads  of  the  church,  and  in  all  general  affairs,  particular  de- 
ference was  paid  to  their  opinion.  Still,  however,  great  stress  was 
laid  on  the  perfect  equality  of  all  bishops  ;  and  each,  in  his  own  diocese, 
was  answerable  only  to  God  and  his  conscience.  Nor  were  they 
likely  to  allow  any  peculiar  authority  to  the  supposed  successor  of 
Peter,  inasmuch  as  they  attributed  to  Peter  no  superiority  over  the 
other  apostles.  In  the  West,  indeed,  a  certain  regard  was  paid  to 
the  church  of  Rome  as  the  largest,  but  by  no  means  were  any 
peculiar  rights  conceded  to  it  over  other  churches.  Of  course,  this 
would  be  still  less  the  case  in  the  East.* 

It  is  true  that  so  early  as  before  the  conclusion  of  the  second 
century,  Victor,  bishop  of  Rome,  had  attempted  to  lord  it  over  his 
brethren  of  the  East,  by  forcing  them,  by  his  pretended  laws  and 
decrees,  to  follow  the  rule,  which  was  observed  by  the  Western 
churches,  in  relation  to  the  time  of  keeping  the  paschal  feast,  to 
which,  in  later  times,  the  name  of  Easter  was  applied.  The  Asi- 
atics did  not  observe  this  festival  on  the  same  day  as  the  Western 
churches,  and  in  order  to  make  them  conform  to  his  wishes,  Victor 
wrote  an  imperious  letter  to  the  churches  in  Asia,  commanding  them 
to  observe  it  on  the  same  day  as  he  did.  The  Asiatics  answered 
this  lordly  summons  by  the  pen  of  Polycrates,  bishop  of  Ephesus, 
who  declared,  in  their  name,  and  that  with  great  spirit  and  resolu- 
tion, that  they  would  by  no  means  depart,  in  this  matter,  from  the 
custom  handed  down  to  them  by  their  ancestors.  Upon  this,  the 
thunder  of  excommunication  began  to  roar.  Victor,  exasperated 
by  this  resolute  answer  of  the  Asiatic  bishops,  broke  communion 
with  them,  pronounced  them  unworthy  of  the  name  of  his  brethren, 
and  excluded  them  from  all  fellowship  with  the  church  of  Rome. 

*  Gieseler's  text-book  of  ecclesiastical  history,  translated  from  the  German 
edition    by  F.  Cunningham.     Vol  I.,  page  153. 


ohap.  n.J  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  GOG.  33 

Supremacy  not  yet  established.  Historical  proofs.  Victor  and  Stephen 

This  excommunication,  indeed,  extended  no  further  ;  nor  could  it 
cut  off"  the  Asiatic  bishops  from  communion  with  the  other  churches, 
whose  bishops  were  far  from  approving  the  conduct  of  Victor.  The 
progress  of  this  violent  dissension  was  stopped  by  the  wise  and 
moderate  remonstrances,  which  Irenoeus,  bishop  of  Lyons,  addressed 
to  the  Roman  prelate  upon  this  occasion,  in  which  he  showed  him 
the  imprudence  and  injustice  of  the  step  he  had  taken,  and  also  by 
the  long  letter  which  the  Asiatic  Christians  wrote  in  their  own 
justification.  In  consequence  therefore  of  this  cessation  of  arms, 
the  combatants  retained  each  their  own  customs,  until  the  fourth 
century,  when  the  council  of  Nice  abolished  that  of  the  Asiatics,  and 
rendered  the  time  of  the  celebration  of  Easter  the  same  through 
all  the  Christian  churches.  "  This  whole  affair,"  remarks  the  learned 
Mosheim,  "  furnishes  a  striking  argument,  among  the  multitude  that 
may  be  drawn  from  Ecclesiastical  History,  against  the  supremacy 
and  universal  authority  of  the  bishop  of  Rome."* 

§  10. — Another  proof  equally  conclusive,  that  the  bishop  of  Rome 
was  not  acknowledged  as  supreme  head  of  the  church,  may  be  drawn 
from  the  dispute  that  arose  between  the  imperious  Stephen  of  Rome 
and  Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage,  in  Africa,  about  the  middle  of  the 
third  century,  relative  to  the  validity  of  baptism  administered  by 
heretics.  As  there  was  no  express  law  which  determined  the  man- 
ner and  form,  according  to  which  those  who  abandoned  the  heretical 
sects  were  to  be  received  into  the  communion  of  the  church,  the 
rules  practised  in  this  matter  were  not  the  same  in  all  Christian 
churches.  Many  of  the  oriental  and  African  Christians  placed  re- 
canting heretics  in  the  rank  of  catechumens,  and  admitted  them,  by 
baptism,  into  the  communion  of  the  faithful ;  while  the  greatest  part 
of  the  European  churches,  considering  the  baptism  of  heretics  as 
valid,  used  no  other  forms  in  their  reception  than  the  imposition 
of  hands,  accompanied  with  solemn  prayer.  This  diversity  pre- 
vailed for  a  long  time  without  kindling  contentions  or  animosities. 
But,  at  length,  charity  waxed  cold,  and  the  fire  of  ecclesiastical 
discord  broke  out.  In  this  century,  the  Asiatic  Christians  came  to 
a  determination  in  a  point  that  was  hitherto,  in  some  measure,  unde- 
cided ;  and  in  more  than  one  council  established  it  as  a  law,  that  all 
heretics  were  to  be  rebaptized  before  their  admission  to  the  commu- 
nion of  the  church. f  When  Stephen,  bishop  of  Rome,  was  in- 
formed of  this  determination,  he  behaved  with  the  most  unchris- 
tian violence  and  arrogance  toward  the  Asiatic  Christians,  broke 
communion  with  them,  and  excluded  them  from  the  communion  of 
the  church  of  Rome.  These  haughty  proceedings  made  no  impres- 
sion upon  Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage,  who,  notwithstanding  the 
menaces  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  assembled  a  council  on  this  occa- 
sion, and  with  the  rest  of  the  African  bishops,  adopted  the  opinion  of 
the  Asiatics,  and  gave  notice  thereof  to  the  imperious  Stephen.  The 

*Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History,  Vol.  I.,  page  205,  note, 
f  Eusebius,  Ecclesiastical  History,  B.  VII.,  chap.  5, 7,  page  273, 274.  Phil.  Edition. 
3 


34  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book 


Stephen  excommunicates  St.  Cyprian.  Remark  of  a  heathen  on  the  extravagance  of  the  Roman  bishops. 

fury  of  the  latter  was  redoubled  at  this  notification,  and  produced 
many  threatenings  and  invectives  against  Cyprian,  who  replied,  with 
great  force  and  resolution,  and,  in  a  second  council  held  at  Carthage, 
declared  the  baptism,  administered  by  heretics,  void  of  all  efficacy 
and  validity.  Upon  this,  the  choler  of  Stephen  swelled  beyond 
measure,  and.  by  a  decree  full  of  invectives,  which  was  received 
with  contempt,  "he  excommunicated  the  African  bishops,  whose 
moderation,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  death  of  their  imperious  anta- 
gonist on  the  other,  put  an  end  to  the  violent  controversy.* 

In  relating  these  quarrels,  of  course,  we  express  no  opinion  as  to 
which  party  was  right.  In  all  probability,  the  he?-etics,  whose  bap- 
tism they  questioned,  were  in  many  cases  nearer  the  truth  than 
either  party.  Our  single  object  in  relating  the  dispute  is  to  show, 
that  so  late  as  the  year  256,  when  the  council  of  Carthage  was  held, 
the  decisions  of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  when  they  conflicted  with  the 
views  of  other  bishops,  were  not  received  as  authority ;  and  that 
Saint  Cyprian,  as  he  is  called  by  Romanists  themselves,  could 
reject  his  decrees  with  contempt  without  forfeiting  his  title  to  the 
honors  of  subsequent  canonization.  What  greater  proof  could  be 
required  that  the  blasphemous  dogma  that  the  bishop  of  Rome  is 
supreme  head  of  the  church,  and  vicegerent  of  God  upon  earth,  had 
never  yet  been  heard  of?  He  was  travelling  step  by  step,  towards, 
but  he  had  not  yet  reached,  nor  did  he  attain,  till  more  than  three 
centuries  afterwards,  that  blasphemous  eminence,  when,  according 
to  the  prediction  of  Paul,  he  "  opposed  and  exalted  himself  above 
all  that  is  called  God  or  is  worshipped." 

He  far  surpassed  all  his  brethren  in  the  magnificence  and  splen- 
dor of  the  church  over  which  he  presided  ;  in  the  riches  of  his  reve- 
nues and  possessions  ;  in  the  number  and  variety  of  his  ministers  ; 
in  his  credit  with  the  people  ;  and  in  his  sumptuous  and  splendid 
manner  of  living.  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  a  Roman  historian,  who 
lived  during  these  times,  adverting  to  this  subject,  says,  "  It  was  no 
wonder  to  see  those  who  were  ambitious  of  human  greatness,  con- 
tending with  so  much  heat  and  animosity  for  that  dignity,  because 
when  they  had  obtained  it,  they  were  sure  to  be  enriched  by  the 
offerings  of  the  matrons,  of  appearing  abroad  in  great  splendor,  d' 
being  admired  for  their  costly  coaches,  and  sumptuous  feasts, 
outdoing  sovereign  princes  in  the  expenses  of  their  table/'  This 
led  Prcetcxtatus,  a  heathen,  who  was  prsefect  of  the  city,  to  say. 
"  Make  me  bishop  of  Rome,  and  Til  be  a  Christian  too  /"f 

These  dazzling  marks  of  human  power,  these  ambiguous  proofs 
of  true  greatness  and  felicity,  had  such  a  mighty  influence  upon 
the  minds  of  the  multitude,  that  the  See  of  Rome  became,  in  this 
century,  a  most  seducing  object  of  sacerdotal  ambition.  Hence  ii 
happened,  that  when  a  new  pontifl'  was  to  be  elected  by  the  suffrages 
of  the  presbyters  and  people,  the  city  of  Rome  was  generally  agitated 

*  Cyprian's  Epistles,  lxx.,  lxxiii. 

t  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  Liber  xxvii.,  cap.  3. 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  35 

Bloody  feud  between  rival  bishops  of  Rome.  Rudeness  of  Martin  of  Tours  to  the  Emperor. 


with  dissensions,  tumults,  and  cabals,  whose  consequences  \xcvc 
often  deplorable  and  fatal.  The  intrigues  and  disturbances  that 
prevailed  in  that  city  in  the  year  366,  when,  upon  the  death  of  Libe- 
rius,  another  pontiff  was  to  be  chosen  in  his  place,  are  a  sufficient 
proof  of  what  we  have  now  advanced.  Upon  this  occasion,  one 
faction  elected  Damasus  to  that  high  dignity,  while  the  opposite 
party  chose  Ursicinus,  a  deacon  of  the  vacant  church,  to  succeed 
Liberius.  This  double  election  gave  rise  to  a  dangerous  schism, 
and  to  a  sort  of  civil  war  within  the  city  of  Rome,  which  wTas  carried 
on  with  the  utmost  barbarity  and  fury,  and  produced  the  most  cruel 
massacres  and  desolations. 

In  this  disgraceful  contest,  which  ended  in  the  victory  of  Damasus, 
according  to  the  historian  Socrates,  great  numbers  were  murdered 
on  either  side,  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  persons 
being  destroyed  in  the  very  church  itself.  Who  does  not  perceive, 
in  these  wicked  strifes  and  sanguinary  struggles,  a  proof  that  now 
that  which  "  let "  or  hindered  was  "  taken  out  of  the  way,"  the  full 
revelation  of  the  predicted  "  man  of  sin  "  was  rapidly  hastening 
onward  ? 

While  such  an  example  of  worldly  pride  and  domination  was  set 
by  those  wTho  were  looked  up  to  as  the  heads  of  the  church,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  other  bishops  partook  of  the  same  spirit.  As  an 
instance  of  their  haughty  bearing  towards  earthly  kings  and  rulers, 
it  is  related  of  Martin,  bishop  of  Tours,  in  France,  that  in  the 
year  455,  he  was  invited  to  dine  with  the  Emperor  Maximus.  When 
the  cup  of  wine  was  presented  to  the  Emperor  by  the  servant,  hi; 
directed  that  it  should  be  first  offered  to  the  bishop,  expecting,  of 
course,  that  then  he  should  receive  it  from  the  hand  of  Martin. 
Instead  of  this,  however,  Martin  handed  the  cup  to  a  priest  of  infe- 
rior rank  who  sat  near  him,  thus  by  his  rudeness  intimating  that, 
he  regarded  him  as  of  higher  dignity  than  the  Emperor.*  Some 
time  after  this  the  queen  asked  her  husband's  consent,  that  she  might 
be  allowed,  in  the  character  of  a  servant,  to  wait  on  the  bishop  at 
supper,  and,  strange  to  say,  her  request  was  granted.  For  this  con- 
duct, according  to  the  superstitious  notions  of  the  times,  Sulpitius, 
the  biographer  of  Martin,  compares  her  to  the  queen  of  Sheba.  A 
Roman  Catholic  historian,  referring  to  this  bishop,  uses  the  follow- 
ing language  : — "  The  great  St.  Martin,  the  glory  and  light  of  Gaul. 
was  a  disciple  of  St.  Hilary.  The  utter  extirpation  of  idolatry  out 
of  the  diocese  of  Tours,  and  all  that  part  of  Gaul,  was  the  fruit  of  his 
edifying  piety,  illustrious  miracles,  zealous  labors,  and  fervent  ex- 
hortations and  instructions.  He  was  remarkable  for  his  humility, 
charity,  austerity,  and  all  other  heroic  virtues."f  Certainly  this 
historian,  to  say  the  least,  must  have  had  singular  notions  of  what 
constitutes  true  Christian  humility. 

*  "  Exspectans  atque  ambiens,  ut  ab  illius  dextera  poculum  sumeret.  Sed  Mar- 
tinus  ubi  ebibit,  pateram  presbytero  suo  tradidit,  nullum  scilicet  existimans  dignic- 
rem,  qui  post  se  biberet."     Snip.  Severus  de  vita  Mart.  c.  20,  quoted  by  Gieseler. 

f  Gahan's  History  of  the  Church,  page  153. 


30 


CHAPTER  III. 

STEPS    TOWARDS    PAPAL    SUPREMACY. 

§  11. — Nothing  could  be  more  simple  and  unpretending  than  the 
form  of  church  organization  and  government  in  primitive  times. 
Each  church  consisted  of  a  company  of  believers  in  the  Lord 
Jesus,  united  together  in  covenant  relationship,  for  the  worship  of 
God,  the  maintenance  of  gospel  doctrines,  and  the  due  administration 
of  the  ordinances  appointed  by  Christ.  ''Every  church,"  says 
Waddington,  an  Episcopalian,  "  in  the  management  of  its  internal 
affairs,  was  essentially  independent  of  every  other."  The  same  histo- 
rian adds  that  "  the  churches  formed  a  sort  of  federative  body  of 
independent  religious  communities,  dispersed  through  the  greater 
part  of  the  empire,  in  continual  communication  and  in  constant 
harmony  with  each  other."  (Wad.  Ch.  Hist., p.  43.) 

"  The  rulers  of  the  church,"  says  Mosheim,  a  Lutheran,  "  were 
called  either  presbyters  (i.  c.  elders),  or  bishops,  which  two  titles  are, 
in  the  New  Testament,  undoubtedly  applied  to  the  same  order  of 
men."*  (Acts  xx.,  17,  28  ;  Phil,  i.,  i),  &c.  (Mosheim,  vol.  i.,p.  '.)'.».) 
These  were  persons  of  eminent  gravity,  and  such  as  had  distin- 
guished themselves  by  their  superior  sanctity  and  merit.  "  Let 
none,"  says  the  same  learned  author.  "  confound  the  bishops  of  this 
primitive  and  golden  period  of  the  church,  with  those  of  whom  we 
read  in  the  following  ages.  For,  though  they  were  both  distinguished 
by  the  same  name,  yet  they  differed  extremely,  and  that  in  many 
respects.  A  bishop,  during  the  first  and  second  century,  was  a 
person  who  had  the  care  of  one  ( 'hristian  assembly,  which,  at  that 
time,  was,  generally  speaking,  small  enough  to  be  contained  in  a 
private  house."  Thus  when  writing  to  the  Colossians.  the  apostle 
Paul  sends  a  salutation  to  Nymphas,  and  "  the  church  which  is  in 
his  house."  (ch.  iv\,  15.)  In  the  commencement  of  the  epistle  to  the 
Philippians,  he  refers  to  the  officers  of  these  primitive  churches, 
when  he  directs  his  letter  "to  all  the  saints  in  Christ  Jesus,  which 
are  at  Philippi,  with  the  bishops  and  deacons."     (ch.  i.,  1.) 

§  12. — In  process  of  time,  however,  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  the 
primitive  churches  was  abandoned  ;  the  independence  of  each  par- 
ticular church  was  lost,  and  as  we  have  already  seen,  a  variety  of 
church  dignitaries  were  created  in  the  place  of  the  primitive  elders 
or  bishops  of  the  apostolic  age  ;  and  as  this  change  constituted  the 

*  This  is  now  universally  admitted  by  all  denominations,  Episcopalians  as  well 
as  others.  Thus,  in  the  tract  "  Episcopacy  tested  by  Scripture,"  published  by  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Tract  Society,  New  York  (p.  12),  the  author,  who  is  ac- 
knowledged to  be  one  of  their  ablest  advocates,  remarks  concerning  the  use  of  the 
title  bishop  in  the  New  Testament,  "  That  the  name  is  there  given  to  the  middle 
order  or  presbyters  ;  and  r///  that  we  read  in  the  New  Testament  concerning '  bishops,' 
including  of  course  the  words  '  overseer  '  and  '  oversight,' which  have  the  same 
derivation,"  says  he,"  is  to  be  regarded  as  pertaining  to  that  middle  grade."  that 
is,  to  the  presbyters  or  elders. 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  37 

Gieseler's  and  Mosheim's  account  of  the  organization  and  government  of  the  primitive  churches. 

foundation  stone  upon  which  the  structure  of  papal  assumption  w.as 
afterward  reared,  I  shall  relate,  in  the  words  of  two  distinguished 
historians,  the  account  of  this  first  step  in  this  pernicious  inno- 
vation. 

It  has  been  seen  from  Dr.  Moshcim  and  others,  that  according  to 
New  Testament  usage,  the  title  bishop  belonged  to  presbyters  or 
elders.  Soon  after  the  death  of  the  apostles,  however,  this  title 
began  to  be  claimed  exclusively  by  such  as  sought  pre-emi- 
nence over  their  brethren  in  the  ministry.  The  words  in  which 
Gieseler  relates  this  change,  are  as  follows  :  "After  the  death  of  the 
apostles,  and  the  pupils  of  the  apostles,  to  whom  the  general  direc- 
tion of  the  churches  had  always  been  conceded,  some  one  amongst 
the  presbyters  of  each  church  was  suffered  gradually  to  take  the 
lead  in  its  affairs.  In  the  same  irregular  way  the  title  of  iniaxono; 
(bishop)  was  appropriated  to  the  first  presbyter.  Hence  the  differ- 
ent accounts  of  the  order  of  the  first  bishops  in  the  church  at  Rome."* 
Mosheim's  account  of  the  gradual  assumption  of  authority  by  these 
early  bishops,  and  of  the  early  loss  of  the  primitive  independency  of 
the  churches,  is  as  follows :  "  The  power  and  jurisdiction  of  the 
bishops  were  not  long  confined  to  their  original  narrow  limits,  but 
soon  extended  themselves,  and  that  by  the  following  means.  The 
bishops  who  lived  in  the  cities,  had,  either  by  their  own  ministry  or 
that  of  their  presbyters,  erected  new  churches  in  the  neighboring 
towns  and  villages.  These  churches,  continuing  under  the  inspec- 
tion and  ministry  of  the  bishops,  by  whose  labors  and  counsels  they 
had  been  engaged  to  embrace  the  gospel,  grew  imperceptibly  into 
ecclesiastical  provinces,  which  the  Greeks  afterwards  called  dioceses. 
The  churches,  in  those  early  times,  were  entirely  independent ;  none 
of  them  subject  to  any  foreign  jurisdiction,  but  each  one  governed  by 
its  own  rulers  and  its  own  laws.  For,  though  the  churches  founded 
by  the  apostles  had  this  particular  deference  shown  them,  that  they 
were  consulted  in  difficult  and  doubtful  cases  ;  yet  they  had  no 
juridical  authority,  no  sort  of  supremacy  over  the  others,  nor  the 
least  right  to  enact  laws  for  them.  Nothing,  on  the  contrary,  is 
more  evident  than  the  perfect  equality  that  reigned  among  the 
primitive  churches  ;  nor  does  there  even  appear  in  the  first  century, 
the  smallest  trace  of  that  association  of  provincial  churches,  from 
which  councils  and  metropolitans  derive  their  origin. 

"  During  great  part  of  the  second  century,  the  Christian  churches 
were  independent  of  each  other ;  nor  were  they  joined  together  by 
association,  confederacy,  or  any  other  bonds  but  those  of  charity. 
Each  Christian  assembly  was  a  little  state,  governed  by  its  own 
laws,  which  were  either  enacted,  or  at  least  approved  by  the 
society.  But,  in  process  of  time,  all  the  Christian  churches  of  a 
province  were  formed  into  one  large  ecclesiastical  body,  which, 
like  confederate  states,  assembled  at  certain  times,  in  order  to 
deliberate  about  the  common  interests  of  the  whole.     This  institu- 

*  Gieseler's  Ecclesiastical  History,  Vol.  i.,  page  65. 


38  HISTORY  OP  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 

Consequences  of  the  establishment  of  Synods  or  Councils. 

tion  had  its  origin  among  the  Greeks,  with  whom  nothing  was  more 
common  than  this  confederacy  of  independent  states,  and  the  regular 
assemblies  which  nut,  in  consequence  thereof,  at  iixed  times,  and 
were  c  mposed  of  the  deputies  of  each  respective  state.  But 
these  ecclesiastical  associations  were  not  long  confined  to  the 
Greeks;  their  great  utility  was  no  sooner  perceived,  than  they 
became  universal,  and  were  formed  in  all  places  where  the  gospel 
had  been  planted.  To  these  assemblies  in  which  the  deputies  or 
commissioners  of  several  churches  consulted  together,  the  name  of 
synods  was  appropriated  by  the  Greeks,  and  that  of  councils  by  the 
Latins  ;  and  the  laws  that  were  enacted  in  these  general  meetings, 
were  called  canons,  i.  e.,  rules. 

"  These  councils,  of  which  we  find  not  the  smallest  trace  before  the 
middle  of  the  second  century,  changed  the  whole  face  of  the  church, 
and  gave  it  a  new  form ;  for  by  them  the  ancient  privileges  of  the 
people  were  considerably  diminished,  and  the  power  and  authority 
of  the  bishops  greatly  augmented.  The  humility,  indeed,  and 
prudence  of  these  pious  prelates,  prevented  their  assuming  all  at 
once,  the  power  with  which  they  were  afterward  invested.  At 
their  first  appearance  in  these  general  councils,  they  acknowledged 
that  they  were  no  more  than  the  delegates  of  their  respective 
churches,  and  that  they  acted  in  the  name,  and  by  the  appointment, 
of  their  people.  But  they  soon  changed  this  humble  tone,  imper- 
ceptibly extended  the  limits  of  their  authority,  turned  their  influence 
into  dominion,  and  their  counsels  into  laws ;  and  openly  asserted, 
at  length,  that  Christ  had  empowered  them  to  prescribe  to  his 
people,  authoritative  rules  of  faith  and  manners. 

"Another  effect  of  these  councils  was  the  gradual  abolition  of  that 
perfect  equality  which  reigned  among  all  bishops  in  the  primitive 
times.  For  the  order  and  decency  of  these  assemblies  required 
that  some  one  of  the  provincial  bishops  met  in  council,  should  be 
invested  with  a  superior  degree  of  power  and  authority ;  and  hence 
the  rights  of  metropolitans  derive  their  origin.  In  the  mean  time, 
the  bounds  of  the  church  were  enlarged,  the  custom  of  holding 
councils  was  followed  wherever  the  sound  of  the  gospel  had 
reached ;  and  the  universal  church  had  now  the  appearance  of  one 
vast  republic,  formed  by  a  combination  of  a  great  number  of  little 
states.  This  occasioned  the  creation  of  a  new  order  of  ecclesiastics, 
who  were  appointed  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  as  heads  of  the 
church,  and  whose  office  it  was  to  preserve  the  consistence  and 
union  of  that  immense  body,  whose  members  were  so  widely  dis- 
persed throughout  the  nations.  Such  was  the  nature  and  office  of 
the  patriarchs,  among  whom,  at  length,  ambition  being  arrived  at 
its  most  insolent  period,  formed  a  new  dignity,  investing  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  and  his  successors,  with  the  title  and  authority  of  prince 
of  the  patriarchs. 

"  The  Christian  doctors  had  the  good  fortune  to  persuade  the 
people  that  the  ministers  of  the  Christian  church  succeeded  to  the 
character,  rights,  and  privileges  of  the  Jewish  priesthood ;  and  this 


chaf.  in.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  39 


Papal  supremacy  not  established  in  the  fourth  century. 


persuasion  was  a  new  source  both  of  honors  and  profit  to  the  sacred 
order.  This  notion  was  propagated  with  industry,  some  time  after 
the  reign  of  Adrian,  when  the  second  destruction  of  Jerusalem  had 
extinguished  among  the  Jews  all  hopes  of  seeing  their  government 
restored  to  its  former  lustre,  and  their  country  arising  out  of  ruins. 
And  accordingly  the  bishops  considered  themselves  as  invested  with 
a  rank  and  character  similar  to  those  of  the  high  priest  among  the 
Jews,  while  the  presbyters  represented  the  priests,  and  the  deacons 
the  levites.  It  is,  indeed,  highly  probable,  that  they  who  first  intro- 
duced this  absurd  comparison  of  offices  so  entirely  distinct,  did  it 
rather  through  ignorance  and  error,  than  through  artifice  or  design. 
The  notion,  however,  once  introduced,  produced  its  natural  effects ; 
and  these  effects  were  pernicious.  The  errors  to  which  it  gave  rise 
were  many ;  and  one  of  its  immediate  consequences  was  the  estab- 
lishing a  greater  difference  between  the  Christian  pastors  and  their 
flock,  than  the  genius  of  the  gospel  seems  to  admit."* 

§  13. — It  was  long  after  these  innovations  upon  primitive  sim- 
plicity, before  the  bishops  of  Rome  enjoyed,  or  even  claimed  that 
spiritual  sovereignty  over  other  bishops,  and  over  the  universal 
church,  which  they  "afterwards  demanded  as  a  divine  right.  Not- 
withstanding the  pomp  and  splendor  that  surrounded  the  Roman 
See,  in  the  fourth  century  it  is  remarked  by  the  same  historian  from 
whom  we  have  just  quoted,  that  the  bishops  of  that  city  had  not  then 
acquired  that  pre-eminence  of  power  and  jurisdiction  in  the  church 
which  they  afterwards  enjoyed.  In  the  ecclesiastical  commonwealth, 
they  were  indeed  the  most  eminent  order  of  citizens  as  well  as  their 
brethren,  and  subject  like  them  to  the  ed'ets  and  laws  of  the  empe- 
rors. None  of  the  bishops  acknowledged  that  they  derived  their 
authority  from  the  permission  and  appointment  of  the  bishop  of 
Rome,  or  that  they  were  created  bishops  by  the  favor  of  the  apos- 
tolic see.  On  the  contrary,  they  all  maintained  that  they  were  the 
ambassadors  and  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  their  authority 
was  derived  from  above.  It  must,  however,  be  observed,  that  even 
in  this  century,  several  of  those  steps  were  partly  laid  by  which 
the  bishops  of  Rome  mounted  afterwards  to  the  summit  of  eccle- 
siastical power  and  despotism.  These  steps  were  partly  laid  by 
the  imprudence  of  the  emperors,  partly  by  the  dexterity  of  the 
Roman  prelates  themselves,  and  partly  by  the  inconsiderate  zeal  and 
precipitate  judgment  of  certain  bishops. f 

One  of  these  steps  was  a  decree  of  a  somewhat  obscure  council 
held  at  Sardis,  during  the  Arian  controversy,  in  the  year  347. 
Among  other  things  enacted  in  this  council,  it  was  provided  "that 
in  the  event  of  any  bishop  considering  himself  aggrieved  by  the 
sentence  of  the  bishops  of  his  province,  he  might  apply  to  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  who  should  write  to  the  bishops  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
province  of  the  aggrieved  bishop,  to  rehear  the  cause  ;  and  shoulr1 

*  Mosheim,  cent,  i.,  part  2,  cent,  ii.,  part  2. 
t  See  Dupin  de  antiqua  Ecclesise  disciplina. 


40  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 

Steps  toward  supremacy.  Council  of  Sardis.  Decree  of  Valcntinian. 

also,  if  it  seemed  desirable  to  do  so,  send  some  presbyters  of  his 
own  church  to  assist  at  the  rehearing."  It  is  probable,  indeed,  as 
Richerius  in  his  History  of  Councils  observes,  that  this  decree  was 
only  provisional,  and  intended  for  the  security  of  the  Eastern  ortho- 
dox bishops  against  the  Arians,  and  that  the  privilege  conferred 
upon  the  bishop  of  Rome,  was  not  meant  to  be  given  to  the  See  of 
Rome,  but  only  to  the  then  bishop  Julius,  who  is  expressly  men- 
tioned therein  ;  and  consequently  that  it  wras  only  designed  for  the 
case  then  before  the  council.  An  attempt,  however,  was  made,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  by  Zosimus,  bishop  of  Rome,  to 
c-t;il)lish  his  authority  in  the  African  churches,  by  means  of  this 
decree,  on  the  following  occasion.  Apiarius,  a  presbyter  of  the 
church  of  Sicca,  in  Africa,  having  been  deposed  by  his  bishop  for 
gross  immoralities,  fled  to  Rome,  A.  D.  415,  and  was  received  to 
communion  by  Zosimus,  who  forthwith  sent  legates  into  Africa,  to 
the  bishops  there,  demanding  that  Apiarius's  cause  should  be  heard 
over  again  ;  asserting  that  the  bishops  of  Rome  had  the  privilege  of 
requiring  such  rehearings  conferred  upon  them  in  virtue  of  this 
decree  of  the  Council  of  Sardis.  The  African  bishops,  however, 
refused  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  this  decree,  and  alter  a  pro- 
tracted controversy,  sent  a  final  letter  to  the  bishop  of  Rome.  "  in 
which  they  assert  the  independence  of  their  own,  and  all  other 
churches,  and  deny  the  pretended  right  of  hearing  appeals  claimed 
by  the  bishop  of  Rome  :  and  further  exhort  him  not  to  receive  into 
communion  persons  who  had  been  excommunicated  by  their  own 
bishops,  or  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  privileges  of  other 
churches."* 

§  14. — A  second  step  toward  the  papal  supremacy,  was  a  law 
enacted  in  the  year  372,  by  the  emperor  Valentinian,  which  favored 
extremely  the  rise  and  ambition  of  the  bishops  of  Rome,  by  empower- 
ing them  to  examine  and  judge  other  bishops.  A  few  years  afterward, 
the  bishops  assembled  in  council  at  Rome,  without  considering  the 
dangerous  power  they  entrusted  to  one  of  their  number,  and  intent 
only  upon  the  privilege  it  secured  to  them  of  exemption  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  secular  judges,  declared  in  the  strongest  terms  their 
approbation  of  this  law,  and  recommended  that  it  should  be  imme- 
diately carried  into  effect,  in  an  address  which  they  presented  to  the 
emperor  Gratian.f 

A  third  circumstance  which  contributed  toward  the  rapidly 
increasing  influence  of  the  Roman  bishops,  was  the  custom  which 
obtained  somewhat  extensively  before  the  close  of  the  fourth  century, 
of  referring  to  their  decision  in  consequence  of  their  claim  to 
apostolic  descent,  all  questions  concerning  the  apostolic  customs 
and  doctrines.  This  gave  them  occasion  to  issue  a  vast  number  of 
didactic  letters,  generally  called  Decretals,  which  soon  assumed  a 
tone  of  apostolic  authority,  and   were  held  in  high  estimation  in 

*  See  Hammond  on  the  Six  Councils — Oxford,  1843,  p.  40. 
f  See  Dr.  Machine's  note  in  Mosheim,  i.,  p.  344. 


chap.  in. J  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  41 

Council  of  Chalcedon  decrees  the  equality  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  and  Constantinople. 

the  West,  as  flowing  from  apostolic  tradition.  "  From  this  time 
forth,  there  was  ne  controversy  in  the  East  in  which  each  party  did 
not  seek  to  win  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  through  him  the  Western 
church,  to  its  cause,  vying  with  each  other  in  flattery  and  servility. 
At  the  councils,  his  legates  were  always  treated  with  the  greatest 
deference,  and  at  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  they,  for  the  first  time, 
presided."* 

The  council  of  Chalcedon  was  held  A.  D.  451,  and  notwith- 
standing the  pre-eminence  assumed  therein  by  the  legate  of  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  he  had  not  power  or  influence  to  prevent  the 
passage  of  a  canon  which  proved  extremely  odious  to  his  lordly 
master  Leo,  who  has  been  surnamed  the  Great,  and  which  resulted 
in  a  protracted  and  bitter  controversy  between  the  bishops  of  Rome 
and  Constantinople  who  should  be  greatest.  Some  years  previous 
to  this  time,  since  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  empire  to  Constanti- 
nople, the  ambition  and  assumption  of  the  bishop  of  Constantinople 
had  almost  equalled  that  of  Rome.  He  had  lately  usurped  the 
spiritual  government  of  the  provinces  of  Asia  Minor,  Thrace,  Pontus, 
and  the  eastern  part  of  Illyricum,  very  much  to  the  chagrin  and 
dissatisfaction  of  Leo.  This  dissatisfaction  was  increased  when, 
by  the  twenty-eighth  canon  of  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  it  was 
resolved,  that  the  same  rights  and  honors  which  had  been  con- 
ferred upon  the  bishop  of  Rome,  were  due  to  the  bishop  of  Con- 
stantinople on  account  of  the  equal  dignity  and  lustre  of  the  two 
cities,  in  which  these  prelates  exercised  their  authority.  The  same 
council  confirmed  also,  by  a  solemn  act,  the  bishop  of  Constantinople 
in  the  spiritual  government  of  those  provinces  over  which  he  had 
ambitiously  usurped  the  jurisdiction.  Leo  opposed  with  vehe- 
mence the  passing  of  these  decrees,  and  his  opposition  was  seconded 
by  that  of  several  other  prelates.  But  their  efforts  were  vain,  as 
the  emperors  threw  in  their  weight  into  the  balance,  and  thus  sup- 
ported the  decisions  of  the  Grecian  bishops. 

In  consequence  then  of  the  decrees  of  this  famous  council,  the 
bishop  of  Constantinople  began  to  contend  obstinately  for  the  supre- 
macy with  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  to  crush  the  patriarchs  of  Alex- 
andria and  Antioch,  so  as  to  make  them  feel  the  oppressive  effects 
of  his  pretended  superiority.  Elated  with  the  favor  and  proximity 
of  the  imperial  court,  he  cast  a  haughty  eye  on  all  sides  where  any 
objects  were  to  be  found  on  which  he  might  exercise  his  ambition. 
After  reducing  under  his  jurisdiction  these  two  patriarchs,  as  pre- 
lates only  of  the  second  order,  he  invaded  the  diocese  of  the  Roman 
pontiff,  and  spoiled  him  of  several  provinces.  The  two  former  pre- 
lates, though  they  struggled  with  vehemence,  and  raised  consider- 
able tumults  by  their  opposition,  yet  they  struggled  ineffectually, 
both  for  want  of  strength,  and  likewise  on  account  of  a  variety 
of  unfavorable  circumstances.  But  the  Roman  pontiff,  far  superior 
to  them  in  wealth  and  power,  contended  also  with  more  vigor  and. 

*  Gieseler,  Vol.  i.,  page  260. 


42  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book:. 

Appeals  of  other  bishops  to  Rome.  Reverence  of  the  barbarian  conquerors. 

obstinacy,  and  in  his  turn,  gave  a  deadly  wound  to  the  usurped 
supremacy  of  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople.  Notwithstanding 
the  redoubled  efforts  of  the  latter,  a  variety  of  circumstances  united 
in  augmenting  the  power  and  authority  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  though 
he  had  not,  as  yet,  assumed  the  dignity  of  supreme  lawgiver  and 
of  the  whole  Christian  church.  The  bishops  of  Alexandria 
and  Antioch,  unable  to  make  head  against  the  lordly  prelate  of 
Constantinople,  often  fled  to  the  Roman  pontiff  for  succor  against 
his  violence  ;  and  the  inferior  order  of  bishops  used  the  same  method, 
when  their  rights  were  invaded  by  the  prelates  of  Alexandria  and 
Antioch.  So  that  the  bishop  of  Rome,  by  taking  all  these  prelates 
alternately  under  his  protection,  daily  added  new  degrees  of  influ- 
ence and  authority  to  the  Roman  See,  rendered  it  everywhere 
respected,  and  was  thus  imperceptibly  establishing  its  supremacy. 
This  was,  evidently,  another  of  the  steps  by  which  he  was  rapidly 
ascending  to  the  summit  of  ghostly  dominion.* 

§  15. — One  more  circumstance  is  worthy  of  mention,  as  contributing 
in  no  small  degree  to  the  increase  of  the  power  and  influence  of  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  viz.,  the  regard  almost  universally  paid  to  him  by 
the  fierce  and  barbarous  tribes,  who  now  in  quick  succession  poured 
in  from  the  north,  and  conquered  and  ravaged  Italy  and  the  capital 
of  the  ancient  empire.  In  the  years  408,  409,  and  410,  the  proud 
city  of  Rome  was  three  times  in  succession  subjected  to  a  siege  by 
the  renowned  Alaric,  king  of  the  Goths,  who  is  distinguished  by 
contemporary  historians  by  the  terrible  epithets  of  the  scourge  of 
God  and  the  destroyer  of  nations.  At  first  he  was  bought  off  by 
the  terrified  inhabitants,  but  at  length  the  city  was  taken  and  given 
up  to  be  pillaged  and  sacked  by  the  fierce  Gothic  soldiery.  In  the 
year  452,  the  ferocious  Attila,  king  of  the  Huns,  invaded  the  north 
of  Italy,  laid  waste  some  of  its  fairest  provinces,  and  was  only 
prevented  from  marching  to  Rome  and  renewing  the  horrid  cruelties 
and  excesses  of  Alaric  by  an  immense  ransom,  and  the  powerful 
influence  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  Leo  the  Great,  who,  at  the  head  of 
an  embassy,  waited  on  Attila,  as  he  lay  "  encamped  at  the  place 
where  the  slow-winding  Mincius  is  lost  in  the  foaming  waves 
of  the  lake  Benacus,  and  trampled  with  his  Scythian  cavalry  the 
farms  of  Catullus  and  Virgil."f  In  the  year  454,  Rome  was  again 
taken  and  pillaged  by  Genseric,  king  of  the  Vandals  ;  and  in  the 
year  47G,  the  western  empire  was  finally  subverted,  and  Italy,  with 
its  renowned  and  time-honored  capital,  reduced  under  the  dominion 
of  the  Gothic  barbarians  by  the  conquests  of  Odoacer,  king  of  the 
Heruli,  a  tribe  of  Goths,  and  the  deposition  and  banishment  of 
Augustulus,  the  last  of  the  western  Roman  emperors. 

§  16. — These  barbarous  nations,  these  fierce  and  warlike  Germans 
who,  after  the  defeat  of  the  Romans,  divided  among  them  the  west- 
ern empire,  bore,  with  the  utmost  patience  and  moderation,  both 

*  See  Mosheim,  Cent.  v.  Part  2,  Chap.  ii. 

■f  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Vol.  ii.,  p.  303. 


ohap.  in.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  43 

Heathen  rites  adopted  at  Rome.  Opinions  of  Robertson  and  Hallam 

the  dominion  and  vices  of  the  bishops  and  priests,  because,  upon 
their  conversion  to  Christianity,  they  became  naturally  subject  to 
their  jurisdiction  ;  and  still  more,  because  they  looked  upon  the 
ministers  of  Christ  as  invested  with  the  same  rights  and  privileges, 
which  distinguished  the  priests  of  their  fictitious  deities.  Nor  is  it  at 
all  to  be  wondered  at  that  these  superstitious  barbarians,  accustomed 
as  they  were  to  regard  with  a  feeling  amounting  almost  to  adora- 
tion, the  high  priests  of  their  own  heathen  gods,  should  manifest  ;i 
readiness  to  transfer  that  veneration  to  the  high  priests  of  Rome, 
especially  when  they  saw  the  multitude  of  heathen  rites  that  were 
already  introduced  into  Christian  worship,  and  the  willingness  of 
the  Roman  pontiffs,  by  still  further  increasing  the  number  of  these 
pagan  ceremonies,  to  accommodate  their  religion  to  the  prejudices 
and  inclinations  of  all. 

In  ages  of  ignorance  and  credulity,  remarks  a  celebrated  Scottish 
historian,  "  the  ministers  of  religion  are  the  objects  of  superstitious 
veneration.  When  the  barbarians  who  overran  the  Roman  empire 
first  embraced  the  Christian  faith,  they  found  the  clergy  in  possession 
of  considerable  power  ;  and  they  naturally  transferred  to  those 
new  guides  the  profound  submission  and  reverence,  which  they 
were  accustomed  to  yield  to  the  priests  of  that  religion  which  they 
had  just  forsaken.  They  deemed  their  persons  to  be  equally  sacred 
with  their  function,  and  would  have  considered  it  as  impious  to  subject 
them  to  the  profane  jurisdiction  of  the  laity.  The  clergy  were  not 
blind  to  these  advantages  which  the  weakness  of  mankind  afforded 
them.  They  established  courts,  in  which  every  question  relating  to 
their  own  character,  their  function,  their  property,  was  tried  and 
pleaded,  and  obtained  an  almost  total  exemption  from  the  authority 
of  civil  judges."*  Thus  was  a  kind  of  mutual  compromise  effected 
between  these  barbarous  heathen  conquerors,  and  the  bishop  of 
Rome,  and  his  clergy.  The  former  generally  agreeing  to  accept 
the  Christian  name,  and  the  latter  tacitly  consenting  to  conform 
as  much  as  possible  to  their  heathen  rites  and  ceremonies  of  worship. 

The  blind  submission  of  these  heathen  tribes  to  the  degenerate 
ministers  of  Christianity,  tended  much  to  increase  the  wealth  and 
consequently  the  power  of  the  clergy.  On  this  subject  remarks  the 
elegant  historian  of  the  middle  ages,  "  The  devotion  of  the  con- 
quering nations,  as  it  was  still  less  enlightened  than  that  of  the 
subjects  of  the  empire,  so  was  it  still  more  munificent.  They  left, 
indeed,  the  worship  of  Hesus  and  Taranis  in  their  forests  ;  but  they 
retained  the  elementary  principles  of  that,  and  of  all  barbarous 
idolatry,  a  superstitious  reverence  for  the  priesthood,  a  credulity  that 
seemed  to  invite  imposture,  and  a  confidence  in  the  efficacy  of  gifts 
to  expiate  offences.  Of  this  temper  it  is  undeniable  that  the  minis- 
ters of  religion,  influenced  probably  not  so  much  by  personal  cove- 
tousness  as  by  zeal  for  the  interests  of  their  order,  took  advantage. 
Many  of  the  peculiar  and  prominent  characteristics  in  the  faith  and 

*  Robertson's  Charles  V.,  American  edition,  page  34. 


44  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 


Btipreraacy  claimed  from  divine  right. 


discipline  of  those  ages  appear  to  have  been  either  introduced,  or 
sedulously  promoted,  for  the  purpose  of  sordid  fraud.  To  those 
purposes 'conspired  the  veneration  for  relics,  the  worship  of  images, 
the  idolatry  of  smuts  and  martyrs,  the  religious  inviolability  of  sanc- 
tuaries, the  consecration  of  cemeteries,  but,  above  all,  the  doctrine  of 
purgatory,  and  masses  for  the  relief  of  the  dead.  A  creed  thus 
contrived,  operating  upon  the  minds  of  barbarians,  lavish,  though 
rapacious,  and  devout  though  dissolute,  naturally  caused  a  torrent 
of  opulence  to  pour  in  upon  the  church."* 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DIVINE    RIGHT    OF    SUPREMACY    CLAIMED    AND    DISPROVED. 

§  17. — By  general  consent  a  kind  of  superiority  of  rank  had  long 
been  conceded  to  the  bishops  of  Rome,  chiefly  from  the  fact  that 
that  city  was  the  first  in  rank  and  importance,  and  the  ancient 
capital  of  the  empire  ;  and  upon  the  same  ground  it  was  that  the 
council  of  Chalcedon,  already  referred  to,  "  proceeding  on  the 
principle  that  the  importance  of  a  bishop  depended  alone  on  the 
political  consequence  of  the  city  in  which  he  lived,  decreed  the  same 
rights  to  the  bishop  of  Constantinople  in  the  Eastern  church,  which 
the  bishop  of  Rome  enjoyed  in  the  Western."!  After  the  fall  of  the 
ancient  capital,  however,  and  its  consequent  diminution  of  political 
importance,  as  compared  with  the  Eastern  capital,  the  bishops  of 
Rome  found  it  necessary  to  assert  with  renewed  earnestness,  the 
pretensions  which  they  had  occasionally  hinted  at  before,  of  their 
divine  right  of  supremacy,  in  consequence  of  their  claiming  to  be 
the  successors  of  the  apostle  Peter,  who,  they  now  asserted,  without 
a  shadow  of  scriptural  or  historical  proof,  was  the  first  bishop  of 
Rome,  and  was  constituted  by  Jesus  Christ,  supreme  head  of  the 
church  upon  earth. 

§  18. — As  this  is  a  fundamental  point  with  the  Romish  church.J 

*  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  chap,  vii.,  pages  261,  262,  American  edition. 

f  Gieseler,  vol.  i.,  page  269. 

\  The  views  of  Romanists  on  this  point,  so  essential  to  their  whole  system,  are 
explicitly  set  forth  in  the  following  translation  from  the  Latin  of  an  extract  from 
the  theology  of  Peter  Dens,  a  standard  work,  prepared  for  the  use  of  Romish 
seminaries  and  students  of  theology.     Mechlin  edition,  1838. 

Concerning  the  Supreme  Pontiff.     (Nos.  90,  93,  94.) 

"What  is  the  Supreme  Pontiff? 

"  He  is  Christ's  Vicar  upon  earth,  and  the  visible  head  of  his  church. 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  GOG.  45 


No  proof  that  Peter  was  bishop  of  Rome. 


it  may  be  well,  at  this  place,  to  make  a  short  digression,  for  the 
purpose  of  examining  the  validity  of  this  claim.  In  relation  to  the 
first  supposition,  that  of  Peter  having  been  bishop  of  the  church 
at  Rome,  there  is  no  historical  proof  whatever.  There  is  no  men- 
tion in  the  New  Testament  that  Peter  ever  was  at  Rome,  and  hence 
Scaliger,  Salmasius,  Spanheim,  Adam  Clarke,  and  many  other 
learned  writers,  have  denied  that  he  ever  visited  that  city.  But 
supposing  the  Romanist  tradition  to  be  true,  that  he  suffered  death 
at  Rome,  in  company  with  the  apostle  Paul,  about  A.  D.  65,  still, 
there  is  no  proof  whatever  that  he  was  bishop  of  Rome,  or  that  he 
had  any  particular  connection  with  the  church  or  churches  in  that 
city,  any  more  than  Paul  or  any  other  of  the  apostles.  Indeed,  it 
would  be  much  easier  to  prove  that  Paul  was  bishop  of  the  church 
of  Rome  than  that  Peter  was,  for  it  is  expressly  mentioned  in  the 
New  Testament,  that  Paul  visited  Rome,  and  that  he  remained 
there  for  "  two  whole  years — preaching  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
teaching  those  things  which  concern  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  (Acts 
xxviii.,  30,  31.)  Now  if  Pope  Peter  was  also  at  Rome,  and  more 
especially  if  he  was  there  in  the  character  of  "  supreme  head  of 
the  church  universal,"  is  it  not  most  astonishing  that  Paul  should 
take  not  the  slightest  notice  of  him,  and  that  neither  the  Sacred 

'•  Christ  instituted  the  church  of  the  New  Testament  upon  earth,  not  on  the  plan 
of  an  aristocratic  or  democratic  government,  but  on  the  plan  of  a  monarchical 
government,  yet  tempered  by  that  which  is  best  in  an  aristocracy,  as  was  said 
No.  81.  But  when  Christ  was  about  to  withdraw  his  visible  presence  by  his 
ascension  into  heaven,  he  constituted  his  Vicar  the  visible  head  of  the  church,  he 
himself  remaining  the  supreme,  essential  and  visible  head. 

';  Who  is  called  Supreme  Pontiff,  and  wherefore  ? 

"  The  Roman  Pontiff,  not  only  because  he  holds  the  highest  honor  and  dignity 
in  the  church,  but  principally,  because  he  has  supreme  and  universal  authority, 
power  and  jurisdiction  over  all  bishops  and  the  whole  church. 

"  From  whom  does  the  Pope,  legitimately  elected,  receive  his  power  and  juris- 
diction ? 

"  Ans.  He  receives  it  immediately  from  Christ  as  his  Vicar,  just  as  Peter  re- 
ceived it.  Nor  is  it  any  objection  that  the  Pope  is  elected  by  cardinals  ;  for  their 
election  is  only  an  essential  requisite,  which  being  supplied,  he  receives  power  and 
jurisdiction  immediately  from  Christ. 

"  From  whom  do  the  Bishops  receive  the  power  of  jurisdiction  ? 

"  Ans.  The  French  contend  that  they  receive  it  immediately  from  Christ ;  but 
it  seems  that  it  ought  rather  to  be  said  that  they  receive  it  immediately  from  the 
Roman  Pontiff,  because  the  government  of  the  church  is  monarchical,"  &c,  &c. 

"  What  power  has  the  Roman  Pontiff? 

"  We  reply  with  St.  Thomas,  &c. :  '  The  Pope  has  plenitude  of  power  in 
the  church  ;'  so  that  his  power  extends  to  all  who  are  in  the  church,  and  to  all 
things  which  pertain  to  the  government  of  the  church. 

"  This  is  proved  from  what  was  said  before  :  because  the  Roman  Pontiff  is  the 
true  Vicar  of  Christ,  the  head  of  the  whole  church,  the  pastor  and  teacher ;  there- 
fore," &c.  "  Hence  it  follows,  that  all  the  faithful,  even  bishops  and  patriarchs, 
are  oblio-ed  to  obey  the  Roman  Pontiff;  also,  that  he  must  be  obeyed  in  all  things 
which  concern  the  Christian  religion,  and  therefore,  in  faith  and  customs,  in  rites, 
ecclesiastical  discipline,"  &c.  "  Hence,  the  perverse  device  of  the  Quesnellites  falls 
to  the  ground ;  namely,  that  the  Pope  is  not  to  be  obeyed,  except  in  those  things  which 
he  enjoins  conformably  to  Sacred  Scripture." 


46  HISTORY  OP  ROMANISM.  [booki. 

No  proof  that  Peter  was  constituted  by  Christ  supreme  head  of  the  Church. 

Scriptures  nor  any  of  the  apostolic  fathers  should  say  one  word 
in  relation  to  his  connection  with  the  church  in  that  city  ? 

Look  again,  at  the  style  in  which  Peter  alludes  to  himself  in 
his  epistles ;  how  different  from  that  which  has  ever  been  adopted 
by  his  professed  successors,  the  lordly  Roman  pontiffs,  since  the 
establishment  of  their  supremacy  !  If  Peter  really  was,  as  Romanists 
contend,  the  first  Pope  of  Rome,  why  do  we  not  find  him  adopting 
a  style  something  like  the  following :  "  We,  Simon  Peter,  sovereign 
pontiff  of  Rome,  apostolic  vicar,  and  supreme  head  of  the  church?" 
&c,  or  something  in  the  style  of  Pope  Gregory's  Encyclical  Letter 
of  1832,  viz.:  "Encyclical  Letter  of  our  most  Holy  Father,  Pope 
Peter,  by  Divine  Providence,  the  First  of  the  name,  addressed  to 
all  Patriarchs,  Primates,  Archbishops,  and  Bishops."*  But  instead 
of  this,  we  read  simply  "  Simon  Peter,  a  servant  and  apostle  to  them 
that  have  obtained  like  precious  faith."     (2  Pet.,  i.,  1.) 

§19. — The  second  sttppositio?i,  viz. :  that  Peter  was  constituted 
by  Christ,  supreme  head  of  the  Church,  is  professedly  derived  from 
the  following  conversation  between  Christ  and  Peter,  "  When  Jesus 
came  into  the  coast  of  Cesarea  Philippi,  he  asked  his  disciples, 
saying,  who  do  men  say  that  I,  the  Son  of  man,  am  ?  and  they 
said,  some  say  that  thou  art  John  the  Baptist,  some  Elias,  and 
others  Jeremias,  or  one  of  the  prophets.  He  saith  unto  them,  but  who 
say  ye  that  I  am  ?  And  Simon  Peter  answered  and  said,  thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto 
him,  blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-jona,  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not 
revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  And  1 
say  also  unto  thee,  that  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will 
build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 
(Matt,  xvi.,  13,  &c.)  Now  in  reference  to  this  passage,  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  remark  that  the  rock  nBTga  (petra),  on  which  Christ  prom- 
ised to  build  his  church,  was  not,  as  Romanists  maintain,  the  fallible 
mortal  Peter,  IJeigog  (Petros),  who  had  made  this  confession,  but  the 
glorious  and  fundamental  truth  which  this  confession  embodied,  or 
the  glorious  and  divine  personage,  who  was  the  subject  of  it, 
u  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  The  words 
in  the  Greek  are  "  2v  n  IJergog,  xai  em,  ravrt]  rr\  nexqu"  "  Thou  art 
Peter,  and  upon  this  neioa  rock,"  which  thou  hast  confessed,  &c. 
So  also  the  Latin  Vulgate  has  "  Tu  es  Petrus  (mas.),  et  si/pc?-  ham 
petram  (fern.),  eedificabo  ecclesiam  meam."  The  interpretation  which 
Roman  Catholic  writers  put  upon  this  expression,  is  comparatively 
modern  in  its  origin,  and  directly  opposed  to  the  opinions  of  some 
whom  they  regard  as  the  most  enlightened  among  the  ancient 
fathers.  In  their  authorized  creed,  Romanists  solemnly  profess  to 
receive  no  interpretations  of  Scripture,  except  "  according  to  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  fathers."  (Nisi  juxta  unanimem  consen- 
sum  patrum.     Creed  of  Pope  Pius.)     To  prove  that  in  their  inter- 

*  Title  of  Pope  Gregory's  Letter,  "  Encyclical  Letter  from  our  most  Holy 
Father,  Pope  Gregory,  the  Sixteenth  of  the  name,  addressed  to  all  Patriarchs,  Pri- 
mates, Archbishops,  and  Bishops." 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  G06.  4? 

Augustine,  Hilary,  and  Bede  quoted.  Other  apostles  more  worthy  than  Peter. 

pretation  of  this  passage,  they  violate  their  own  rule,  many  cita- 
tions from  the  fathers  might  be  given.  Let  the  following  two 
suffice.  The  first  is  from  Augustine,  the  celebrated  bishop  of  Hippo 
(on  Matt.,  13.  ser.)  "  De  verbis  Domini,  tu  es  Petrus,"  &c.  "  Thou 
art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  which  thou  hast  confessed,  upon  this, 
which  thou  hast  acknowledged,  saying, '  Thou  art  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God,'  I  will  build  my  church  ;  that  is,  upon  myself,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God,  I  will  build  my  church,"  &c. 

The  other  is  from  Hilary,  another  of  the  most  celebrated  fathers. 
(Can.  16,  de  fundam.  Eccles.)  "  Unum  igitur  hoc  est  immobile  fun- 
damentum,"  &c.  "  This  one  foundation  is  immovable,  that  is,  that 
one  blessed  rock  of  faith,  confessed  by  the  mouth  of  Peter, '  Thou 
art  the  Son  of  the  living  God.' " — (De  Trinit.,  1.  6.)  "  Super  hanc 
confessionis  petram  ecclesice  cedificatio  est."  "The  building  of  the 
church  is  upon  this  rock  of  confession."  And  again,  "  hcec  fdes," 
&c.  "  This  faith  is  the  foundation  of  the  church  ;  this  faith  hath 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven :  what  this  faith  shall  loose  or 
bind  is  bound  and  loosed  in  heaven." 

So  also  the  venerable  Bede,  who,  though  not  reckoned  among 
the  fathers,  was  a  writer  of  great  renown  in  the  eighth  century, 
remarks  on  this  passage  as  follows.  "  It  is  said  unto  him  by  a 
metaphor,  Upon  this  rock,  i.  e.,  the  Saviour,  whom  thou  hast  con- 
fessed, the  church  is  builded." 

Whatever  may  be  the  weight  attached  to  the  authority  of  thcs<' 
writers,  it  is  evident  that  if  the  promise  referred  to  Peter,  it  failed 
of  accomplishment ;  for  when  Peter  with  oaths  and  curses  denied 
his  Lord,  certainly  the  gates  of  hell  did  prevail  against  him,  and  if 
he,  a  fallible  and  peccable  mortal,  had  been  the  foundation  of  the 
church  ;  when  that  fell,  the  church,  the  superstructure  must  have 
fallen  with  it.  The  fact  is,  that  Christ  alone  is  the  supreme  head 
as  well  as  the  foundation  of  the  church,  and  he  gave  no  special 
precedence  or  dignity  to  one  of  the  apostles  which  he  gave  not  to 
another.  He  established  no  earthly  supreme  head  of  the  church,  and 
his  apostles  ever  acted  toward  each  other  in  the  spirit  of  the  declara- 
tion of  their  Lord,  "  One  is  your  master,  even  Christ,  and  all  ye 

ARE  BRETHREN." 

§  20. — If  any  one  were  worthy  of  the  supremacy  over  the  rest, 
and  to  be  called  "  Prince  of  the  apostles,"  there  are  at  least  three 
of  their  number  who  would  be  more  worthy  of  the  honor  than 
Peter,  viz. :  either  Paul,  or  James,  or  John.  Paul  was  more  worthy, 
for  he  publicly  and  deservedly  rebuked  Peter,  and  "  withstood  him 
to  the  face,  because  he  was  to  be  blamed  "  (Gal.  ii.,  1 1),  and  certainly 
Paul  could  not  have  been  inferior  to  Peter,  for  Paul  himself  declares 
that  in  nothing  was  he  behind  the  very  chiefest  apostles."  (2  Cor. 
xii.,  11.)  James  was  more  worthy  than  Peter,  for  he  appears  to 
have  been  bishop  or  pastor  of  the  first  church  ever  established,  viz. : 
that  at  Jerusalem,  and  presided  and  announced  the  final  decision  in 
the  council  held  at  Jerusalem,  in  relation  to  the  alleged  necessity 
of  circumcision.      (Acts,   chap,    xv.)     John   was   certainly   more 


48  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 

Peter's  imaginary  successors.  Various  and  conflicting  lists  of  them 

worthy  of  the  supremacy  than  Peter,  if  any  one  were  entitled  to 
such  a  pre-eminence  ;  for  John  never  denied  his  Lord,  but  Peter 
did:  John,  "  the  beloved  disci]  >lc,"  asked  Jesus  a  question  at  the 
Supper,  which  Peter  did  not  dare  to  ask.  (John  xiii.,  23,  24.)  John 
w;is  standing  near  the  cross,  at  the  death  of  his  .Lord,  and  had  the 
mother  of  Jesus  confided  to  his  care,  while  Peter  was  probably  at 
a  distance,  weeping  over  his  cowardly  denial.  (John  xix.,  25,  &c.) 
John  lived  longer  than  Peter,  was  the  last  survivor  of  all  the 
apostles,  and  penned  more  of  the  volume  of  Inspiration  than  either 
Peter,  or  any  other  of  the  twelve. 

§  21. — But  in  relation  to  the  other  supposition ;  supposing  that  it 
could  be  proved,  which  we  have  shown  it  cannot,  that  Peter, 
during  his  life,  was  the  supreme  head  of  the  church  on  earth,  still 
it  would  be  impossible  to  prove  that  this  supremacy  descended 
down  from  one  generation  to  another,  through  the  long  line  of 
popes,  many  of  whom,  as  we  shall  show,  in  the  progress  of  this 
work,  were  monsters  of  vice  and  impurity.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  the  apostles  had  the  slightest  expectation  of  any  such  regular 
line  of  descent.  The  New  Testament  does  not  say  a  single  word 
about  it,  and  even  the  Roman  bishops  themselves  did  not  make  the 
;  i  to  have  derived  their  power  from  Peter,  till  several  centuries 
after  the  apostolic  age. 

Before  leaving  this  subject,  there  is  one  absurdity  which  springs 
from  this  claim  of  the  Romanists,  that  deserves  to  be  mentioned. 
Most  Roman  Catholic  authors  reckon  Linus  the  second  bishop  of 
Rome,  or  supreme  head  of  the  church  ;*  pope  Linus,  according  to 

*  We  are  not  to  suppose,  however,  that  there  is  any  uniformity  among  writers, 
jr  certainty  as  to  the  three  or  four  supposed  first  successors  of  St.  Peter.  Says 
Mr.  Walch,  the  author  of  a  compendious  but  learned  history  of  the  Popes,  originally 
published  in  German  :  "  If  we  may  judge  of  the  church  of  Rome,  by  the  constitu- 
tion of  other  apostolic  churches,  she  could  have  had  no  particular  bishop,  before  the 
end  of  the  first  century.  The  ancient  lists,"  he  adds,  "  are  so  contradictory  that  it 
urould  be  impossible  exactly  to  determine,  either  the  succession  of  the  bishops,  or 
their  chronology.  Some  say  that  Clemens,  of  Rome,  had  been  ordained  by  the 
apostle  Peter,  and  was  his  immediate  successor.  Others  place  Linus  and  Cletus 
betwixt  them.  A  third  set  name  Linus,  but  instead  of  Cletus,  name  Anacletus, 
A  ncletus,  Dacletius.  Lastly  a  fourth  party  states  the  succession  thus  :  Peter, 
Linus,  Cletus,  Clemens,  Anacletus." — Watch's  Liccs  of  the  Popes. 

Among  the  early  fathers,  Tertullian,  Rufinus,  and  Epiphanius,  say  Clement 
$ .'circled  Peter.  Jerome  declares  that  'most  of  the  Latin  authors  sup- 
posed the  order  to  be  Clement  the  siiccessor  of  Peter.'  But  Irena?us,  Eusebius, 
Jerome,  and  Augustine,  contradict  the  above  authorities,  and  say  Linus  succeeded 
Peter;  Chrysostom  seems  to  go  the  same  way.  Bishop  Pearson  has  proved  that 
Linus  died  before  Peter;  and  therefore,  on  the  supposition  that  Peter  was  first 
lii simp  of  Rome,  Linus  could  not  succeed  him.  Cabassute,  the  learned  Popish 
historian  of  the  councils,  says, '  it  is  a  vert  doubtful  question  concerning  Linus, 
Cletus,  and  Clemens,  as  to  which  of  them  succeeded  Peter.'  Dr.  Comber,  a  very 
learned  divine  of  the  church  of  England,  says,  '  upon  the  whole  matter  there  is  no 
certainty  who  was  the  bishop  of  Rome,  next  to  the  apostles,  and  therefore  the 
Romanists  build  upon  an  ill  bottom,  when  they  lay  so  great  weight  on  their 

PERSONAL    SUCCESSION.'  " 

"  The  like  blunder,"  remarks  the  same  learned  Episcopalian,  "  there  is 
about  the  next  bishop  of  Rome.  The  fabulous  Pontifical  makes  Cletus  succeed  Linus, 


chap.  iv.  ]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  C06.  49 

Singular  absurdity.  The  upostle  John  subject  lo  the  second  Pope. 

them,  having  succeeded  upon  the  martyrdom  of  pope  Peter.  Now, 
it  is  not  denied  by  any,  that  the  apostle  John  outlived  Peter  about 
thirty  years.  If  then  Peter  was  the  supreme  head  of  the  church, 
and  Linus  was  his  successor  in  the  supremacy,  then  of  course  the 
inspired  apostle  John  must  have  been  inferior  to  Linus  in  rank  and 
dignity,  and  subject  to  him  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  Roman 
Catholic  bishops  are  now  subject  to  their  pope.  Now  when  it  is 
remembered  that  Linus,  of  whom  we  know  scarcely  anything  more 
than  his  name,  was  not  one  of  the  apostles,  it  will  be  seen  that  this 
supposition  is  directly  at  variance  with  the  inspired  declaration  of 
Paul,  "  God  hath  set  some  in  the  Church,  first,  apostles  ;  secondarily, 
prophets  ;  thirdly,  teachers  ;  after  that  miracles  ;  then  gifts  of 
healings,  helps,  governments,  diversities  of  tongues."  (1  Cor.  xii., 
28.)  To  such  strange  absurdities  does  this  doctrine  of  the  papal 
supremacy  lead.  Of  course  the  same  conclusion  will  follow,  which- 
ever of  the  various  theories  is  adopted,  as  to  the  supposed  imme- 
diate successor  of  Peter.* 

Notwithstanding,  however,  the  weakness  of  these  pretensions, 
after  the  city  of  Rome  had  fallen  from  its  ancient  dignity,  into  the 
power  of  the  barbarians,  and  the  superiority  of  its  lordly  bishop 
could  no  longer  be  quietly  submitted  to  from  the  superiority  of  that 
city  to  every  other,  the  pontiffs   renewed  and  reiterated  this  arro- 

and  gives  us  several  Lives  of  Cletus,  and  Anacletus,  making  them  of  several 
nations,  and  to  have  been  popes  at  different  times,  putting  Clement  between  them. 
Yet  the  aforesaid  bishop  of  Chester  [PearsonJ  proves  these  were  only  two  names 
of  the  same  person.  And  every  one  may  see  the  folly  of  the  Romish  church, 
which  venerates  two  several  saints  on  two  several  days,  one  of  which  never  had  a 
real  being,  for  Cletus  is  but  the  abbreviation  of  Anacletus,s  name.''''  (Dr.  Comber  on 
"  Roman  Forgeries  in  Councils,'"  part  i.,  c.  i.) 

Amidst  all  these  varying  and  opposing  lists,  this  contradiction  and  con- 
fusion worse  confounded,  how  utterly  baseless  must  be  those  pretensions, 
whether  made  by  the  papists  of  Rome,  or  the  semi-papists  of  Oxford,  which  are 
founded  upon  a  supposed  ascertained,  and  unbroken  descent  from  the  apostles  ? 
The  arguments  to  sustain  them  are  lighter  than  air.  Hence  we  are  not  surprised 
to  hear  that  bright  luminary  of  the  British  establishment,  Archbishop  Whately, 
declare  his  solemn  conviction,  that  ';  there  is  not  a  minister  in  all  Christen- 
dom, WHO    IS    ABLE     TO  •  TRACE    UP,  WITH   ANY    APPROACH    TO   CERTAINTY,    HIS   OWN 

spiritual  pedigree.  The  ultimate  consequence  must  be,"  remarks  the  same 
excellent  prelate,  "  that  any  one  who  sincerely  believes  that  his  claim  to  the  bene- 
fits of  the  gospel  covenant  depends  on  his  own  ministers  claim  to  the  supposed 
sacramental  virtue  of  true  ordination,  and  this  again  on  apostolical  succession, 
must  be  involved,  in  proportion  as  he  reads,  and  inquires,  ancf  reflects,  and  reasons 
on  the  subject,  in  the  most  distressing  doubt  and  perplexity.  It  is  no  wonder, 
therefore,  that  the  advocates  of  this  theory  studiously  disparage  reasoning,  depre- 
cate all  exercise  of  the  mind  in  reflection,  decry  appeals  to  evidence,  and  lament 
that  even  the  power  of  reading  should  be  imparted  to  the  people.  It  is  not  without 
cause  that  they  dread  and  lament  '  an  age  of  too  much  light,'  and  wish  to  involve 
religion  in  a  '  solemn  and  awful  gloom.'  It  is  not  without  cause  that,  having 
removed  the  Christian's  confidence  from  a  rock,  to  base  it  on  sand,  they  forbid  all 
prying  curiosity  to  examine  their  foundation."  (  Whately  on  the  Kingdom  of  Christ, 
Essay  ii.,  §  30.) 

*  Those  who  wish  to  see  the  argument  on  this  subject  carried  out  in  a  masterly 
way,  are  referred  to  the  treatise  of  the  learned  Barrow,  on  the  Pope's  supremacy. 
4 


50  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 

Another  fierce  contest  between  rival  bishops  of  Uoine.  Bymmachua  and  Laurentiua. 

gant  claim  to  supremacy  from  divine  right,  with  an  earnestness 
proportioned  to  the  danger  that  existed  of  sinking  into  a  second 
rank,  from  the  rising  political  importance  and  splendor  of  the  rival 
city  of  Constantinople. 


CHAPTER  V. 

TOPERY     FULLY    ESTABLISHED. THE    MAN    OF    SIN    REVEALED. 

§  22. — In  the  course  of  the  sixth  century,  the  city  of  Rome  thrice 
witnessed  the  disgraceful  spectacle  of  rival  pontiffs,  with  fierce 
hatred,  bloodshed,  and  massacre,  contending  with  each  other  for  the 
spiritual  throne.  The  first  of  these  struggles  occurred  about  the 
commencement  of  the  century,  "  between  Symmachus  and  Lau- 
rentius,  who  were  on  the  same  day  elected  to  the  pontificate  by 
different  parties,  and  whose  dispute  was  at  length  decided  by  The- 
odoric,  king  of  the  Goths.  Each  of  these  ecclesiastics  maintained 
obstinately  the  validity  of  his  election  ;  they  reciprocally  accused 
each  other  of  the  most  detestable  crimes ;  and  to  their  mutual  dis- 
honor, their  accusations  did  not  appear  on  either  side  entirely  desti- 
tute of  foundation.  Three  different  councils,  assembled  at  Rome, 
endeavored  to  terminate  this  odious  schism,  but  without  success. 
A  fourth  was  summoned  by  Theodoric,  in  503,  to  examine  the 
accusations  brought  against  Symmachus,  to  whom  this  prince  had, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  schism,  adjudged  the  papal  chair.  This 
council  was  held  about  the  commencement  of  this  century,  and  in 
it  the  Roman  pontiff  was  acquitted  of  the  crimes  laid  to  his  charge. 
But  the  adverse  party  refused  to  acquiesce  in  this  decision,  and  this 
gave  occasion  to  Ennodius,  bishop  of  Ticinum,  now  Pavia,  to  draw 
up  his  adulatory  apology  for  the  council  and  Symmachus."  It  was 
on  this  occasion  and  in  this  apology,  says  Gieseler,  that  the  asser- 
tion was  first  hazarded,  that  "  the  bishop  of  Rome  was  subject  to  no 
earthly  tribunal.  Not  long  afterward  an  attempt  was  made  to  give 
this  principle  a  historical  basis,  by  bringing  forward  forged  acts  of 
former  pontiffs."*  In  subsequent  ages,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  popes 
not  only  declared  themselves  free  from  all  subjection  to  every 
earthly  tribunal,  but  boldly  maintained  that  all  earthly  powers  and 
potentates  were  subject,  to  them.  In  this  apology  for  Symmachus, 
the  servile  flatterer,  Ennodius,  styles  the  object  of  his  flattery, "  Judge 

IN    THE    PLACE    OF  GoD,  AND    VICEGERENT  OF  THE  MoST  HlGH."       This 

was  the  first  time  so  far  as  is  known,  that  this  blasphemous  title 
*  Gieseler,  vol.  i.,  page  339. 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  G06.  51 

More  quarrels  at  Rome.  Dispute  aliout  the  title  of  universal  bishop. 

was  given  to  man,  though  some  centuries  afterward  it  was  com- 
monly applied  to  the  popes,  thus  fulfilling  the  prophetic  words  of 
Paul :  "  So  that  he,  as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing 
himself  that  he  is  God."     (2  Thess.  ii.,  4.) 

About  the  year  530,  there  was  another  disgraceful  contest,  and 
the  city  of  Rome  was  again  agitated  by  the  rival  claims  of  Boniface 
II.,  and  Dioscurus,  though  the  premature  death  of  the  latter  soon 
put  a  period  to  this  clerical  war.  But  the  century  did  not  close 
without  a  scene  alike  disgraceful.  A  prelate  of  the  name  of  Vigilius, 
intrigued  at  court  to  procure  the  deposition  of  the  reigning  bishop 
Silvcrus.  The  latter  was,  in  consequence,  deprived  of  his  dignities 
and  banished.  He  appealed  to  the  emperor  Justinian,  who  inter- 
fered in  his  behalf,  and  encouraged  him  to  return  to  Rome,  with  the 
delusive  expectation  of  regaining  his  rights ;  but  the  artifices  of 
Vigilius  prevailed — his  antagonist  was  resigned  to  his  power,  and 
immediately  confined  by  him  in  the  islands  of  Pontus  and  Pandatara, 
where,  in  penury  and  affliction,  he  terminated  his  wretched  exist- 
ence. 

§  23. — During  the  last  few  years  of  the  sixth  century,  the  contest 
for  supremacy  between  the  bishops  of  Rome  and  Constantinople 
raged  with  greater  acrimony  than  at  any  preceding  period.  The 
bishop  of  Constantinople  not  only  claimed  an  unrivalled  sovereignty 
over  the  eastern  churches,  but  also  maintained  that  his  church  was, 
in  point  of  dignity,  no  way  inferior  to  that  of  Rome.  The  Roman 
pontiffs  beheld  with  impatience  these  pretensions,  and  warmly 
asserted  the  pre-eminence  of  their  church,  and  its  undoubted  superi- 
ority over  that  of  Constantinople.  Gregory  the  Great  distinguished 
himself  in  this  violent  contest ;  and  the  fact  that  in  a  council  held 
in  588,  John,  the  faster,  bishop  of  Constantinople,  assumed  the  title 
of  universal  bishop,  furnished  Gregory  with  a  favorable  opportunity 
of  exerting  his  zeal.  Supposing  that  the  design  of  his  rival  was  to 
obtain  the  supremacy  over  all  Christian  churches,  Gregory  opposed 
his  pretensions  with  the  utmost  vehemence,  and  in  order  to  establish, 
more  firmly,  his  own  authority,  invented  the  fiction  of  the  power  of 
the  keys,  as  committed  to  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  rather  than  to  the 
body  of  the  bishops,  according  to  the  previous  opinion,  and,  says  Wad- 
dington, "  He  betrayed  on  many  occasions  a  very  ridiculous  eager- 
ness to  secure  their  honor.  Consequently  he  was  profuse  in  his  distri- 
bution of  certain  keys,  endowed,  as  he  was  not  ashamed  to  assert,  with 
supernatural  qualities  ;  he  even  ventured  to  insult  Anastasius,  the 
patriarch  of  Antioch,  by  such  a  gift.  '  I  have  sent  you  (he  says), 
keys  of  the  blessed  apostle  Peter,  your  guardian,  which,  when 
placed  upon  the  sick,  are  wont  to  be  resplendent  with  numerous 
miracles.'  '  Amatoris  vestri,  beati  Petri  apostoli,  vobis  claves 
transmisi,  quae  super  eegros  positos  multis  solent  miraeulis  coruscare.' 
We  may  attribute  this  absurdity  to  the  basest  superstition,  or  to  the 
most  impudent  hypocrisy  ;  and  we  would  gladly  have  preferred 
the  more  excusable  motive,  if  the  supposed  advancement  of  the  See, 


52  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 


Letter  ofSainl  Gregory,  about  the  ■•blasphemous,"  "  infernal,"  and  "diabolical  "  title. 

which  was  clearly  concerned  in  these  presents,  did  not  rather  lead 
us  to  the  latter.""   (Wad.  Ch.  Hist.  143.) 

§24. Besides  these  vain  pretensions,  Gregory  wrote  epistles  to 

his  own  ambassador  at  Constantinople,  to  the  patriarch  John,  and 
to  the  emperor  Mauritius,  in  which  in  various  passages  he  denounces 
the  title  of  universal  bishop  as  "  vain,"  "  execrable,"  "  anti-Chris- 
tian," "  blasphemous,"  ';  infernal,"  and  "  diabolical."  In  his  letter  to 
the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  he  pleads  with  him  thus  :  "  Disci- 
pulis  Dominus  (licit,  autem  nolite  vocari  rabbi,unus  enim  Magister 
vester  est.  vos  omnes  fratres  estis,"  &c.  '  Our  Lord  says  unto  his 
disciples,  be  not  ye  called  rabbi,  for  one  is  your  Master,  and  all  ye 
are  brethren.'  What,  therefore,  most  dear  brother,  are  you,  in  the 
terrible  examination  of  the  coming  Judge,  to  say,  who,  generalis 
pater  in  mundo  vocari  appelis  ?  desire  to  be  called,  not  father  only, 
but  the  general  father  of  the  world  1 

"  Beware  of  the  sinful  suggestions  of  the  wicked.  I  beg,  I  entreat, 
and  I  beseech,  with  all  possible  suavity,  that  your  brotherhood 
resist  all  these  flatterers  who  offer  you  this  name  of  error,  and  that 
vou  refuse  to  be  designated  by  so  foolish  and  so  proud  an  appella- 
tion. For  I  indeed  say  it  with  tears,  and  from  the  inward  anguish 
of  my  bowels,  that  to  my  sins  I  attribute  it,  that  my  brother  cannot 
to  this  day  be  brought  to  humility,  who  was  made  bishop  for  this 
end,  that  "he  might  lead  the  minds  of  others  to  humility.  It  is 
written,  'God  resisteth  the  proud,  and  giveth  grace  to  the  humble:' 
and  again  it  is  said,  'he  is  unclean  before  God,  who  exalteth  his  heart ;' 
hence°  it  is  written  against  the  proud  man, '  Quid  superbis,  terra  et 
cinis  ?'     '  Earth  and  ashes,  why  art  thou  proud  V 

"  Perpende,  rogo,  quia  in  hac  presumptione  pax  totius  turbatur 
ecclesiai;'  &c.  "  Consider,  I  entreat  you,  that  by  this  rash  pre- 
sumption is  the  peace  of  the  whole  church  disturbed,  and  the  grace 
poured  out  in  common  upon  all  contradicted :  in  which  you  can 
increase  only  in  proportion  as  you  carefully  decrease  in  self-esteem, 
and  become  the  greater  the  more  you  restrain  yourself  from  this 
name  of  proud  and  foolish  usurpation  ;  love  humility,  therefore,  my 
dearest  brother,  with  your  whole  heart,  by  which  concord  among 
all  the  brethren  and  the  unity  of  the  holy  universal  church  may  be 
preserved.  Truly,  when  Paul,  the  apostle,  heard  some  say,  '  I  am 
of  Paul,  1  am  of  Apollos,  I  am  of  Cephas,'  he,  vehemently  abhorring 
this  tearing  asunder  of  the  Lord's  body,  by  which  they,  in  some 
sense,  united  his  members  to  other  heads,  cries  out,  Was  Paid 
crucified  for  you,  or  were  you  baptized  in  the  name  of  Paul  ?  If, 
then,  he  would  not  suffer  the  members  of  the  Lord's  body  to  be,  as 
it  were,  particularly  subject  to  certain  heads,  beyond  Christ,  and 
thev  apostles  too,  what  will  you  say  to  Christ  the  head  of  his 
universal  holy  church,  in  the  trial  of  his  last  judgment,  who  endea- 
vor to  subject  all  his  members  under  the  title  of  universal?  \\  hom, 
pray,  do  you  propose  to  imitate  by  this  perverse  name,  but  him, 
who,  despising  the  legions  of  angels,  his  companions,  endeavored  to 
break  forth,  and  ascend  to  an  elevation  peculiar  to  himself,  that  he 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  53 

Gregory  says  that  no  true  saint  would  accept  it.  Writes  against  it  to  the  Emperor 

might  seem  to  be  subject  to  none,  and  to  be  above  all  of  them  ? 
Who  also  said,  '  I  will  ascend  into  heaven,  I  will  exalt  my  throne 
above  the  stars  of  heaven;  I  will  be  like  the  Most  High!'  For 
what  are  all  your  brother  bishops  of  the  universal  church,  but  the 
stars  of  heaven,  whose  lives  and  preaching  give  light  among  the 
sins  and  errors  of  men,  as  in  the  darkness  of  night  ?  Above  whom, 
when  you  thus  desire  to  elevate  yourself  by  this  haughty  title,  and 
to  tread  down  their  name  in  comparison  of  yours,  what  do  you  say 
but  I  will  ascend  into  heaven,  I  will  exalt  my  throne  above  the  stars 
of  heaven  1 

"  Atque  ut  cuncta  brevi  singulo  locutionis  astringam,"  &c.  And 
that  I  may  sum  up  all  in  one  word :  the  saints  before  the  law,  the 
saints  under  the  law,  and  the  saints  under  grace,  the  gospel — all 
these,  making  up  the  perfect  body  of  our  Lord,  are  constituted  but 
members  of  the  church  ;  none  of  them  would  ever  have  himself 
called  universal.  Let  your  holiness  then  acknowledge  how  he 
must  swell  with  pride,  who  covets  to  be  called  by  this  name,  which 
no  true  saint  would  presume  to  accept.  Were  not,  as  your  brother- 
hood knows,  my  predecessors  in  the  apostolical  See,  which  I  now 
serve  by  God's  providence,  called  by  the  council  of  Chalcedon  to 
this  offered  honor  1  but  none  of  them  would  ever  allow  himself  to 
be  named  by  such  a  title — none  snatched  at  this  rash  name,  lest  if 
he  should  seize  on  this  singular  glory  of  the  pontificate,  he  should 
seem  to  deny  it  to  all  his  brethren. 

"  Sed  omnia  qua  pr&dicta  sunt,fiunt:  rex  superbiai  prope  est  et 
quod  dici  nefas  est,  sacerdotum  est  prarparatus  excitus  (vel  exercitus) 
ei  qui  cervice  militant  elationis."  But  all  things  which  are  foretold 
are  come  to  pass ;  the  king  of  pride  approaches,  and  O,  horrid  to 
tell  !  the  going  forth  of  (or  the  army  of  the  priests),  is  ready  for  him, 
who  fight  with  the  neck  of  pride,  though  appointed  to  lead  to 
humility."* 

§  25. — In  his  letters  to  the  emperor  Mauritius,  Gregory  reite- 
rates the  same  sentiments.  On  account  of  their  importance,  the 
following  extracts  from  these  letters  are  subjoined.  "  The  care 
and  principality  of  the  whole  church,"  says  Gregory,  "  is  committed 
to  St.  Peter ;  and  yet  he  is  not  called  '  universal  apostle  ' — though 
this  holy  man,  John,  my  fellow  priest,  labors  to  be  called  '  univer- 
sal bishop  !'  I  am  compelled  to  cry  out, '  O  the  corruption  of  times 
and  manners  V  Behold  the  barbarians  are  become  lords  of  all 
Europe :  cities  are  destroyed,  castles  are  beaten  down,  provinces 
depopulated,  there  are  no  husbandmen  to  till  the  ground.  Idolaters 
rage  and  domineer  over  Christians ;  and  yet  priests,  who  ought  to 
lie  weeping  upon  the  pavement,  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  covet  names 
of  vanity,  and  glory  in  new  and  profane  titles. 

"  Do  I,  most  religious  sovereign,  in  this  plead  my  own  cause  ? 
Do  I  vindicate  a  wrong  done  to  myself,  and  not  maintain  the  cause 
of  Almighty  God,  and  of  the  church  universal  ?     Who  is  he  who 

*  Epist.  Greg.,  lib.  iv.,  epist.  38. 


54  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 


Gregory  places  the  brand  of  anti-Christ  upon  him  who  usurps  the  title  of  universal  bishop. 


presumes  to  usurp  this  new  name  against  both  the  law  of  the  gospel 
and  of  the  canons  ?  We  know  that  many  priests  of  the  church  of 
Constantinople  have  been  not  only  heretics,  but  even  the  chief  leaders 
of  them.  If,  then,  every  one  of  that  church  assumes  the  name  by 
which  he  makes  himself  the  head  of  all  good  men ;  the  Catholic 
church,  which  God  forbid  should  ever  be  the  case,  must  needs  be 
overthrown  when  he  falls  who  is  called  Universal.  But,  far  from 
Christians  be  this  blasphemous  name,  by  which  all  honor  is  taken 
from  all  other  priests,  while  it  is  foolishly  arrogated  by  one.  This 
man  (John),  contemning  obedience  to  the  canons,  should  be  humbled 
by  the  commands  of  our  most  pious  sovereign.  He  should  be 
chastised  who  does  an  injury  to  the  holy  Catholic  church !  whose 
heart  is  puffed  up,  who  seeks  to  please  himself  by  a  name  of 
singularity,  by  which  he  would  elevate  himself  above  the  Emperor  ! 
We  are  all  scandalized  at  this.  Let  the  author  of  this  scandal 
reform  himself,  and  all  differences  in  the  church  will  cease.  I  am 
the  servant  of  all  priests,  so  long  as  they  live  like  themselves — but 
if  any  shall  vainly  set  up  his  bristles,  contrary  to  God  Almighty, 
and  to  the  canons  of  the  fathers,  I  hope  in  God  that  he  will  never 
succeed  in  bringing  my  neck  under  his  yoke — not  even  by  force 
of  arms." 

These  urgent  letters  of  Gregory  appear  to  have  been  unavailing. 
The  patriarch  John,  indeed,  was  soon  afterward  removed  by  death 
from  his  archiepiscopal  dignity ;  but  Cynacus,  who  succeeded  him 
as  bishop  of  Constantinople,  adopted  the  same  pompous  title  as  his 
predecessor.  Having  had  occasion  to  despatch  some  agents  to 
Rome,  in  the  letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  Roman  pontiff  Gregory, 
he  so  much  displeased  him  by  assuming  the  appellation  of  "  univer- 
sal bishop,"  that  the  latter  withheld  from  the  agents  somewhat  of 
the  courtesy  to  which  they  considered  themselves  entitled,  and,  of 
course,  complaint  was  made  to  the  emperor  Mauritius  of  the  neglect 
which  had  been  shown  them.  This  circumstance  extorted  a  letter 
from  the  Emperor  at  Constantinople  to  the  bishop  of  Rome,  in  which 
he  advises  him  to  treat  them,  in  future,  in  a  more  friendly  manner 
and  not  to  insist  so  far  on  punctilios  of  style,  as  to  create  a  scandal 
about  a  title,  and  fall  out  about  a  few  syllables.  To  this  Gregory 
replies,  "  that  the  innovation  in  the  style  did  not  consist  much  in  the 
quantity  and  alphabet ;  but  the  bulk  of  the  iniquity  was  weighty 
enough  to  sink  and  destroy  all.  And,  therefore,  I  am  bold  to  say," 
says  he,  "  that  whoever  adopts,  or  affects  the  title  of  universal  bishop, 
has  the  pride  and  character  of  anti-Christ,  and  is  in  some  manner 
his  forerunner  in  this  haughty  quality  of  elevating  himself  above  the 
rest  of  his  order.  And,  indeed,  both  the  one  and  the  other  seem  to 
split  upon  the  same  rock  ;  for  as  pride  makes  anti-Christ  strain 
his  pretensions  up  to  Godhead,  so  whoever  is  ambitious  to  be  called 
the  only  or  universal  prelate,  ari-ogates  to  himself  a  distinguished 
superiority,  and  rises,  as  it  were,  upon  the  ruins  of  the  rest."*   Let 

*  Epist.  Greg.  1.  vi.  Ep.  30. 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  55 

Pope  Boniface  soon  after  obtains  this  very  title  for  himself  and  successors. 

the  reader  ponder  well  the  sentence  last  quoted,  in  this  epistle  of 
Gregory,  confessedly  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Roman  bishops, 
and  who  has,  by  them,  been  canonized  as  Saivt  Gregory ;  in  which 
he  places  the  brand  of  anti-Christ  on  whoever  assumes  this  title, 
and  then  judge  whether  we  are  not  justified  in  pronouncing  the  era 
of  the  papal  supremacy,  when  only  two  years  after  Gregory's  death, 
pope  Boniface  III.  sought  for  and  obtained  the  title  of  universal 
bishop,  as  the  date  of  the  full  revelation  of  anti-Christ.  We  do 
but  repeat  the  opinion  so  emphatically  expressed  by  Saint  Gregory 
only  a  few  years  before  the  actual  occurrence  of  this  remarkable 
event  in  the  history  of  Popery.  Boniface,  who  succeeded  to  the 
Roman  See  in  605,was  so  far  from  having  any  scruples  about  adopting 
this  "  blasphemous  title,"  that  he  actually  applied  to  the  emperor 
Phocas,  a  cruel  and  bloodthirsty  tyrant,  who  had  made  his  way  to 
the  throne  by  assassinating  his  predecessor  ;  and  earnestly  solicited 
the  title,  with  the  privilege  of  handing  it  down  to  his  successors. 
The  profligate  emperor  who  had  a  secret  grudge  against  the  bishop 
of  Constantinople,  granted  the  request  of  Boniface,  and  after  strictly 
forbidding  the  former  prelate  to  use  the  title,  conferred  it  upon  the 
latter  in  the  year  606,  and  declared  the  church  of  Rome  to  be  head 
over  all  other  churches.*  Thus  was  Paul's  prediction  accomplished, 
"  the  man  of  sin  "  revealed,  and  that  system  of  corrupted  Christi- 
anity and  spiritual  tyranny  which  is  properly  called  POPERY, 
fully  developed  and  established  in  the  world.  The  title  of  universal 
bishop,  which  was  then  obtained  by  Boniface,  has  been  worn  by  all 
succeeding  popes,  and  the  claim  of  supremacy,  which  was  then 
established,  has  ever  since  been  maintained  and  defended  by  them, 
and  still  is,  down  to  the  present  day. 

§  26. — Henceforward  the  religion  of  Rome  is  properly  styled 
Popery,  or  the  religion  of  the  pope.  Previous  to  the  year  606. 
there  was  properly  no  pope.  It  is  true  that  in  earlier  ages  the  title 
of  pope,  which  is  derived  from  the  Greek  word  nannug,  father,  in  its 
general  and  inoffensive  sense,  had  been  used  as  a  frequent  title  of 
bishops,  without  distinction.  Siricius,  bishop  of  Rome,  was  probably 
the  first  who  assumed  the  name  as  an  official  title,  toward  the  close 
of  the  fourth  century,  and  it  was  afterward  claimed  exclusively  by 
the  popes  of  Rome,  as  the  appropriate  designation  of  the  sovereign 
pontifFs.f  This  arrogant  claim  has  long  since  been  quietly  conceded 
by  other  Christians,  and  the  title .  has   been  exclusively  enjoyed, 

*  These  facts  are  related  by  Baronius  and  other  Romish  historians.  "  Quo 
tempore  intercesserunt  queedam  odiorum  fomenta  inter  eundem  Phocam  imperato- 
rem  atque  Cyriacum  Constantinopolitanum.  Hinc  igitur  in  Cyriacum  Phocas 
exacerbatus  in  ejus  odium  imperiali  edicto  sancivit,  nomen  universalis  decere  Ro- 
manum  tantum  modo  ecclesiam,  tanquam  quaj  caput  esset  omnium  ecclesiarum, 
solique  convenire  Romano  pontifici ;  non  autem  episcopo  Constantinopolitano,  qui 
sibi  illud  usurpare  praesumeret.  Quod  quidem  hunc  Bonifacium  papam  tertium  ab 
imperatore  Phoca  obtinuisse,  cum  Anastasius  Bibliothecarius,  turn  Paulus  diaconus 
tradunt."     Spondan,  Epitom.  Baron.  Annal.  in  annum  606. 

f  See  Coleman's  Christian  Antiquities,  page  76. 


56  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 

Popery  not  Catholic.  Calling  things  by  their  right  names. 

without  dispute  and  without  envy.*  When  we  say,  therefore,  that 
previous  to  A.  D.  00(5,  there  was  no  pope,  we  mean,  of  course,  in 
the  present  exclusive  sense  of  the  word,  as  the  supreme  sovereign 
pontiff,  and  boasted  head  of  the  universal  church.  Till  this  time, 
notwithstanding  the  prior  origin  of  many  popish  corruptions,  Popery 
or  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  in  its  present  form,  as  a  distinct  and 
compacted  system,  had  no  existence.  This  is  the  epoch  of  its 
origin  and  birth.  Papal  supremacy  then  bound,  and  still  binds 
its  discordant  elements  into  one,  and  should  this  claim  be  given  up, 
the  whole  anti-Christian  system  would  fall  to  pieces,  like  the  por- 
tions of  an  arch,  when  the  key-stone  is  removed.  The  historian  is 
therefore  fully  justified  in  applying  to  this  system,  the  distinctive 
and  appropriate  terms,  popish,  popery,  and  their  cognates.  In  the 
words  of  that  singular  but  forcible  writer,  John  Rogers,  when 
assigning  his  reasons  for  not  employing  the  terms  Catholic  or  Roman 
Catholic,  by  which  papists  prefer  to  be  designated,  "We  are  far, 
very  far  from  intending  or  wishing  to  hurt  the  feeling,  or  pain  the 
mind  of  any  member  of  the  kirk  of  Rome  ;  but  we  intend  to  follow 
a  plan  scriptural  and  reasonable,  and  to  write  with  grammatical  and 
philosophical  propriety.  We  desire  not  to  be,  and  not  to  appear 
to  be  offensive  or  insulting ;  but  to  be  orderly,  or  to  conform  to 
method  and  rule.  We  desire  not  to*  give  displeasure  or  pain,  but  to 
have  definitude  or  precision.  We  aim  to  be  accurate  or  correct, 
and  to  employ  words  in  their  right  and  true  meaning.  We  avoid 
using  Catholic  and  Roman  Catholic,  on  five  grounds  ;  in  order  to 
be  analogical,  in  order  to  be  logical,  in  order  to  oppose  papal 
bigotry,  in  order  to  oppose  papal  pride,  and  in  order  to  oppose 
papal  persecution."!  The  word  Catholic  means  universal,  and 
since  the  Romish  is  not  a  universal  church,  it  is  evidently  incorrect 
to  call  that  communion  the  Holy  Catholic  church.  To  avoid 
this  impropriety,  some  employ  the  terms  Roman  Catholic,  but  here 
again  is  a  manifest  impropriety,  as  that  cannot  be  universal  in  any 
sense,  which  is  not  absolutely  so,  and  to  apply  the  term  Catholic  or 
universal,  to  that  which  must  be  limited  by  the  adjective  Roman, 
or  any  other  word  denoting  speciality,  is  evidently  a  contradiction 
in  terms.  For  these  reasons  this  system  will  be  designated  in  the 
present  work,  by  the  names,  Romanism,  Popery,  &c,  and  the  adjec- 
tives, Romish,  Papal,  &c,  not  as  terms  of  reproach,  but  simply 
because  they  are  more  consistent  with  historical  accuracy  and 
truth,  than  any  others  which  could  be  selected.  If  we  occasionally 
employ,  therefore,  the  terms  Catholic  or  Roman  Catholic,  we  wish 

*  Father  Gahan,  in  his  History  of  the  Church  (page  335),  mentions,  apparently 
with  approhation,  the  following  whimsical  derivation  of  the  title  Papa,  or  l'ope : 
"  Some  writers  say  that  the  word  Paj/a  comes  from  the  initial  letters  of  these 
four  words,  Petrus,  Apostolus,  Princeps,  Apostolorum  (i.  e.,  Peter  the  apostle, 
prince  of  the  apostles),  which  being  abbreviated  with  a  punctum  or  colon  after  each 
of  the  four  initial  letters,  coalesced  in  progress  of  time  into  the  word  Papa,  with- 
out any  intermediate  punctuation." 

f  See  "  Anti-popopriestian,"  by  John  Rogers,  page  76. 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  57 

Consequences  of  the  establishment  of  the  papal  supremacy. 

it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  we  do  so,  simply  as  a  matter  of 
courtesy  or  convenience,  and  not  because  we  for  a  moment  admit 
the  propriety  of  the  application  of  either  of  these  terms  to  the  anti- 
Christian  system  of  Rome. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PAPAL  SUPREMACY THE  ACTORS  IN  ITS  ESTABLISHMENT THE  TYRANT 

PHOCAS THE  SAINT  GREGORY,  AND  THE  POPE  BONIFACE. 

§  27. — The  bestowment  of  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop  by  Pho- 
cas,  the  tyrant,  upon  Boniface  III.,  bishop  of  Rome,  the  first  of 
the  popes,  and  the  consequent  establishment  of  papal  supremacy, 
was  the  memorable  event  that  embodied  into  a  system  and  cemented 
into  one  the  various  false  doctrines,  corrupt  practices,  and  vain  and. 
superstitious  rites  and  ceremonies,  which  had  arisen  in  earlier  ages, 
to  deface  the  beauty  and  mar  the  simplicity  of  Christian  worship. 
Before  this  event,  the  bishop  of  Rome  had  no  power  to  enforce  his 
decisions  upon  other  churches  and  bishops  ;  and,  as  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  in  many  instances  they  might  reject  his  decrees,  with- 
out forfeiting  their  standing,  as  constituent  portions  of  the  so  called 
Catholic  church ;  now  they  were  compelled  to  submit  to  his  man- 
dates, as  the  spiritual  sovereign  of  the  world,  or  be  branded  with 
the  name  of  heretics.  Before  this,  the  false  doctrines  which  arose, 
and  the  superstitious  heathen  ceremonies  which  were  adopted  into 
Christian  worship,  might  be  believed  or  practised  in  one  church  or 
province  and  rejected  in  another  ;  so  that  the  corruptions  which 
had  long  since  towered  to  a  greater  height  at  Rome  than  any- 
where else,  were  still  but  partially  diffused  over  the  Christian 
world.  Immediately  upon  the  establishment  of  papal  supremacy, 
the  gigantic  errors  and  corruptions  of  Rome  were  rendered  binding 
upon  all.  Before  this  time,  while  there  was  no  supreme  earthly 
head  to  enforce  uniformity,  a  variety  of  liturgies  and  forms  of 
worship  were  adopted  in  different  places,  some  of  them  in  a  greater 
and  others  in  a  less  degree  conformable  to  the  spirit  of  the  New 
Testament ;  now,  by  the  sovereign  decrees  of  his  Holiness  the 
Pope,  all  must  be  conformed  to  the  standard  of  Rome.  In  the 
ages  that  preceded  the  establishment  of  papal  supremacy,  "  we  are 
not  to  think,"  observes  Mosheim,  "  that  the  same  method  of  wor- 
ship was  uniformly  followed  in  every  Christian  society,  for  this  was 
far  from  being  the  case.  Every  bishop,  consulting  his  own  private 
judgment,  and  taking  into  consideration  the  nature  of  the  times,  the 
genius  of  the  country  in  which  he  lived,  and  the  character  and 


5g  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 

Biography  of  Phocas  the  tyrant,  who  bestowed  upon  the  popes  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop. 


temper  of  those  whom  he  was  appointed  to  rule  and  instruct, 
formed  such  a  plan  of  divine  worship  as  he  thought  the  wisest  and 
the  best.  Hence  that  variety  of  liturgies' -which  were  in  use,  be- 
fore the  bishop  of  Rome  had  usurped  the  supreme  power  in  re- 
lio-ious  matters,  and  persuaded  the  credulous  and  unthinking,  that 
the  model,  both  of  doctrine  and  worship,  was  to  be  given  by  the 
mother  church,  and  to  be  followed  implicitly  throughout  the  Chris- 
tian world."     (Mosheim,  vol.  i.  p.  385.) 

§  28. As  it  was  owing  to  the  decree  of  the   emperor  Phocas, 

constituting  him  supreme  Universal  Bishop  and  head  of  the  universal 
church,  that  the  proud  prelate  of  Rome  was  thus  enabled  to  tyrannize 
over  the  whole  of  Christendom,  and  mould  and  fashion  the  churches 
at  his  will,  it  may  be  necessary  that  we  retrace  our  steps  for  four  or 
five  years,  and  relate  with  some  minuteness  the  origin  and  charac- 
ter of  the  man  who  conferred  on  him  this  power,  that  we  may  see 
whether  this  doctrine,  so  essential  to  the  very  existence  of  Popery, 
viz. :  the  papal  supremacy,  come  from  heaven  or  of  men.  If  I 
mistake  not,  we  shall  find  that  its  origin  is  from  beneath,  and  that 
the  principal  agent  in  establishing  it,  was  one  of  the  most  guilty  of 
the  human  race,  approaching  very  near,  if  he  did  not  altogether 
reach  the  idea  of  consummate  or  universal  depravity,  embodied  in 
his  great  master,  the  devil. 

This  Phocas  was  a  native  of  Asia  Minor,  of  obscure  and  unknown 
parentage,  who  entered  the  army  of  the  emperor  Mauritius  as  a 
common  soldier.  Having  attained  the  rank  of  a  centurion,  a  petty 
officer,  with  the  command  of  a  hundred  men,  he  happened  in  the 
year  G02  to  be  with  his  company  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube, 
when  he  headed  a  mutiny  against  the  Emperor  among  his  troops, 
caused  himself  to  be  tumultuously  proclaimed  leader  of  the  insur- 
gents, and  marched  with  them  to  Constantinople.  "  So  obscure  had 
been  the  former  condition  of  Phocas,"  says  Gibbon,  "that  the 
Emperor  was  quite  ignorant  of  the  name  and  character  of  his  rival ; 
but  as  soon  as  he  had  learned  that  the  centurion,  though  bold  in 
sedition,  was  timid  in  the  face  of  danger,  '  Alas  !'  cried  the  prince, 
'  if  he  is  a  coward,  he  will  surely  be  a  murderer.' " 

§  29. — Upon  the  approach  of  Phocas  to  Constantinople,  the  unfor- 
tunate Mauritius,  with  his  wife  and  nine  children,  escaped  in  a  small 
bark  to  the  Asiatic  shore  ;  but  the  violence  of  the  wind  compelled 
him  to  land  at  the  church  of  St.  Autonomus,  near  Chalcedon,  from 
whence  he  despatched  Theodosius,  his  eldest  son,  to  implore  the 
gratitude  and  friendship  of  the  Persian  monarch.  For  himself,  he 
refused  to  fly  ;  his  body  was  tortured  with  sciatic  pains,  his  mind 
was  enfeebled  by  superstition  ;  he  patiently  awaited  the  event  of 
the  revolution,  and  addressed  a  fervent  and  public  prayer  to  the 
Almighty,  that  the  punishment  of  his  sins  might  be  inflicted  in  this 
world,  rather  than  in  a  future  life.  The  patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople "  consecrated  the  successful  usurper  in  the  church  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist.  On  the  third  day,  amidst  the  acclamations  of  a  thought- 
less people,  Phocas  made  his  public  entry  in  a  chariot  drawn  by 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  59 

Cruel  murder  by  the  tyrant,  of  Mauritius,  his  wife  and  family. 


four  white  horses  ;  the  revolt  of  the  troops  was  rewarded  by  a 
lavish  donative,  and  the  new  sovereign,  after  visiting  the  palace, 
beheld  from  his  throne  the  games  of  the  hippodrome.  The  ministers 
of  death  were  despatched  to  Chalcedon :  they  dragged  the  Emperor 
from  his  sanctuary ;  and  the  five  sons  of  Mauritius  were  successively 
murdered  before  the  eyes  of  their  agonizing  parent.  At  each  stroke, 
which  he  felt  in  his  heart,  he  found  strength  to  rehearse  a  pious 
ejaculation, '  Thou  art  just,  O  Lord!  and  thy  judgments  are  right- 
eous.' The  tragic  scene  was  finally  closed  by  the  execution  of  the 
Emperor  himself,  in  the  twentieth  year  of  his  reign,  and  the  sixty- 
third  year  of  his  age.  The  bodies  of  the  father  and  his  five  sons 
were  cast  into  the  sea,  their  heads  were  exposed  at  Constantinople 
to  the"  insults  or  pity  of  the  multitude,  and  it  was  not  till  some  signs 
of  putrefaction  appeared,  that  Phocas  connived  at  the  private  burial 
of  these  venerable  remains."  The  flight  of  Theodosius,  the  son  of 
the  unfortunate  Emperor,  to  the  Persian  court,  had  been  intercepted 
by  a  rapid  pursuit,  or  a  deceitful  message :  he  was  beheaded  at 
Nice,  and  the  last  hours  of  the  young  prince  were  soothed  by  the 
comforts  of  religion,  and  the  consciousness  of  innocence. 

§  30. — In  the  massacre  of  the  imperial  family,  the  usurper  had 
spared  the  widow  and  three  daughters  of  the  late  Emperor,  but  the 
suspicion  or  discovery  of  a  conspiracy  rekindled  the  fury  of  Phocas. 
These  unfortunate  females  took  refuge  in  one  of  the  churches  of  the 
city,  then  regarded  as  an  inviolable  asylum.  The  patriarch,  moved 
partly  by  compassion  to  the  royal  sufferers,  partly  by  reverence 
for  the  place,  would  not  permit  them  to  be  dragged  by  force  from 
their  asylum  ;  but  defended  them,  whilst  there,  with  great  spirit  and 
resolution.  The  tyrant,  one  of  the  most  vindictive  and  inexorable 
of  mankind,  and  who  could  therefore  ill  brook  this  spirited  opposi- 
tion from  the  priest,  thought  it  prudent  then  to  dissemble  his  resent- 
ment, as  it  would  have  been  exceedingly  dangerous,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  his  reign,  to  alarm  the  church.  And  he  well  knew  how 
important,  and  even  venerable  a  point  it  was  accounted,  to  preserve 
inviolate  the  sacredness  of  such  sanctuaries.  He  desisted,  therefore, 
from  using  force,  and,  by  means  of  the  most  solemn  oaths  and  pro- 
mises of  safety,  prevailed  at  length  upon  the  ladies  to  quit  their 
asylum.  In  consequence  of  which,  they  soon  after  became  the  helpless 
victims  of  his  fury.  "  A  matron,"  says  Gibbon,  "  who  commanded 
the  respect  and  pity  of  mankind,  the  daughter,  wife,  and  mother  of 
emperors,  was  tortured  like  the  vilest  malefactor,  and  the  empress 
Constantina,  with  three  innocent  daughters,  was  beheaded  at  Chal- 
cedon, on  the  same  ground  which  had  been  stained  with  the  blood 
of  her  husband  and  five  sons  !  The  hippodrome,  the  sacred  asylum 
of  the  pleasures  and  the  liberty  of  the  Romans,  was  polluted  with 
heads  and  limbs  and  mangled  bodies ;  and  the  companions  of  Pho- 
cas were  the  most  sensible  that  neither  his  favor  nor  their  services, 
could  protect  them  from  a  tyrant,  the  worthy  rival  of  the  Caligulas 
and  Domitians  of  the  first  age  of  the  empire"*    The  imperial  family 

*  Decline  and  Fall,  chap.  xlvi. 


60  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 

Horrid  barbarities  of  Phocas.  Bishop  Gregory  the  Great. 

bcino-  now  entirely  cut  off,  the  bloodthirsty  tyrant  began  to  proceed 
with  the  same  inexorable  cruelty  against  all  their  Iriends,  and  all 
who  had  betrayed  the  least  compassion  for  them,  or  had  borne  any 
civil  or  military  employments  in  the  late  reign.  Thus,  throughout 
the  empire  were  men  of  the  first  rank  and  distinction  either  daily 
executed  or  publicly  or  privately  massacred.  Some  were  first  inhu- 
manly tortured  ;  others  had  their  hands  and  feet  cut  off;  and  some 
were  set  up  as  marks  for  the  raw  soldiery  to  shoot  at,  in  learning 
the  exercise  and  use  of  the  bow.  The  populace  met  with  no  better 
treatment  than  the  nobility,  great  numbers  of  them  being  daily 
seized  for  speaking  disrespectfully  of  the  tyrant,  and  either  killed  by 
his  guards  on  the  spot,  or  tied  up  in  sacks  and  thrown  into  the 
sea,  or  dragged  to  prison,  which  by  that  means  was  so  crowded 
that  they  soon  died,  suffocated  with  the  stench  and  noisomeness  of 
the  place. 

Such,  then,  was  the  character  of  the  monster  in  the  shape  of  a 
man,  as  recorded  by  the  pen  of  impartial  history,  by  whose  sover- 
eign decree  pope  Boniface  was  constituted  Universal  Bishop,  and 
supreme  head  of  the  church  on  earth  ;  and  such  is  the  foundation, 
and  the  only  foundation,  upon  which  this  lordly  title  rests,  which 
has  been  claimed  by  all  the  successors  of  Boniface ;  the  Gregorys, 
the  Innocents,  and  the  Leos,  down  to  the  imbecile  old  man,  Gregory 
XVI.,  who,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  issues  his  mandates  from  the 
Vatican  at  Rome,  demanding  the  unlimited  submission  and  obedi- 
ence of  the  faithful  in  the  United  States,  and  all  other  nations  of  the 
earth.  So  much  for  the  source  of  this  usurped  spiritual  sovereignty. 
Whether  any  human  power  possessed  the  right  thus  to  elevate  a 
mortal  to  the  station  of  Universal  Bishop,  supreme  head  and  abso- 
lute monarch  of  Christ's  church,  and  if  so,  whether  so  atrocious  a 
villain,  and  so  bloody  a  murderer,  as  this  Phocas,  possessed  such 
a  right,  must  be  left  to  the  common  sense  of  the  reader  to  decide. 

§  31. — I  have  named  the  famous  Romish  bishop,  Gregory  the 
Great,  as  he  is  called  by  papists,  as  one  actor  in  establishing  the 
papal  supremacy.  Notwithstanding  his  artful  epistle  to  Mauritius, 
in  which  he  condemns  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop,  because  it  had 
been  assumed  by  a  rival,  he  is  worthy  of  the  honor  in  this  affair  of 
being  placed  side  by  side  with  Phocas,  partly  because  no  man  before 
him  had  done  so  much  in  defence  of  the  proud  prerogatives  of  the 
Roman  See,  but  chiefly  because  by  the  base  and  servile  flatteries 
he  bestowed  upon  that  weak-minded  but  bloodthirsty  tyrant,  he 
paved  the  way  for  the  success  of  Boniface,  a  few  years  later,  in  his 
application  to  Phocas,  for  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop. 

At  the  accession  of  Phocas,  Gregory  was  still  bishop  of  Rome, 
and  with  the  hope,  doubtless,  that  he  should  be  more  successful 
with  this  bloody  tyrant  than  he  had  been  with  Mauritius,  in  caus- 
ing him  to  restrain  the  rising  greatness  and  ambition  of  his  rival 
patriarch  at  Constantinople,  he  immediately  wrote  to  him  a  letter 
of  congratulation,  full  of  the  vilest  and  most  venal  flatteries,  so  that 
it  has  been  truly  said,  were  we  to  learn  the  character  of  Phocas 


chap,  vi.l  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  01 


The  rapture  of  Saint  Gregory  at  the  accession  of  the  murderous  tyrant. 


from  this  pontiff's  letters,  we  should  certainly  conclude  him  to  have 
been  "  nit  her  an  angel  than  a  man." 

§  32. — It  is  humiliating  in  the  extreme  to  record  the  deep  de- 
basement of  such  a  man  as  Gregory,  when  he  could  so  far  descend 
from  the  dignity  of  his  high  and  holy  ealling,  as  to  address  ties 
usurper,  while  his  hands  were  yet  reeking  with  the  blood  of  his 
slaughtered  victims,  in  language  like  the  following:  "Glory  to  God 
in  the  highest ;  who,  according  as  it  is  written,  changes  times  and 
transfers  kingdoms.  And  because  he  would  have  that  made  known 
to  all  men,  which  he  hath  vouchsafed  to  speak  by  his  own  prophets, 
saying,  that  the  Most  High  rules  in  the  kingdoms  of  men,  and  to 
whom  he  will  he  gives  it."  He  then  goes  on  to  observe  that  tied, 
in  his  incomprehensible  providence,  sometimes  sends  kings  to  afflict 
his  people  and  punish  them  for  their  sins.  This,  says  he,  we  have 
known  of  late  to  our  woful  experience.  Sometimes,  on  the  other 
hand,  God,  in  his  mercy,  raises  good  men  to  the  throne,  for  the 
relief  and  exultation  of  his  servants.  Then  applying  this  remark  to 
existing  circumstances,  he  adds  :  "  In  the  abundance  of  our  exulta- 
tion, on  which  account,  we  think  ourselves  the  more  speedily  con- 
firmed, rejoicing  to  find  the  gentleness  of  your  piety  equal  to  your 
imperial  dignity."  Then,  breaking  out  into  rapture,  no  longer  to  be 
restrained,  he  exclaims,  "  Let  the  heavens  rejoice  and  the  earth  be 
glad  ;  and,  for  your  illustrious  deeds,  let  the  people  of  every  realm 
hitherto  so  vehemently  afflicted,  now  be  filled  with  gladness.  May 
the  necks  of  your  enemies  be  subjected  to  the  yoke  of  your  supreme 
rule,  and  the  hearts  of  your  subjects,  hitherto  broken  and  depressed, 
be  relieved  by  your  clemency."  Proceeding  to  paint  their  former 
miseries,  he  concludes  with  wishing  that  the  commonwealth  may 
long  enjoy  its  present  happiness.  Thus,  in  language  evidently 
borrowed  from  the  inspired  writers,  and  in  which  they  anticipate 
the  joy  and  gladness  that  should  pervadp  universal  nature  at  the 
birth  of  the  Messiah,  does  this  pope  celebrate  the  march  of  the 
tyrant  and  usurper  through  seas  of  blood  to  the  imperial  throne. 

"  As  a  subject  and  a  Christian,"  says  Gibbon  (chap.  xlvi.),"it  was 
the  duty  of  Gregory  to  acquiesce  in  the  established  government ; 
but  the  joyful  applause  with  which  he  salutes  the  fortune  of  the 
assassin,  has  sullied,  with  indelible  disgrace,  the  character  of  the 
saint.  The  successor  of  the  apostles  might  have  inculcated  with 
decent  firmness  the  guilt  of  blood,  and  the  necessity  of  repentance  : 
he  is  content  to  celebrate  the  deliverance  of  the  people,  and  the  fall 
of  the  oppressor ;  to  rejoice  that  the  piety  and  benignity  of  Phocas 
have  been  raised  by  Providence  to  the  imperial  throne  ;  to  pray 
tnat  his  hands  may  be  strengthened  against  all  his  enemies  ;  and  to 
express  a  wish,  that  after  a  long  triumphant  reign,  he  may  be  trans- 
ferred from  a  temporal  to  an  everlasting  kingdom." 

§  33. — The  unmeasured  abuse  with  which  this  Saint  Gregory 
loads  the  murdered  Emperor,  after  his  death,  in  his  congratulatory 
letters  to  Phocas,  naturally  leads  to  an  inquiry  into  the  character 
of  the  unfortunate  Mauritius.     The  fault  with  which  he  is  princi- 


02  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 


Wicked  duplicity  and  hypocrisy  of  Saint  Gregory. 


pally  accused  by  contemporary  historians,  and  which,  doubtless, 
proved  the  cause  of  his  untimely  fate,  was  too  much  parsimony; 
than  which  no  vice  could  render  him  more  odious  to  the  soldiery, 
who  were,  in  those  degenerate  times  of  the  empire,  lazy,  undisci- 
plined, debauched,  rapacious,  and  seditious.  As  the  government 
was  become  military,  the  affection  of  the  army  was  the  principal 
bulwark  of  the  throne.  It  was  ever  consequently  the  interest  of 
the  reigning  family  to  secure  the  fidelity  of  the  legions  as  much  as 
possible.  This,  in  times  so  corrupt,  when  military  discipline  was 
extinct,  was  to  be  effected  only  by  an  unbounded  indulgence,  and 
by  frequent  largesses.  These  the  prince  was  not  in  a  condition  to 
bestow,  without  laying  exorbitant  exactions  on  the  people.  For 
levying  these,  the  army  were,  as  long  as  they  shared  in  the  spoil, 
always  ready  to  lend  their  assistance.  Hence  it  happened,  that, 
among  the  Emperors,  the  greatest  oppressors  of  the  people  were 
commonly  the  greatest  favorites  of  the  army.  The  revolt  of  the 
legions,  therefore,  could  be  but  a  slender  proof  of  maladministrations. 
It  was  even,  in  many  cases,  an  evidence  of  the  contrary. 

But  it  is  more  to  our  present  purpose  to  consider  the  character 
which  this  very  Saint  Gregory  gave  of  Mauritius,  when  in  posses- 
sion of  the  imperial  diadem.  For  if  the  former  and  latter  accounts 
given  by  the  pontiff  cannot  be  rendered  consistent,  we  must  admit, 
that,  first  or  last,  his  holiness  made  a  sacrifice  of  truth  to  politics. 
Now  it  is  certain  that  nothing  can  be  more  contradictory  than  those 
accounts.  In  some  of  his  letters  to  that  Emperor,  we  find  the  man 
whom  he  now  treats  as  a  perfect  monster,  extolled  to  the  skies,  as 
one  of  the  most  pious,  most  religious,  most  Christian  princes  that 
ever  lived.  In  one  of  these  letters,  the  Emperor's  "  pious  zeal, 
solicitude,  and  vigilance  for  the  preservation  of  the  Christian  faith," 
are  represented  as  "  the  glory  of  his  reign,  as  a  subject  of  joy,  not 
to  the  pontiff  only,  but  to  all  the  world."  In  another,  after  the 
warmest  expressions  of  gratitude,  on  account  of  the  pious  liberality 
and  munificence  of  his  imperial  majesty,  and  after  telling  how 
much  the  priests,  the  poor,  the  strangers,  and  all  the  faithful  were 
indebted  to  his  paternal  care,  he  adds  that  for  these  reasons  "  all 
should  pray  for  the  preservation  of  his  life,  that  Almighty  God 
might  grant  to  him  a  long  and  quiet  reign,  and  that  after  his  death, 
as  the  reward  of  his  piety,  a  happy  race  of  his  descendants  might 
long  flourish  as  sovereigns  of  the  Roman  empire."* 

Yet  he  no  sooner  hears  (says  Dr.  Campbell)  of  the  successful 
treason  of  Phocas  in  the  barbarous  murder  of  the  sovereign  family, 
an  event,  the  mention  of  which,  even  at  this  distance,  makes  a  humane 
person  shudder  with  horror,  than  he  exclaims  with  rapture,  "  Glory 
to  God  in  the  highest."  He  invites  heaven  and  earth,  men  and 
angels,  to  join  in  the  general  triumph.     How  happy  is  he  that  the 

*  "  Unde  actum  est,  nt  simul  omnes  pro  vita  dominorum  concorditer  orarent, 
quatcnus  omnipotens  Deus  longa  vobis  et  qnieta  tempora  tribuat,  et  pietatis  vostrae 
felicissimam  sobolem  diu  in  Romana  rcpublica  florere  concedat."  (Epist.  Greg., 
lib.  viii.,  epist  2.) 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  IN  EMBRYO.— TO  A.  D.  606.  63 

Invites  all  the  angels  of  heaven  to  rejoice  in  the  success  of  Phocas. 

royal  race  is  totally  exterminated,  from  whom,  but  a  little  before, 
he  told  us,  that  he  poured  out  incessant  and  tearful  prayers  (lachry- 
mabili  prece  is  one  of  his  expressions),  that  they  might,  to  the  latest 
ages,  flourish  on  the  throne,  for  the  felicity  of  the  Roman  common- 
wealth !  An  honest  heathen  would,  at  least  for  some  time,  have 
avoided  any  intercourse  or  correspondence  with  such  a  ruffian  as 
Phocas  ;  but  this  Christian  bishop,  before  he  had  the  regular  and 
customary  notice  of  his  accession  to  the  purple,  is  forward  to  con- 
gratulate him  on  the  success  of  his  crimes.  His  very  crimes  he 
canonizes  (an  easy  matter  for  false  religion  to  effect),  and  transforms 
into  shining  virtues,  and  the  criminal  himself  into  a  second  Messiah, 
he  that  should  come  for  the  salvation  and  comfort  of  God's  people. 
And  all  this  was  purely  that  he  might  pre-engage  the  favor  of  the 
new  Emperor,  who  (he  well  knew),  entertained  a  secret  grudge 
against  the  Constantinopolitan  bishop,  for  his  attachment  to  the 
preceding  emperor  Mauritius  ;  a  grudge  which,  when  he  saw  with 
what  spirit  the  patriarch  protected  the  empress  dowager  and  her 
daughters,  soon  settled  into  implacable  hatred.* 

"  Does  it  not  hence  appear  but  too  plain,"  inquires  the  learned 
historian  of  the  popes, f  "  that  Gregory,  however  conscientious,  just, 
and  religious  in  his  principles  and  conduct,  when  he  did  not  apprehend 
the  dignity  or  interest  of  his  See  to  be  concerned,  acted  upon  very 
different  notions  and  principles,  when  he  apprehended  they  were 
concerned  ?  For  how  can  we  reconcile  with  conscience,  justice, 
or  religion,  his  bestowing  on  the  worst  of  tyrants  the  highest  praises 
that  can  be  bestowed  on  the  best  of  princes  ?  His  courting  the 
favor  of  a  cruel  and  wicked  usurper,  by  painting  and  reviling,  as  an 
absolute  tyrant,  the  excellent  prince,  whose  crown  he  had  usurped  ? 
His  ascribing  (which  I  leave  Baronius  to  excuse  from  blasphemy), 
to  a  particular  Providence  the  revolt  of  a  rebellious  subject,  and 
seizing  the  crown ;  though  he  opened  himself  a  way  to  it  by  the 
murder  of  his  lawful  sovereign,  and  his  six  children,  all  the  male 
issue  of  the  imperial  family  1  And  finally,  by  his  inviting  all  man- 
kind, nay,  and  the  angels  of  heaven,  to  rejoice  with  him,  and  return 
thanks  to  God,  for  the  good  success  of  so  wicked  an  attempt,  per- 
haps the  most  wicked  and  cruel  that  is  recorded  in  history  1  Gre- 
gory had  often  declared  that  he  was  ready  to  sacrifice  his  life  to 
the  honor  of  his  See  ;  but  whether  he  did  not  sacrifice,  on  this  occa- 
sion, what  ought  to  have  been  dearer  to  him  than  his  life,  or  even 
the  honor  of  his  See,  I  leave  the  world  to  judge  ;  and  only  observe 
here,  that  his  reflecting  in  the  manner  he  did  on  the  memory  of 
the  unhappy  Mauritius,  was  in  him  an  instance  of  the  utmost  ingrati- 
tude, if  what  he  himself  formerly  wrote,  and  frequently  repeated, 
be  true,  viz. :  That  his  tongue  could  not  express  the  good  he  had 
received  of  the  Almighty,  and  his  lord  the  Emperor ;  that  he 
thought  himself  bound  in  gratitude  to  pray  incessantly  for  the  life 

*  See  Dr.  Campbell's  Lectures  on  Ecclesiastical  History,  lect.  xvi. 
f  Bower,  in  vita  Greg,  i.,  vol.  ii.,  page  326. 


64  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  i. 


Pope  Bonifuce  assembles  ;i  council,  in  which  he  exercises  his  newly  obtained  power. 


of  bis  most  pious  and  most  Christian  lord  ;  and  that,  in  return  for 
the  goodness  of  his  most  religious  lord  to  him,  he  could  do  no  less 
than  love  the  very  ground  on  which  he  trod." 

§34. — Perhaps  we  may  not  be  warranted  in  asserting  (as  Dr. 
Campbell  seems  to  suppose),  that  Gregory,  by  these  vile  flatteries, 
intended  to  secure  for  himself  the  title  which  had  been  assumed 
by  his  rival  at  the  East,  it  is  possible  he  would  have  been  content 
could  he  have  lived  to  see  him  deprived  of  it ;  still,  if  he  indulged 
such  a  wish  in  secret,  consistency  itself  must  have  forbidden  its 
utterance,  when  he  had  just  before  pronounced  the  assumption  of 
such  a  title — the  badge  and  the  brand  of  anti-Christ.  Perhaps 
Gregory  would  have  been  more  cautious  in  the  expression  of  such 
an  opinion,  could  he  have  foreseen  that  in  so  short  a  time  it  would 
be  importunately  sought  and  obtained  by  one  of  his  own  successors, 
and  that  upon  the  foreheads  of  these  very  successors  in  the  boasted 
chair  of  St.  Peter,  would  descend  from  generation  to  generation, 
the  brand  indelibly    stamped  by  the  hand   of  Saint   Gregory — 

"  WHOEVER  ADOPTS  OR  AFFECTS  THE  TITLE  OF  UNIVERSAL  BISHOP, 
II ATI!  THE  FRIDE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ANTI-ClIRIST." 

No  sooner  had  Boniface  obtained  this  title,  says  Bower,  than  he 
took  upon  him  to  exercise  an  answerable  jurisdiction  and  power, 
to  an  extent  at  that  time  unknown  and  unheard  of  in  the  Catholic 
church.  No  sooner  was  the  imperial  edict  of  Phocas,  vesting 
him  with  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop,  and  declaring  him  head  of 
the  church,  brought  to  Rome,  than,  assembling  a  council  in  the 
basilic  of  St.  Peter,  consisting  of  seventy-two  bishops,  thirty-four 
pnesbyters,  and  all  the  deacons  and  inferior  clergy  of  that  city,  he 
acted  there  as  if  he  had  not  been  vested  with  the  title  alone,  but 
with  all  the  power  of  an  Universal  Bishop,  with  all  the  authority  of 
a  supreme  head,  or  rather  absolute  monarch  of  the  church.  For 
by  a  decree,  which  he  issued  in  that  council,  it  was  pronounced, 
declared,  and  defined,  that  no  election  of  a  bishop  should  thenceforth 
be  deemed  lawful  and  good,  unless  made  by  the  people  and  clergy, 
approved  by  the  prince,  or  lord  of  the  city,  and  confirmed  by  the 
Fope,  interposing  his  authority  in  -the  following  terms:  We  will 
and  command, '  volumus  et  jubemus.'  The  imperial  edict,  therefore, 
if  we  may  so  call  the  edict  of  an  usurper  and  a  tyrant,  "  was  not,  as 
popish  writers  pretend,"  says  Bower,  "  a  bare  confirmation  of  the 
primacy  of  the  See  of  Rome;  but  the  grant  of  a  new  title,  which 
the  pope  immediately  improved  into  a  power  answering  that  title. 
And  thus  was  the  power  of  the  pope  as  Universal  Bishop,  as  head 
of  the  church,  or,  in  other  words,  the  papal  supremacy,  first  intro- 
duced. It  owed  its  original  to  the  worst  of  men;  was  procured  by 
the  basest  means,  by  flattering  a  tyrant  in  his  wickedness  and 
tyranny,  and  was  in  itself,  if  we  stand  to  the  judgment  of  Gregory 
the  Great,  anti-Christian,  heretical,  blasphemous,  diabolical."* 

*  Bower,  in  vita  Bonifac  iii. 


65 


BOOK    II. 


POPERY  AT   ITS   BIRTH,   A,D.    606. 


ITS   DOCTRINAL   AND   RITUAL   CHARACTER   AT   THIS    EPOCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ROMISH    ERRORS    TRACED    TO  THEIR    ORIGIN. THEIR    EARLY  GROWTH    NO 

ARGUMENT    IN    THEIR    FAVOR. 

§  1. — As  we  have  now  traced  the  gradual  march  of  hierarchal 
assumption  to  the  period  of  the  full  establishment  of  Popery,  it  is 
important  to  inquire  what  was  its  doctrinal  and  ritual  character,  at 
the  time  of  its  complete  development  and  introduction  to  the  world, 
under  the  sanction  and  authority  of  its  newly  created  sovereign  and 
Universal  Bishop  ;  and  also  to  trace  to  their  first  origin  such  of  the 
unscriptural  doctrines  and  rites  of  the  Romish  church  as  were  at  that 
time  embodied  in  the  system  of  Popery  ;  and  which,  though  all  in- 
vented long  after  the  death  of  the  apostles,  yet  boast  an  earlier  date 
than  the  establishment  of  the  papal  supremacy. 

There  is  scarcely  anything  which  strikes  the  mind  of  the  careful 
student  of  ancient  ecclesiastical  history  with  greater  surprise,  than 
the  comparatively  early  period  at  which  many  of  the  corruptions 
of  Christianity,  which  are  embodied  in  the  Romish  system,  took 
their  rise  ;  yet  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  when  the  first  originat- 
ors of  many  of  these  unscriptural  notions  and  practices,  planted 
those  germs  of  corruption,  they  anticipated  or  even  imagined  that 
they  would  ever  grow  into  such  a  vast  and  hideous  system  of  super- 
stition and  error,  as  is  that  of  Popery.  Thus  remarks  a  learned  and 
sagacious  writer,  "  Each  of  the  great  corruptions  of  later  ages  took 
its  rise  in  a  manner  which  it  would  be  harsh  to  say  was  deserving 
of  strong  reprehension.  Thus  the  secular  domination  exercised  by 
the  bishops,  and  at  length  exclusively  by  the  bishop  of  Rome,  may 
be  traced  very  distinctly  to  the  proper  respect  paid  by  the  people 
to  the  disinterested  wisdom  of  their  bishops  in  deciding  their 
worldly  differences.  The  worship  of  images,  the  invocation  of 
saints,  and  the  superstition  of  relics,  were  but  expansions  of  the 
natural  feelings  of  veneration  and  affection  cherished  toward  the 
memory  of  those  who  had  suffered  and  died  for  the  truth.  And 
thus,  in  like  manner,  the  errors  and  abuses  of  monkery  all  sprang 
by  imperceptible  augmentations  from  sentiments  perfectly  natural 
5 


G6  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 

Chillingworth'a  immortal  sentiment,  "The  Bible  only,  is  the  religion  of  Protestants." 

to  the  sincere  and  devout  ( !hristian  in  times  of  persecution,  disorder, 
and  general  corruption  of  morals.  The  very  abuses  which  make 
the  twelfth  century  abhorrent  on  the  page  of  history,  were,  in  the 
fourth,  fragrant  with  the  practice  and  suffrage  of  a  blessed  company 
of  primitive  confessors.  The  remembered  saints,  who  had  given 
their  bodies  to  the  flames,  had  also  lent  their  voice  and  example  to 
those  unwise  excesses  which  at  length  drove  true  religion  from  the 
earth.  Untaught  by  experience,  the  ancient  church  surmised  not 
of  the  occult  tendencies  of  the  course  it  pursued,  nor  should  it  be 
loaded  with  consequences  which  human  sagacity  could  not  well 
have  foreseen."* 

§  2. — At  the  epoch  of  the  papal  supremacy  a  gigantic  system  of 
error  and  superstition  had  sprung  up,  formed  of  the  union  of  many 
errors  in  doctrine  and  practice,  the  successive  growth  of  preceding 
centuries,  but  which  were  then  cemented  into  a  regular  system,  and 
rendered  obligatory  upon  all.  To  understand  the  character  of 
Popery  at  its  birth,  it  will  be  necessary  to  specify  the  principal  of 
those  errors,  with  the  time  and  circumstances,  so  far  as  can  be 
ascertained  of  their  origin  and  growth.  And  if,  in  perusing  the 
chapters  devoted  to  this  inquiry,  the  protestant  reader  shall  some- 
times be  startled  to  find  at  how  early  a  date  the  germs  of  some  of 
these  errors  were  planted,  let  him  remember  that  the  origin  of  all 
of  them  is  subsequent  to  the  times  of  the  apostles,  and  let  him  call 
to  mind  the  immortal  words  of  Chillingworth  :  "  The  Bible,  I  say, 
the  Bible  only,  is  the  religion  of  protestants  !  Whatsoever  else 
they  believe  beside  it,  and  the  plain,  irrefragable,  indubitable  conse- 
quences of  it,  well  may  they  hold  it  as  a  matter  of  opinion  ;  but  as 
matter  of  faith  and  religion,  neither  car:  they,  with  coherence  to 
their  own  grounds,  believe  it  themselves,  nor  require  the  belief  of  it 
of  others,  without  most  high  and  most  schismatical  presumption.  I 
for  my  part,  after  a  long  and  (as  I  verily  believe  and  hope),  impar- 
tial search  of  the  true  way  to  eternal  happiness,  do  profess  plainly, 
that  I  cannot  find  any  rest  for  the  sole  of  my  foot,  but  upon  this 
rock  only. 

"  Traditive  interpretations  of  Scripture  are  pretended  ;  but  there 
are  few  or  none  to  be  found :  no  tradition,  but  only  of  Scripture, 
can  derive  itself  from  the  fountain,  but  may  be  plainly  proved  either 
to  have  been  brought  in,  in  such  an  age  after  Christ,  or  that  in  such 
an  age  it  was  not  in.  In  a  word,  there  is  no  sufficient  certainty  but 
of  Scripture  only,  for  any  considering  man  to  build  upon.  This, 
therefore,  and  this  only,  I  have  reason  to  believe :  this  I  will  profess ; 
according  to  this  I  will  live,  and  for  this,  if  there  be  occasion,  I  will 
not  only  willingly,  but  even  gladly,  lose  my  life,  though  I  should  be 
sorry  that  Christians  should  take  it  from  me."f 

§  3. — Protestantism,  as  opposed  to  Popery,  has  been  defined  by 
Isaac  Taylor,  in  his  Ancient  Christianity,  as  "  a  refusal  to  ao 

*  Natural  History  of  Enthusiasm,  page  181. 

f  Works  of  Chillingworth,  Philadelphia  edition,  page  481. 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  GOG.  67 

Great  question,  is  the  Bible  only  the  rule  of  faith,  or  the  Bible  and  tradition  together. 
KNOWLEDGE    INNOVATIONS     BEARING    AN     ASCERTAINED    DATE,"    and    tO 

this  definition  we  have  no  particular  objection,  inasmuch  as  the 
date  of  most,  if  not  all  of  the  popish  innovations,  both  doctrinal  and 
ritual,  can  be  ascertained  with  considerable  accuracy.  Still  we 
must  be  allowed  to  add,  that  should  innovations  be  discovered, 
either  in  that  or  any  other  communion,  the  date  of  the  admission  of 
which  is  entirely  unknown  ;  if  they  are  contrary  to  the  doctrine 
and  spirit  of  the  Bible,  if  they  are  not  found  in  God's  word  ;  that  is 
to  say,  if  they  are  innovations  at  all,  then  true  Protestantism  requires 
their  unqualified  rejection,  just  as  much  as  if  their  date  were  as 
clearly  ascertained  as  is  the  date  of  the  papal  supremacy,  or  the 
absurd  dogma  of  transubstantiation.  "  The  Bible,  I  say,  the  Bible 
only,  is  the  religion  of  protestants  !"  Nor  is  it  of  any  account 
in  the  estimation  of  the  genuine  protestant,  how  early  a  doctrine 
originated,  if  it  is  not  found  in  the  Bible.  He  learns  from  the  New 
Testament  itself,  that  there  were  errors  in  the  time  of  the  apostles, 
and  that  their  pens  were  frequently  employed  in  combating  those 
errors.  Hence  if  a  doctrine  be  propounded  for  his  acceptance,  he 
asks,  is  it  to  be  found  in  the  inspired  word  ?  was  it  taught  by  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  his  apostles  ?  If  they  knew  nothing  of  it, 
no  matter  to  him,  whether  it  be  discovered  in  the  musty  folio  of 
some  ancient  visionary  of  the  third  or  fourth  century,  or  whether 
it  spring  from  the  fertile  brain  of  some  modern  visionary  of  the 
nineteenth,  if  it  is.  not  found  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  it  presents  no 
valid  claim  to  be  received  as  an  article  of  his  religious  creed.  More 
than  this,  we  will  add,  that  though  Cyprian,  or  Jerome,  or  Augus- 
tine, or  even  the  fathers  of  an  earlier  age,  Tertullian,  Ignatius,  or 
Irenaeus,  could  be  plainly  shown  to  teach  the  unscriptural  doctrines 
and  dogmas  of  Popery,  which,  however,  is  by  no  means  admitted, 
still  the  consistent  protestant  would  simply  ask,  is  the  doctrine  to 
be  found  in  the  Bible  ?  was  it  taught  by  Christ  and  his  apostles  ? 
and  if  truth  compelled  an  answer  in  the  negative,  he  would  esteem 
it  of  no  greater  authority  as  an  article  of  his  faith,  than  the  vagaries 
of  John  of  Minister,  the  dreams  of  Joanna  Southcote,  or  the  pre- 
tended revelations  of  Joe  Smith,  of  Nauvoo.  The  Bible,  and  not  as 
has  recently  been  asserted,  "  the  Bible  and  tradition"  but  "  the 
Bible  only,  is  the  religion  of  protestants." 

§  4. — The  great  question  at  issue  between  Popery  and  Protestant- 
ism, is  this :  Is  the  Bible  only  to  be  received  as  the  rule  of  faith,  or 
the  Bible  and  tradition  together  ?  Is  no  doctrine  to  be  received  as 
matter  of  faith,  unless  it  is  found  in  the  Bible,  or  may  a  doc- 
trine be  received  upon  the  mere  authority  of  tradition,  when  it 
is  confessedly  not  to  be  found  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  ?  The 
whole  Christian  world,  both  nominal  and  real,  are  divided  by  this 
question  into  two  great  divisions :  the  consistent  and  true-hearted 
protestant,  standing  upon  this  rock — "  The  Bible,  and  the  Bible 
only,"  can  admit  no  doctrine  upon  the  authority  of  tradition  ;  the 
papist  and  the  Puseyite  place  tradition  side  by  side  with  the  Bible,  and 
listen  to  its  dictates  with  a  reverence  equal  to,  or  even  greater  than 


68  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 


Protestantism  rejects  tradition  as  a  rule  of  faith. 


that  which  they  pay  to  the  sacred  Scriptures  themselves  ;  and  he 
who  receives  a  single  doctrine  upon  the  mere  authority  of  tradition, 
let  him  be  called  by  what  name  he  will,  by  so  doing,  steps  down 
from  the  protestant  rock,  passes  over  the  line  which  separates  Pro- 
testantism from  Popery,*  and  can  give  no  valid  reason  why  he 
should  not  receive  all  the  earlier  doctrines  and  ceremonies  of  Ro- 
manism, upon  the  same  authority.  Hence  to  the  protestant  who 
understands  his  principles,  it  will  constitute  no  argument  in  favor  of 
the  errors  of  Popery  that  the  germs  of  many  of  them  were  planted 
at  a  period  not  more  distant  from  the  first  establishment  of  Christi- 
anity, than  is  the  age  at  which  we  live  from  the  time  when  the 
pilgrim  fathers  landed  on  the  shores  of  New  England.  We  are  not 
to  suppose,  however,  that  all  the  corrupt  doctrines  and  practices  of 
modern  Popery  had  been  invented  at  so  early  a  period  as  the  third 
or  fourth,  or  even  the  seventh  century.  Thus,  the  absurd  doctrine 
of  transubstantiation  was  never  dreamed  of  till  two  or  three  centu- 
ries later  than  the  age  of  Gregory  I.  or  Boniface  III. ;  the  practice 
of  selling  indulgences  had  not  then  arisen,  and  the  services  of  public 
worship  were  everywhere  performed,  not  exclusively  in  Latin,  as 
in  after  times,  but  in  the  vernacular  languages  of  the  various  nations 
of  Christendom ;  still  it  must  be  confessed,  that  a  large  portion  of 
these  errors,  including  the  enforced  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  the  prac- 
tice of  monkery,  the  worship  of  saints  and  relics,  &c,  had  sprung 
up  amidst  the  darkness  of  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  centuries,  and 
were  extensively  believed  and  practised,  prior  to  their  consolidation 
into  a  system,  in  consequence  of  the  establishment  of  the  papal 
supremacy. 

*  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the  professed  advocates  of  Popery  should  claim 
a  place  for  tradition  equal,  if  not  superior,  in  authority  to  the  written  word  of  God  ; 
but  it  is  truly  lamentable  to  hear  members  and  ministers  of  a  Christian  denomina- 
tion, which  has  heretofore  won  many  laurels  as  one  of  the  most  successful  defenders 
of  Protestantism  (which  has  been  adorned,  in  past  ages,  by  such  men  as  a  Jewell,  a 
Chillin<rworth,  and  a  Leighton,  and  is  now  adorned  by  a  Whately,  a  Macllvaine, 
and  a  Milnor),  boldly  advocating  the  popish  doctrine,  that  not  the  Bible  only,  but, 
in  the  words  of  Dr.  "Newman,  "  these  two  things,  the  Bible  and  Catholic  traditions, 
form  together,  a  united  rule  of  faith."  "  Catholic  tradition,"  remarks  this  celebrated 
advocate  of  the  Oxford  theology,  "  is  a  divine  informer  in  religious  things,  it  is  the 
unwritten  word;"  and  again,  "Catholic  tradition  is  a  divine  source  of  knowledge  in 
all  things  relating  to  faith.''''  The  same  sentiments  are  repeated  in  a  still  stronger 
form  by  Dr.  Keble,  another  of  the  champions  of  this  new  theology  :  "  Tradition," 
says  he,  "  is  infallible,  it  is  the  unwritten  word  of  God,  and  of  necessity  demands  of 
us  the  same  respect  which  his  written  word  does,  and  precisely  for  the  same  reason, 
because  it  is  his  word."     (See  D'Aubigne  on  the  Oxford  Theology.) 


69 


CHAPTER  II. 

ORIGIN    OF    ROMISH    ERRORS    CONTINUED CELIBACY    OF    THE    CLERGY. 

§  5. — One  of  the  marks  by  which  the  great  "  Apostasy,"  pre- 
dicted by  St.  Paul  in  the  second  epistle  to  Timothy,  was  to  be 
known  was  "  forbidding  to  marry."  (1  Tim.  iv.  3.)  The  same 
apostle,  in  describing  the  qualifications  of  a  bishop,  says,  "  This  is  a 
true  saying,  if  a  man  desire  the  office  of  a  bishop,  he  desireth  a 
good  work.  A  bishop  then  must  be  blameless,  the  husband  of 
one  wife  ;  given  to  hospitality ;  one  that  ruleth  well  his  own  house, 
having  his  children  in  subjection,  with  all  gravity  ;  for  if  a  man 
know  not  how  to  rule  his  own  house,  how  shall  he  take  care  of 
the  church  of  God  ?"  (1  Tim.  iii.  1,  &c.)  In  describing  to  Titus 
the  qualifications  of  the  elders  to  be  ordained  in  every  city,  he  says, 
"  If  any  be  blameless,  the  husband  of  one  wife,  having  faith- 
ful children  (who  are)  not  accused  of  riot  or  unruly.  For  a 
bishop  must  be  blameless  as  the  steward  of  God  :  a  lover  of  hospi- 
tality," &c.  (Titus  i.  5,  &c.)  In  these  passages  Paul  is  specially 
describing  the  qualifications  of  an  elder  or  bishop.  In  the  words 
of  the  judicious  Scott,  the  commentator,  he  "  showed,  very  particu- 
larly, what  manner  of  persons  these  bishops  or  elders  ought  to  be." 
Among  other  qualifications,  it  is  said  he  "  must  be,"  or  ought  to  be, 
(Greek,  dei) — "  the  husband  of  one  wife."  Some  have  inferred  from 
this  text,"  says  Dr.  Scott,  "  that  stated  pastors  ought  to  be  married 
as  a  prerequisite  to  their  office,  but  this  seems  to  be  a  mistake  of  a 
general  permission,  connected  with  a  restriction — for  an  express 
command.  It  is,  however,  abundantly  sufficient  to  prove  that  mar- 
riage is  entirely  consistent  with  the  most  sacred  functions,  and  the 
most  exemplary  holiness,  and  to  subvert  the  very  basis  of  the  anti- 
christian  prohibition  of  marriage  to  the  clergy,  with  all  its  con- 
current, and  consequent,  and  incalculable  mischiefs."* 

*  See  Scott  on  1  Tim.  iii.  2.  Although,  upon  the  whole,  I  am  not  disposed  to 
find  fault  with  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Scott,  that  this  is  a  permission  rather  than  a 
command  ;  yet,  in  order  to  show  that  others  have  thought  differently,  I  will  ven- 
ture (at  the  risk  of  hastening  the  diligence  of  some  good  bachelor  "  bishop  or 
elder  "  to  become  "  the  husband  of  one  wife")  to  cite  the  following  from  the  re- 
cent valuable  work  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Elliott  on  Romanism,  volume  i.,  page  399. 
"  The  terms  made  use  of  in  these  passages  mean  more  than  a  bare  permission  to 
marry,  or  a  bare  tolerance  in  office  to  those  who  are  married.  The  words  used 
denote  duty  or  necessity.  The  impersonal  verb  Jei,  oportet,  par  est,  necesse  est,  it  is 
becoming,  it  is  right,  it  is  necessary.     The  expression  of  the  apostle  (1  Tim.  iii.  2) 

is  Set  ovv  tov  vmnKOTrov  fiia;  yvvaiico;  avSpa  civat,  for  a  bishop  MUST   Or    OUGHT    to   be   the 

husband  of  one  wife.  And,  in  the  Epistle  to  Titus  (ch.  i.,  verse  7),  the  expression 
is  similar,  and  means  a  bishop  must,  or  ought  to  be  blameless.  The  married  state 
is  here  presented  as  that  which  is  most  becoming,  proper,  or  indeed  necessary  for  a 
man  who  presides  over  the  flock  of  Christ.  And  it  is  considered  as  needful  a 
qualification  as  temperance,  blamelessness,  aptitude  to  teach,  and  the  like.  And 
though  a  minister  may  be  a  good  one  who  is  not  married  ;  yet  he  is  not  so  good,  in 
general,  as  those  who  have  pious  and  intelligent  wives  and  walk  worthy  their  voca- 


70  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  u. 

Earl]  superstitious  notions  on  the  merit  of  celibacy,  and  the  discredit  of  marriage. 

§  6. — It  is  painful  to  reflect  at  how  early  a  period,  unscriptural 
notions,  in  relation  to  celibacy  and  marriage,  began  to  prevail 
among  the  professed  followers  of  Christ.  Even  in  the  time  of 
Tertullian,  who  flourished  about  the  commencement  of  the  third 
century,  the  notion  had  gained  some  strength  that  celibacy  was 
hi^hlv  meritorious,  and  that  matrimony  was  a  dishonor  and  a  dis- 
credit. Hence,  when  dissuading  from  second  marriages,  this  ear- 
liest of  the  Latin  ecclesiastical  writers,  uses  the  following  language  : 
"  May  it  not  suffice  thee  to  have  fallen  from  that  high  rank  of  im- 
maculate virginity,  by  once  marrying,  and  so  descending  to  a  se- 
cond stage  of  honor  ?  Must  thou  yet  fall  farther  ;  even  to  a  third, 
to  a  fourth,  and,  perhaps,  yet  lower  ?"*.  .  .  .  These  unscriptural 
opinions  were  owing,  in  part,  to  the  superstitious  notions  which 
began  to  prevail  at  a  very  early  period,  in  relation  to  the  influence 
of  malignant  demons.  It  was  an  almost  general  persuasion,  says 
Mosheim,  that  they  who  took  wives  were,  of  all  others,  the  most 
subject  to  their  influence.  And  as  it  was  of  infinite  importance  to 
the  interests  of  the  church,  that  no  impure  or  malevolent  spirit  en- 
tered into  the  bodies  of  such  as  were  appointed  to  govern  or  to 
instruct  others  ;  so  the  people  were  desirous  that  the  clergy  should 
use  their  utmost  efforts  to  abstain  from  the  pleasures  of  the  conju- 
gal life.f  The  natural  consequence  of  the  prevalence  of  opinions 
like  these  was,  that  unmarried  men  began  to  be  regarded  as  far 
more  suitable  for  the  office  of  the  sacred  ministry  than  such  as  had 

tion.  We  do  not  hear  the  apostle  say,  "  Although  bishops  and  deacons  are  not 
to  be  prohibited  from  marrying-,  yet,  whenever  it  can  be  done,  it  is  well  to  prefer 
those  who  have  professed  virginity."  No  such  language  escapes  the  apostle.  He 
represents  a  bishop  to  be  one  who  has  a  wife  and  children,  and  who  rules  his 
house."  I  hope  my  unmarried  brethren  in  the  ministry  will  forgive  me,  if  I  cite 
yet  another  author  to  prove  that  Dr.  Elliott,  in  this  interpretation,  stands  not  alone. 
It  is  Isaac  Taylor  in  his  Ancient  Christianity,  p.  526.  "  Not  one  word  is  there," 
says  he,  "  in  these  clerical  epistles,  of  '  the  merit  of  virginity,'  not  a  hint  that  ce- 
libacy is  at  least  a  '  seemly  thing  '  in  those  who  minister  at  the  altar  !  The  very 
contrary  is  what  we  find  there.  A  bishop's  and  a  deacon's  qualifications  for  office 
are  directly  connected  with  their  behavior  as  married  men,  and  as  fathers.  So 
pointed  is  this  assumed  connexion,  that  we  might  even  consider  the  apostle's  rule  as 
amounting  to  a  tacit  exclusion  of  the  unmarried  from  the  sacerdotal  office.  If  a 
man  who  does  not  "  rule  well "  his  family,  is  thereby  proved  to  be  unfit  to  assume 
the  government  of  the  church  ;  by  implication  then,  those  are  to  be  judged  unfit, 
or  at  least  they  are  unproved  as  fit,  who  have  no  families  to  govern. — The  meager, 
heartless,  nerveless,  frivolous,  or  abstracted  and  visionary  ccelebs — make  him  a 
bishop  !  the  very  last  thing  he  is  fit  for  : — let  him  rather  trim  the  lamps  and  open 
the  church  doors,  or  brush  cobwebs  from  the  ceiling  ! — how  should  such  a  one  be 
a  father  to  the  church  !"  Some  may  think  that  in  this  closing  exclamation,  Mr. 
Taylor  writes  a  little  too  much  con  amore ;  yet  there  is  reason  in  his  inquiry,  and 
were  it  not  for  one  or  two  brilliant  exceptions,  within  the  circle  of  my  ministerial 
acquaintances,  I  should  be  almost  disposed  to  yield  an  unqualified  assent  to  his 
doctrine. 

*  See  Taylor's  Ancient  Christianity,  Philadelphia  edition,  page  140.  The  au- 
thor takes  this  opportunity  of  acknowledging  his  indebtedness  to  this  learned  and 
industrious  writer  for  some  of  the  quotations  from  "  the  fathers,"  of  which  he  has 
availed  himself  in  the  following  pages. 

f  See  Mosheim,  vol.  i.,  page  262. 


chap,  n.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH— A.  D.  606.  71 

Clement  of  Alexandria  remonstrates  against  these  notions.  Female  devotees  in  the  age  of  Cyprian. 

contracted  the  defilement  of  matrimony.  In  a  short  time,  second 
marriages  were,  by  many,  condemned  in  any  case,  and  were  re- 
garded as  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  purity  of  the  sacred  office, 
and  therefore  entirely  inadmissible  in  the  clergy.* 

§  7. — It  is  refreshing,  amidst  these  dawnings  of  early  corruption, 
to  hear  a  cotemporary  of  Tertullian,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  raising 
his  voice  in  a  " protestant  style  of  remonstrance"  against  this 
shocking  fanaticism,  pointing  it  out  as  a  characteristic  of  Antichrist, 
and  of  the  apostasy  of  the  latter  days,  that  there  should  be  those 
who  would  "  forbid  to  marry  and  command  to  abstain  from  meats." 
"  What,"  says  he,  "  may  not  self-command  be  preserved  under  the 
conditions  of  married  life  1  May  not  marriage  be  used,  and  yet 
continence  be  respected,  without  our  attempting  to  sever  that  which 
the  Lord  hath  joined  1  God  allows  every  man,  whether  priest, 
deacon,  or  layman,  to  be  the  husband  of  one  wife,  and  to  use  matri- 
mony without  being  liable  to  censure."f  This  instance  of  good 
sense  and  scriptural  reasoning,  amidst  the  increasing  corruption  on 
this  point,  is  the  more  remarkable  as  it  stands  alone — a  single 
star  amidst  the  surrounding  darkness.  "  So  far  as  I  know,"  says 
Mr.  Taylor,  "  Clement  of  Alexandria  is  the  only  extant  writer,  of 
the  early  ages,  who  adheres  to  common  sense,  and  apostolical 
Christianity,  through  and  through.  Those  who,  at  a  later  date, 
ventured  to  protest  against  the  universal  error,  were  instantly 
cursed  and  put  down  as  heretics,  by  all  the  great  divines  of  their 
times ;  and  were,  in  fact,  deprived  of  the  means  of  transmitting 
their  opinions  to  be  more  equitably  judged  of  by  posterity.";}; 

§  8. — In  the  time  of  Cyprian,  the  celebrated  bishop  of  Carthage, 
who  suffered  martyrdom,  A.  D.  258,  the  vow  of  perpetual  celibacy- 
was  taken  or  enforced  upon  multitudes  of  young  women,  and  his 
pen  was  frequently  employed  in  reproving  or  correcting  the  numer- 
ous scandals  and  irregularities  which  naturally  sprung  from  this 
fruitful  source  of  illicit  indulgence.  Addressing  this  description  of 
female  devotees,  he  says  in  one  of  his  epistles, "  Listen,  then,  to  him 
who  seeks  your  true  welfare ;  lest,  cast  off  by  the  Lord,  ye  be 
widows  before  ye  be  married  ;  adulteresses,  not  to  your  husbands, 
but  to  Christ,  and,  after  having  been  destined  to  the  highest  rewards, 
ye  undergo  the  severest  punishments.  For,  consider,  while  the 
hundred-fold  produce  is  that  of  the  martyrs,  the  sixty-fold  is  yours ; 
and  as  they  (the  martyrs)  contemn  the  body  and  its  delights,  so 
should  you.  Great  are  the  wages  which  await  you  (if  faithful);  the 
high  reward  of  virtue,  the  great  recompense  to  be  conferred  upon 
chastity.  Not  only  shall  your  lot  and  portion  (in  the  future  life)  be 
equal  to  that  of  the  other  sex,  but  ye  shall  be  equal  to  the  angels  of 
God."§ 

*  Gieseler,  vol.  i.  page  106. 

f  Tov  TtiS  /"aS  yvvaiKos  avSpa  itavv  airoSe^crai,  Kav  JlpcaPvrcpos  ,ij  nav  Aiaxovoj,  kclv  XatKOS, 
ayfirtXijirrcoj  yapo*  ^pw/ztvoj. — Clem.  Alexand.  I.  552. 
J  Ancient  Christianity,  p.  168. 
\  For  a  fuller  account  of  these  disorders,  see  Cyprian  in  his  reply  to  Pomponius. 


72  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 


Consecrating  and  crowning  of  Nuns.  Prohibition  of  marriage  after  ordination. 

These  female  devotees  have  ever  since  been  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  Nuns,  in  the  Latin,  Nonna,  a  word  said  to  be  of  Egyptian 
origin,  and  to  signify  a  virgin.  In  after  ages  a  variety  of  ceremo- 
nies were  observed,  and  still  continue  to  be  observed,  upon  a  female 
taking  upon  herself  the  vow  of  perpetual  chastity,  or  '  taking  the 
veil,'  as  it  is  now  called.  The  first  of  the  adjoining  plates  represents 
the  crowning  of  professed  nuns,  with  what  is  called  '  the  crown  of 
virginity,'  during  which  ceremony  the  anthem  is  sung,  Veni  Sponsi 
Christi,  &c,  "  Come,  O  spouse  of  Christ,  and  receive  the  crown." 
In  former  times,  it  was  customary  to  place  a  crown  upon  the  heads 
of  those  who  died  virgins,  and  this  custom  is  still  observed  in  some 
popish  countries.  The  other  plate  represents  the  reading,  by  the 
officiating  priests,  of  the  anathema  against  false  nuns,  a  most  awful 
curse  against  such  as  should  violate  their  vows  of  virginity,  and 
against  all  who  should  endeavor  to  seduce  them  from  their  vow,  or 
should  seize  upon  any  portion  of  their  wealth.    (See  Engraving.) 

§  9. — But  to  return  to  our  narrative.  The  next  step  in  this  per- 
nicious innovation,  after  the  prohibition  of  second  marriages  to  the 
clergy,  was  to  forbid  them  to  marry  at  all,  after  ordination.  A 
decree  to  this  effect  was  passed  at  a  council  held  at  Ancyra,  in 
Galatia,  A.  D.  314.  By  this  decree,  all  ministers  were  forbidden  to 
marry  after  ordination,  except  in  the  case  of  those  who  at  the  time 
of  their  ordination,  made  an  explicit  profession  of  their  intention  to 
marry,  as  being  in  their  case  unavoidable.  In  such  a  case  a  license 
was  granted  to  the  candidate  to  marry,  and  securing  him  from 
future  censures  for  so  doing.  If,  however,  a  candidate  for  ordina- 
tion was  already  married,  he  was  not  obliged  to  put  away  his  wife, 
unless  in  the  following  singular  exceptions,  viz. :  if  he  had  married 
"a  widow,  or  a  divorced  person,  or  a  harlot,  or  a  slave,  or  an 
actress."*  In  either  of  these  cases,  the  wife  must  be  first  put  away, 
as  a  condition  of  ordination.  The  fact  that  a  widow,  when  married 
a  second  time,  is  here  placed  in  the  same  category  with  a  harlot  or 
a  slave,  shows  that  at  this  time  matrimony  had  grown  so  much  into 
disrepute,  that  second  marriages  were  considered  a  disgrace  and  a 
reproach. 

At  the  council  of  Nice,  held  A.  D.  325,  it  is  related  by  Socrates, 
the  ecclesiastical  historian,  that  a  rule  was  proposed,  requiring  all 
clergymen  who  had  married  before  their  ordination,  to  withdraw 
from  their  wives,  or  cease  to  cohabit  with  them  ;  and  the  color  of 
the  account  leads  us  to  suppose  that  this  regulation,  which,  in 
respect  to  the  church  universal,  was  called  "  a  new  law,"  although 
not  new  to  several  of  the  churches,  was  near  to  have  been  carried, 
and  probably  would  have  been,  had  not  the  good  sense  and  right 
feeling  of  one  of  the  bishops  present  defeated  the  fanaticism  of  the 
others.  Paphnutius,  a  bishop  of  the  Thebais,  a  confessor,  having 
lost  an  eye  in  the  late  persecution,  and  himself  an  ascetic,  rose,  and 

•  Can.  ApOSt.  17  :  'O  X^P0"  ^a0">v,  »>  iK0cff),riiilvi)v,  >j  Iratpav,  fi  oUirtv,  1)  tiov  siri  <r*ij>"*f, 
oi  Ivvarai  ehai  intOKOKOS  5)  irpcvflvTCpos,  5)  SkIkovo;,  5)  i'Awj,  rou  Kara\6yov  tov  Itpariitov. 


Crowning  of  Nuns  upon  taking  their  vow. 


Reading  the  anathema  against  such  as  should  prove  fals 


chap,  n.l  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  75 

Further  proposal  negatived  at  the  Council  of  Nice.  Chrysostom  on  the  ten  virgins. 

with  spirit  asserted  the  honor  and  purity  of  matrimony,  and  insisted 
upon  the  inexpediency  of  any  such  law,  likely  as  it  was  to  bring  many 
into  a  snare.  For  a  moment  reason  triumphed  ;  the  proposal  was 
dropped,  nor  anything  farther  attempted  by  the  insane  party, 
beyond  the  giving  a  fresh  sanction  to  the  established  rule  or  tradi- 
tion, that  none  should  marry  after  ordination.* 

§  10. — Notwithstanding  this  decision  of  the  council,  however,  the 
most  extravagant  notions  prevailed,  relative  to  the  suppposed  sanc- 
tity and  merit  of  virginity,  even  among  the  most  eminent  of  the 
Nicene  fathers.f  As  a  lamentable  proof  of  this  fact,  as  also  the  early 
corruptions  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  "  grace  through  the 
redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,"  and  the  consequent  danger  of 
trusting  to  the  most  eminent  of  the  early  fathers  in  points  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine,  the  following  extract  is  presented  from  an  exposition 
of  the  parable  of  the  ten  virgins,  from  the  pen  of  the  celebrated  and 
eloquent  Chrysostom,  bishop  of  Constantinople.  Among  Protestant 
writers,  the  "  oil  in  the  lamps  "  has  generally  been  understood  to 
signify  the  principle  of  divine  grace  in  the  heart,  or  that  genuine 
piety  which  distinguishes  true  Christians  from  mere  pretenders  or 
professors.  The  explanation  of  Chrysostom  is  widely  different : 
"  What !"  says  he,  "  hast  thou  not  understood  from  the  instance  of 
the  ten  virgins,  in  the  gospel,  how  that  those  who,  although  they 
were  proficients  in  virginity,  yet  not  possessing  the  [virtue  of]  alms- 
giving, were  excluded  from  the  nuptial  banquet.  Truly,  I  am 
ashamed,  and  blush  and  weep  when  I  hear  of  the  foolish  virgin. 
When  I  hear  the  very  name,  I  blush  to  think  of  one  who,  after  she 
had  reached  such  a  point  of  virtue,  after  she  had  gone  through  the 
training  of  virginity,  after  she  had  thus  winged  the  body  aloft 
toward  heaven,  after  she  had  contended  for  the  prize  with  the  powers 
on  high  (the  angels),  after  she  had  undergone  the  toil,  and  had  trod- 
den under  foot  the  fires  of  pleasure,  to  hear  such  a  one  named,  and 
justly  named,  a  fool,  because  that,  after  having  achieved  the  greater 
labors  (of  virtue),  she  should  be  wanting  in  the  less  !  Now,  the  fire 
(of  the  lamps)  is — Virginity,  and  the  oil  is — Almsgiving.  And,  in 
like  manner  as  the  flame,  unless  supplied  with  a  stream  of  oil,  disap- 
pears, so  virginity,  unless  it  have  almsgiving,  is  extinguished.  But 
now,  who  are  the  vendors  of  this  oil  1  The  poor  who,  for  receiving 
alms,  sit  about  the  doors  of  the  church.  And  for  how  much  is  it  to 
be  bought  ? — for  what  you  will.  I  set  no  price  upon  it,  lest,  in 
doing  so,  I  should  exclude  the  indigent.  For,  so  much  as  you  have, 
make  this  purchase.  Hast  thou  a  penny  ? — purchase  heaven, 
ayoQaoov  tov  ovquvov  ;  not,  indeed,  as  if  heaven  were  cheap ;  but  the 
Master  is  indulgent.  Hast  thou  not  even  a  penny  1  give  a  cup 
of  cold  water,  for  he  hath  said,  &c.     Heaven  is  on  sale,  and  in  the 

*  Socrates  Eccles.  Hist.,  lib.  i.,  c.  11.  See  Greek  extract  in  Gieseler,  vol.  i., 
page  279,  note  4. 

f  Nicene  fathers.  This  term  is  generally  applied  to  Athanasius,  Basil,  Chrysostom, 
Gregory  Nyssen,  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Ambrose,  and  other  eminent  ecclesiastical 
writers  who  flourished  about  the  time  of  the  council  of  Nice. 


76  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 

A  strange  exposition.  Virginity  and  almsgiving. 

market,  and  yet  we  mind  it  not !  Give  a  crust  and  take  back  para- 
dise ;  give  the  least,  and  receive  the  greatest ;  give  the  perishable, 
receive  the  imperishable  ;  give  the  corruptible,  receive  the  incor- 
ruptible. If  there  were  a  fair,  and  plenty  of  provisions  to  be  had, 
at  the  cheapest  rate, — all  to  be  bought  for  a  song, — would  ye  not 
realize  your  means,  and  postpone  other  business,  and  secure  to  your- 
selves a  share  in  such  dealing  ?  Where,  then,  things  corruptible  are 
in  view,  do  ye  show  such  diligence,  and  where  the  incorruptible, 
such  sluggishness,  and  such  proneness  to  fall  behind  ?  Give  to  the 
needy,  so  that,  even  if  thou  sayest  nothing  for  thyself,  a  thousand 
tongues  may  speak  in  thy  behalf;  thy  charities  standing  up  and 
pleading  for  thee.  Alms  are  the  redemption  of  the  soul,  Ivtqov 
tpvxrjg  eoTiv  eXerjuoowT].  And,  in  like  manner,  as  there  are  set  vases 
of  water  at  the  church  gates,  for  washing  the  hands  ;  so  are  beggars 
sitting  there,  that  thou  mayest  (by  their  means),  wash  the  hands  of 
thy  soul.  Hast  thou  washed  thy  palpable  hands  in  water ;  wash 
the  hands  of  thy  soul  in  almsgiving ! 

§  11. — "But  what  is  it  which,  after  so  many  labors,  these  vir- 
gins hear  ? — I  know  you  not !  which  is  nothing  less  than  to  say  that 
virginity,  vast  treasure  as  it  is,  may  be  useless  !  Think  of  them 
(the  foolish  virgins),  as  shut  out,  after  undergoing  such  labors,  after 
reining  in  incontinence,  after  running  a  course  of  rivalry  with  the 
celestial  orders,  after  spurning  the  interests  of  the  present  life,  after 
sustaining  the  scorching  heat,  after  having  leapt  the  bound  (in  the 
gymnasium),  after  having  winged  their  way  from  earth  to  heaven, 
after  they  had  not  broken  the  seal  of  the  body  (a  phrase  of  much 
significance),  and  having  obtained  possession  of  the  form  of  vir- 
ginity (the  eternal  idea  of  divine  purity),  after  having  wrestled  with 
angels,  after  trampling  upon  the  imperative  impulses  of  the  body, 
after  forgetting  nature,  after  reaching,  in  the  body,  the  perfections 
of  the  disembodied  state,  after  having  won,  and  held,  the  vast  and 
unconquerable  possession  of  virginity,  after  all  this,  then  they  hear 
— Depart  from  me,  I  know  you  not ! 

"  Think  then  what  the  labor  is  which  this  course  of  life  exacts  ! 
and  yet,  even  those  who  have  undergone  all  this,  may  hear  the 
words — Depart  from  me,  I  never  knew  you  !  And  see  how  great  a 
virtue  virginity  is,  seeing  that  she  hath  for  her  sister, — almsgiving  ! 
having  nothing  that  can  ever  be  more  arduous,  but  will  be  above 
all.  Wherefore  it  was  that  these  (foolish  virgins)  entered  not  in, 
because  they  had  not,  along  with  their  virginity — almsgiving  ! 
Thou  hast  then  that  efficacious  mode  of  penance,  almsgiving,  which 
is  able  to  break  the  chains  of  thy  sins ;  but  thou  hast  also  a  way  of 
penitence,  more  ready,  by  which  thou  mayest  rid  thyself  of  thy 
sins.     Pray  every  hour  !"* 

This  extract  is  long,  but  valuable,  on  account  of  the  proof  that  it 
furnishes,  that,  in  what  is  called  the  Nicene  age,  the  corruptions 
afterward  embodied  in  the  system  of  Popery  had  made  the  most 

*  Chrysostom,  Homily  iii.,  on  Repentance. 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  77 

Siricius,  bishop  of  Rome,  decrees  celibacy.  The  Rhemish  Testament  and  its  Popish  annotators. 

alarming  progress.  Paul  had  said  three  centuries  before,  "  the 
mystery  of  iniquity  doth  already  work,"  and  now  the  leaven  of  cor- 
ruption was  rapidly  diffusing  itself  over  the  whole  mass. 

§  12. — At  length,  toward  the  close  of  the  fourth  century,  Siricius, 
who  held  the  See  of  Rome  from  385  to  398,  issued  his  decrees,  strictly 
enjoining  celibacy  on  the  clergy,  and  several  Western  synods 
echoed  the  mandates  of  Rome.  As  the  bishop  of  Rome  was  not  at 
this  time  regarded  as  the  head  of  the  church,  these  laws  were  of 
course  not  received  as  obligatory  upon  all,  and  in  the  East  especi- 
ally, notwithstanding  the  superstitious  veneration  attached  to  celi- 
bacy, these  decrees,  according  to  Gieseler  (vol.  i.,  p.  280),  were 
rejected. 

Though  the  decrees  of  Siricius  and  his  successors  were  gene- 
rally obeyed  in  Rome,  and  throughout  Italy,  yet  large  numbers 
of  the  French,  German,  Spanish,  and  English  clergy  continued,  for 
several  centuries  longer,  to  avail  themselves  of  that  portion  of  their 
scriptural  right  which  had  been  left  them  by  the  council  of  Nice, 
notwithstanding  the  exertions  of  successive  bishops  and  popes  of 
Rome  to  induce  them  to  yield  up  those  rights  and  become  their 
obedient  vassals.  How  blind  must  be  that  prejudice  which  does 
not  perceive,  in  this  constant  warfare  of  the  proud  prelates  of 
Rome  (both  before  and  after  the  epoch  of  the  papal  supremacy) 
against  God's  own  institution  of  matrimony,  a  plain  mark  of  Anti- 
Christ  ;  an  evident  proof  that  Popery,  when  fully  developed,  is  that 
Apostasy  predicted  by  St.  Paul,  when  he  described  it  as  "  forbidding 
to  marry  !"  In  future  centuries,  we  shall  see  the  horrible  vices, 
and  almost  universal  corruption  of  morals  among  the  popish  clergy, 
which  arose  from  thus  setting  aside  the  plain  direction  of  inspira- 
tion  "  A    BISHOP    MUST    BE    THE    HUSBAND    OF    ONE    WIFE." 

§  13. — The  doctrine  of  the  Romish  church,  forbidding  the  clergy 
to  marry,  is  so  evidently  contrary  to  Scripture,  that  it  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  say  a  word  in  its  refutation.  The  only  wonder  with 
the  bible  Christian  will  be,  where  they  can  find  even  a  shadow  of 
an  argument  upon  which  to  base  so  unnatural  and  antiscriptural  a 
prohibition.  The  only  appearance  of  argument  offered  by  Romish 
writers  is,  that  mentioned  by  the  Jesuit  annotators  in  the  Rhemish 
Testament*  in  their  note  on  Titus  iii.  6.  "  If  the  studious  reader 
peruse  all  antiquity  he  shall  find  all  notable  bishops  and  priests  of 
God's  church  to  have  been  single,  or  continent  from  their  wives  if 
any  were  married  before  they  came  to  the  clergy.     So  were  all 

*  Rhemish  Testament. — As  I  shall  have  future  occasion  to  refer  to  this  popish 
version  of  the  New  Testament,  I  would  here  remark,  that  it  appeared  in  1582,  and 
was  printed  at  Rheims,  accompanied  by  copious  notes  by  Romish  authors.  The 
Old  Testament  was  translated  like  the  Rhemish  Testament,  not  from  the  original 
Greek  and  Hebrew,  but  from  the  Latin  version,  called  the  Vulgate.  It  was 
printed  at  Douay,  in  France,  in  1610,  for  which  reason  the  Rhemish  New  and 
the  Douay  Old  Testament,  now  generally  bound  together,  are  called  the  Douay 
Bible.  The  popish  doctrines  of  the  notes  to  the  Rhemish  Testament,  were  ably 
confuted  in  a  work  of  Dr.  William  Fulke,  which  appeared  in  the  year  1617. 


78  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 

Rhcmish  Testament  against  married  clergy.  The  early  reformers,  Vigilantius  and  Jovinian. 

the  apostles  after  they  followed  Christ,  as  Jerome  witnesseth, 
affirming  that  our  Lord  loved  John  speeially  for  his  virginity."  In 
their  note  on  1  Tim.  iii.  2,  they  sadly  abuse  those  who,  in  the 
early  ages,  adopted  the  same  opinion  as  that  advocated  by  Taylor 
and  Elliott  in  the  extract  quoted  in  the  note  on  page  09  of  this 
chapter.  I  must  apologize  for  the  grossncss  of  the  extract  from 
these  popish  authors.  It  deserves  quoting  as  a  literary  curiosity, 
and  if  at  all,  must  be  quoted  as  it  is.  The  following  are  their 
words  : — "  Certain  bishops  of  Vigilantius'  sect,  whether  upon  false 
construction  of  this  text,  or  through  the  filthiness  of  their  fleshly 
lust,  would  take  none  to  the  clergy,  except  they  would  be  married 
first,  not  believing,  said  Jerome  (advers.  Vigilant,  cap.  1),  that  any 
single  man  liveth  chastely  ;  showing  how  holily  they  live  themselves, 
that  suspect  ill  of  every  man,  and  will  not  give  the  Sacrament,  of 
order,  to  the  clergy,  unless  they  see  their  wives  have  great  bellies, 
and  children  wailing  at  their  mothers'  breasts.  Our  Protestants, 
though  they  be  of  Vigilantius'*  sect,  yet  they  are  scarce  to  come  so 
far,  to  command  every  priest  to  be  married.  Nevertheless  they 
mislike  them  that  will  not  marry,  so  much  the  worse,  and  they  sus- 
pect ill  of  every  single  person  in  the  Church,  thinking  the  gift  of 
chastity  to  be  very  rare  among  them,  and  they  do  not  only  make 
the  state  of  marriage  equal  to  chaste  single  life,  with  the  Heretic 
Jovinian,*  but  they  are  bold  to  say  sometimes,  that  the  bishop  or 

*  Vigilantius  and  Jovinian. — These  two  early  reformers  who  are  spoken  of 
so  contemptuously  by  these  popish  writers,  though  they  lived  as  early  as  the  fifth 
century,  are,  for  their  enlightened  zeal  in  opposing  the  corruptions  of  Christianity, 
which  were  already  rife  in  their  age,  worthy  to  be  ranked  with  Wickliffe,  or 
Luther,  or  Calvin.  The  principal  heresy  of  Jovinian  was,  in  the  words  of  Jerome, 
"  this  shocking  doctrine,  that  a  virgin  is  no  better  than  a  married  woman."  The 
emperor  Honorius  cruelly  ordered  him  to  be  whipped  with  scourges  armed  with 
lead,  and  banished  to  a  desolate  island,  where  he  died  about  A.  D.  406.  Vigilan- 
tius flourished  a  few  years  later  than  Jovinian.  He  was  a  learned  and  eminent 
presbyter  of  a  Christian  church,  and  took  up  his  pen  to  oppose  the  growing  super- 
stition. His  book,  which  unfortunately  has  not  survived  the  wreck  of  time,  was 
directed  against  the  institution  of  monkery — the  celibacy  of  the  clergy — praying 
for  the  dead,  and  to  the  martyrs — paying  adoration  to  their  relics — celebrating 
their  vigils — and  lighting  up  candles  to  them  after  the  manner  of  the  heathens. 
St  Jerome,  who  is  esteemed  a  luminary  of  the  Catholic  church,  and  who  was  a 
zealous  advocate  for  all  these  superstitious  rites,  undertook  the  task  of  confuting 
Vigilantius,  whom  he  styles  "  a  most  blasphemous  heretic,"  and  then  proceeds  to 
compare  him  to  the  hydra,  to  Cerberus,  &c.  of  the  Pagan  mythology,  and  con- 
cludes with  calling  him  the  organ  of  the  devil.  The  following  short  extract  from 
Jerome's  answer  will  satisfactorily  explain  the  heresy  of  Vigilantius : — "  That  the 
honours  paid  to  the  rotten  bones  of  the  saints  and  martyrs  by  adoring,  kissing, 
wrapping  them  up  in  silk  and  vessels  of  gold,  lodging  them  in  their  churches,  ami 
lighting  up  wax  candles  before  them,  after  the  manner  of  the  heathen,  were  the 
ensigns  of  idolatry — that  the  celibacy  „f  the  clergy  was  a  heresy,  and  their  voids  of 
chastity  the  seminary  of  lewdness — 'Dicit  *  *  *  continentiam,  haeresim ;  pu- 
dicitiam,  libidinis  seminarium.'  (Jerome  contra  VigUantium.) — that  to  pray  to  the 
dead,  or  to  desire  the  prayers  of  the  dead,  was  superstitious,  inasmuch  as  the 
souls  of  departed  saints  and  martyrs  were  at  present  in  some  particular  place  from 
which  they  could  not  remove  fiiemeelves  at  pleasure,  so  as  to  be  everywhere  pre- 
sent attending  to  the  prayers  of  their  votaries — that  the  sepulchres  of  the  martyrs 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  79 

Early  instances  of  married  clergymen.  Peter,  Cyprian,  Gregory,  Ca;cilius,  Numidicus,  &c. 

priest  may  do  his  duty  and  charge  better  married  than  single." 
They  add  that  the  exposition  given  by  them  is  "  only  agreeable  to 
the  practice  of  the  whole  Church,  the  definition  of  ancient  councils, 
the  doctrine  of  all  the  Fathers  without  exception,  and  the  Apostle's 
tradition."  To  this  it  is  sufficient  to  reply  that  the  apostle  Peter 
was  married,  for  the  New  Testament  makes  mention  of  his  wife 
(Matt.  viii.  14),  and  there  is  no  scriptural  proof  that  any  one  of  the 
apostles  lived  and  died  single,  or  declined  to  cohabit  with  their 
wives.  In  relation  to  the  assertion  that  the  clergy  in  the  early  ages 
of  the  church  lived  in  celibacy,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  demon- 
strate its  glaring  falsity  to  cite  the  following  few  out  of  multitudes  of 
instances  that  could  easily  be  cited  of  married  bishops  and  presby- 
ters in  the  first  three  or  four  centuries. 

§  14. — Valens,  presbyter  of  Philippi,  mentioned  by  Polycarp,  was 
a  married  man.* 

Choeremon,  bishop  of  Nilus,  an  exceedingly  old  man,  was  mar- 
ried. He  fled  with  his  wife  to  Arabia,  in  time  of  persecution,  under 
Maximinus  the  tyrant,  where  they  both  perished  together,  as  Euse- 
bius  informs  us.f 

Cyprian  himself  was  also  a  married  man,  as  Pagi,  the  annotator 
and  corrector  of  Baronius,  confesses.^ 

Csecilius,  the  presbyter,  through  whose  instrumentality  Cyprian 
was  converted  to  Christianity,  was  a  married  man.§ 

So  also  was  Numidicus,  another  presbyter  of  Carthage,  of  whom 
Cyprian  tells  us  the  following  remarkable  story  in  his  thirty-fifth 
epistle,  or,  as  some  number  it,  the  fortieth  :  "  That  in  the  Decian 
persecution  he  saw  his  own  wife,  with  many  other  martyrs,  burned 
by  his  side  ;   while  he  himself  lying  half-burned,  and  covered  with 

ought  not  to  be  worshipped,  nor  their  fasts  and  vigils  to  be  observed — and,  finally, 
that  the  signs  and  wonders  said  to  be  wrought  by  their  relics,  and  at  their  sepul- 
chres, served  to  no  good  end  or  purpose  of  religion." 

These  were  the  sacrilegious  tenets,  as  Jerome  terms  them,  which  he  could  not 
hear  with  patience,  or  without  the  utmost  grief,  and  for  which  he  declares  Vigi- 
lantius  "  a  detestable  heretic,  venting  his  foul-mouthed  blasphemies  against  the 
relics  of  the  martyrs,  which  were  working  daily  signs  and  wonders."  He  tells 
him  to  "  go  into  the  churches  of  those  martyrs,  and  he  would  be  cleansed  from  the 
evil  spirit  which  possessed  him,  and  feel  himself  burnt,  not  by  those  wax  candles 
which  so  much  offended  him,  but  by  invisible  flames,  which  would  force  that 
demon  that  talked  within  him  to  confess  himself  to  be  the  same  who  had  per- 
sonated a  Mercury,  perhaps,  or  a  Bacchus,  or  some  other  of  the  heathen  deities." 
(See  Introductory  discourse  to  Dr.  Conyers  MiddletorCs  free  inquiry  into  the  mira- 
culous powers  of  the  early  ages,  page  132.)  This  is  a  long  note,  but  it  is  worthy 
of  the  room  it  occupies,  as  an  evidence  that  in  very  early  ages  there  were  not 
wanting  faithful  men  to  protest  against  the  growing  corruptions,  and  as  a  speci- 
men of  the  doctrine  as  well  as  the  spirit  of  some  of  the  boasted  fathers  of  the 
church,  and  consequently  the  danger  of  trusting  to  them  as  guides  in  relation  to 
spiritual  matters. 

*  Polycarp,  Ep.  ad  Philip.,  n.  11. 

f  Euseb.  Eccl.  Hist.  b.  vi.  c.  42. 

I  Pagi.  Crit.  in  Baron,  ad  arm.  p.  248,  n.  4. 

§  Pontius,  Vit.  Cypr. 


80  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 

Gregory,  bishop  of  Nazianzum,  a  husband  and  a  father.  Worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

stones,  and  left  for  dead,  was  found  expiring  by  his  daughter,  who 
drew  him  out  of  the  rubbish,  and  brought  him  to  life  again."* 

Gregory  of  Nazianzum,  a  notable  bishop,  was  father  of  the  other 
Gregory  who  succeeded  him,  as  appears  from  the  oration  which  the 
latter  made  in  his  favor.  He  says,  "  That  a  good  and  diligent 
bishop  serves  in  the  ministry  nothing  the  worse  for  being  married, 
but  rather  the  better,  and  with  more  ability  to  do  good."  Of  his 
mother  he  says,  "  That  she  was  given  to  his  father  of  God,  and  be- 
came not  only  his  helper,  but  also  his  leader  both  by  word  and  by 
deeds,  training  him  to  the  best  things  ;  and  though  in  other  things 
it  was  best  for  her  to  be  subject  to  him,  on  account  of  the  right  of 
marriage,  yet  in  religion  and  godliness  she  doubted  not  to  become 
his  leader  and  teacher."f 

From  the  above  well-authenticated  instances  of  the  marriage  of 
the  clergy  in  the  earliest  ages  of  the  church,  it  is  evident  that 
Romanists  are  no  more  sustained  by  the  example  of  primitive 
times  than  by  the  New  Testament,  in  their  antiscriptural  and  un- 
natural prohibition  of  marriage  to  the  clergy 4 


CHAPTER  III. 

ORIGIN    OF  ROMISH  ERRORS  CONTINUED. WORSHIP  OF  THE  VIRGIN  MARY. 

§  15. — We  have  already  seen  the  extravagant  opinions  that  were 
entertained  in  the  fourth  century,  as  to  the  merit  of  virginity. 
Before  exhibiting  the  natural  result  of  such  unscriptural  notions  in 
the  almost  deification  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  we  shall  present  yet 
another  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which  the  graces  of  rhetoric  and 
the  charms  of  eloquence  were  employed  in  that  age  to  exalt  to  the 
very  skies,  those  who  had  devoted  themselves  to  a  virgin  life.  It  is 
from  a  tract  of  the  eloquent  Chrysostom  or  golden  mouth.  "  The 
virgin,  when  she  goes  abroad,  should  present  herself  as  the  bright 
specimen  of  all  philosophy :  and  strike  all  with  amazement,  as  if 
now  an  angel  had  descended  from  heaven  ;  or  just  as  if  one  of  the 
cherubim  had  appeared  upon  earth,  and  were  turning  the  eyes  of  all 

*  Numidicus,  presbyter  uxorem  adhaerentem  latere  suo,  concrematam  simul 
cum  ceteris,  vel  conservatam  magis  dixerim,  laetns  aspexit. — Cypr.,  epist.  35  or 
40. 

t  AX>a  Kat  ap%riyo{  yivtrai  cpyui  re  tai  Xoyy  vpos  ra  Kpariara — Si'  iavrri!  ayovaa  tijj 
cvocfJctas,  ovk  aia^vno/iCvrj  irapc^ciy  tavrriv  xai  SiSolvkclXov. — Greg.  Nazianzen,  in  Epitaph. 
Patris. 

X  See  Elliott  on  Romanism,  ii.  427.  In  addition  to  the  above,  Dr.  Elliott  cites 
a  lar<re  number  of  similar  instances. 


chap,  m.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  81 

Chrysostoin's  description  of  the  sanctity  of  a  professed  virgin.     Singular  notions  about  the  Virgin  Mary. 

men  upon  himself.  So  should  all  those  who  look  upon  the  virgin 
be  thrown  into  admiration,  and  stupor,  at  the  sight  of  her  sanctity. 
And  when  she  advances,  she  moves  as  through  a  desert ;  or  when 
she  sits  at  church,  it  is  with  the  profoundest  silence,  her  eye  catches 
nothing  of  the  objects  around  her ;  she  sees  neither  women  nor  men, 
but  her  spouse  only  ;  and  who  shall  not  marvel  at  her  ?  who  shall 
not  be  in  ecstacy,  in  thus  beholding  the  angelic  life,  embodied  in  a 
female  form  1  And  who  is  it  that  shall  dare  approach  her  1  Where 
is  the  man  who  shall  venture  to  touch  this  flaming  spirit  1  Nay 
rather,  all  stand  aloof,  willing  or  unwilling ;  all  are  fixed  in  amaze- 
ment, as  if  there  were  before  their  eyes  a  mass  of  incandescent  and 
sparkling  gold  !  Gold  hath  indeed  by  nature  its  splendor ;  but 
when  saturate  with  fire,  how  admirable,  nay  even  fearful  is  it ! 
And  thus,  when  a  soul  such  as  this  occupies  the  body,  not  only  shall 
the  spectacle  be  wondered  at  by  men,  but  even  by  angels."  While 
such  were  the  opinions  entertained  and  expressed  of  the  "  angelic 
virtue "  of  virginity,  we  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  it  was 
regarded  as  the  very  height  of  presumption  and  impiety  to  doubt 
whether  the  Virgin  Mary — aEmagdevog — ever  parted  with  this  pre- 
cious jewel. 

§  16. — About  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  as  appears  from  cer- 
tain expressions  in  Epiphanius,  Gregory  Nyssen,  and  Augustine,  an 
opinion  arose  that  there  were  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  virgins 
consecrated  to  God,  among  whom  Mary  grew  up  in  vows  of  per- 
petual virginity.  Her  marriage  with  Joseph,  the  first  named  of 
these  writers  speaks  of  as  only  formal,  and  Jerome  describes  him 
as  an  ascetic  from  his  youth.*  The  opinion  was  strenuously  main- 
tained by  them,  and  most  of  their  cotemporaries,  that  Mary  con- 
tinued a  virgin  till  her  death.  Others,  however,  adopting  the  more 
natural  interpretation  of  Matt,  i.,  25,  and  xiii.,  55,  56,  contended  that 
she  had  afterward  lived  in  a  state  of  honorable  matrimony  with  her 
husband,  and  that  she  had  borne  other  children.  Those  who  held 
this  opinion,  were  enumerated  among  the  heretics,  and  were  called 
anti-dico-marianites,  or  opposers  of  the  purity  of  Mary.  It  would 
be  amusing,  if  it  were  not  painful,  to  notice  the  fanciful  and  puerile 
conceits  of  the  writers  of  this  age,  when  endeavoring  to  establish 
the  notion  of  the  perpetual  virginity  of  Mary.  They  even  employed 
arguments  to  prove  that  in  some  wonderful  way  she  gave  birth  to 
the  Saviour,  without  losing  her  virginity,  and  some  of  them  under- 
took to  show  in  what  way  this  was  accomplished.  Thus,  says 
Ambrose,  commenting  on  Isaiah  vii.,  14,  "  Haec  est  virgo  quae  in 
utero  concepit,"  &c,  "  This  is  the  virgin  who  hath  conceived,  and  the 
virgin  who  hath  brought  forth  a  son.  For  the  prophet  not  only 
saith  that  a  virgin  shall  conceive,  but  also  that  a  virgin  shall  bring 
forth."  Then  in  the  fanciful  manner  of  applying  Scripture  current 
in  that  age,  he  makes  a  reference  to  Ezekiel  xliv.,  1,  2,  and  asks  "  but 

*  See  Gieseler,  vol.  i.,  page  273,  note  13,  for  references  and  original  quota- 
tions from  the  fathers  named. 


82  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 


The  Collyridians  or  early  worshippers  of  the  Virgin.  Papists  all  such  now. 

what  is  that  gate  of  the  sanctuary,  that  outward  gate  toward  the 
East,  through  which  no  one  shall  enter,  but  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  ? 
Is  not  Mary  this  gate,  through  whom  the  Redeemer  hath  entered 
into  the  world  1  concerning  whom  it  is  written,  quia  Dominus  per- 
transibit  per  earn,  et  erit  clausa  post  partum,  because  a  virgin  hath 
conceived  and  brought  forth."  A  similar  fanciful  allusion  to  this 
passage  in  Ezekiel,  by  Jerome,  may  be  found  in  the  note  which  I 
must  be  spared  the  task  of  translating.* 

§  17, — When  we  observe,  on  the  one  hand,  the  earnest  manner 
in  which  these  fathers  contend  for  the  perpetual  virginity  of  Mary, 
and  on  the  other  the  extravagant  honors  attached  to  the  virgin  state, 
we  need  not  be  surprised  that  the  notion  soon  became  prevalent 
among  some  that  "  the  mother  of  God,"  as  she  was  now  frequently 
denominated,  was  herself  worthy  of  the  honors  of  divine  worship. 
Accordingly,  about  this  time,  we  find  that  a  sect  sprang  up,  whose 
peculiar  tenet  it  was,  that  the  Virgin  Mary  should  be  adored  in 
worship,  and  that  religious  honors  should  be  paid  to  her.  They 
were  called  Collyridians,  from  collyrida,  the  cakes  which  they 
offered  to  the  Virgin.  However  naturally  this  error  might  spring 
from  the  notions  maintained  by  those  who  were  regarded  as  the 
orthodox  fathers  of  the  church  in  this  age,  yet  it  is  a  proof  that  the 
Popery  of  the  present  day  would  even  in  that  corrupt  age  have 
been  regarded  as  heresy,  that  the  members  of  this  sect  were  branded 
by  Epiphanius  and  others  of  the  Nicene  fathers  as  heretics.  If  one 
of  them  were  now  to  arise  from  his  grave,  and  pass  through  any  of 
the  Catholic  countries  of  Europe,  he  would  soon  discover  a  wide- 
spread system  of  idolatrous  worship  of  the  Virgin,  far  more  debas- 
ing than  that  which  they  condemned,  because  accompanied  with 
the  idolatrous  use  of  images,  a  flagrant  impiety  with  which  these 
ancient  heretics  were  not  charged. 

§  18. — In  proof  of  this  last  assertion,  I  would  refer  to  the  fact, 
noticed  by  almost  every  modern  traveller,  that  in  Italy,  Spain, 
Austria,  and  other  popish  countries  of  Europe,  it  is  common  to  see 
images  of  the  Virgin  and  child,  not  only  in  the  churches,  but  also 
affixed  in  conspicuous  places  by  the  road-side,  to  receive  the  hom- 
age and  adoration  of  the  passer-by.  Some  of  these  Romish  idols 
are  regarded  with  greater  reverence  than  others,  and  are  conse- 
quently visited  by  a  greater  number  of  votaries.  Thus  in  England, 
the  land  of  our  fathers,  previous  to  the  glorious  reformation  from 

*  Gieseler,  vol.  i.,  page  287,  note  25. — "  Ambrosius  Ep.  42,  ad  Siricium  P. 
Haec  est  virgo  quae  in  utero  concepit:  virgo  quae  peperit  filium.  Sic  enim 
scriptum  est :  Ecce  virgo  in  utero  accipiet,  et  pariet  filium ;  non  enim  concep- 
turam  tantummodo  virginem,  sed  et  parituram  virginem  dixit.  Quae  autem  est 
ilia  porta  sanctuarii,  porta  ilia  exterior  ad  Orientem,  quae  manet  clausa  ;  et  nemo, 
inquit,  pertransibit  per  earn,  nisi  solus  Deus  Israel  (Ezech.  xliv.  2)?  Nonne  haec 
porta  quia  Dominus  pertransibit  per  earn,  et  erit  clausa  post  partum  ;  quia  virgo 
concepit  et  genuit.  Hieronymus  adv.  Pelagianos,  lib.  ii.  (Opp.  ed.  Martian.  T. 
IV.  P.  II.  p.  512):  Solus  enim  Christus  clausas  portas  vulvae  virginalis  aperuit, 
quae  tamen  clausae  jugiter  permanserunt.  Haec  est  porta  orientalis  clausa,  per 
quam  solus  Pontifex  ingreditur  et  egreditur  et  nihilominus  semper  clausa  est." 


Way-side  Shrineof  the  Virgin.    Calauriau  Minstrels  ploying  in  her  honor. 


Worship  o[  the  Image  of  the  Virgin  in  a  Church 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  85 

Minstrels  playing  tunes  to  the  Virgin  and  child  as  though  the  idols  were  conscious. 


Popery,  there  was  a  famous  image  of  the  Virgin  at  Walsingham, 
in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  which  was  visited  by  thousands  of  devo- 
tees, from  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  island,  notwithstanding  they 
had  similar  idols  in  their  own  neighborhoods,  and  perhaps  in  their 
own  dwellings,  occupying  the  same  place  as  the  penates,  or  house- 
hold gods  of  the  ancient  pagans  of  Greece  and  Rome.  In  Italy. 
where  Popery  is  seen  without  disguise,  each  of  these  images  is,  by 
the  common  people,  regarded  as  a  distinct  object  of  worship,  and  it 
is  a  very  common  sight  to  see  a  company  of  the  Calabrese  minstrels 
performing  their  national  devotional  airs  before  them,  especially 
about  the  time  of  Christmas,  and  pleasing  themselves  with  the  idea 
that  the  tunes  are  the  same  that  were  played  by  the  shepherds  at  the 
incarnation  of  the  Saviour,  on  the  plains  of  Bethlehem. 

A  recent  traveller  in  Italy  relates  a  fact  which  shows  that  images 
are  looked  upon  as  real  objects  of  worship,  and  treated  as  though 
they  were  really  conscious  of  the  idolatrous  honors  paid  to  them, 
notwithstanding,  in  the  expressive  language  of  Scripture,  "  they 
have  eyes  but  they  see  not,  they  have  ears  but  they  hear  not. 
They  that  make  them  are  like  unto  them  ;  so  is  every  one  that 
trusteth  in  them."  (Psalm  cxv.,  5,  &c.)  In  Rome,  according  to 
this  traveller,*  "  it  is  a  popular  opinion  that  the  Virgin  Mary  is  very 
fond  and  sui  excellent  judge  of  music.  I  received  this  information," 
says  he,  "  on  a  Christmas  morning,  when  I  was  looking  at  two  poor 
Calabrian  pipers  doing  their  utmost  to  please  her  and  the  infant  in 
her  arms.  They  played  for  a  full  hour  to  one  of  her  images 
which  stands  at  the  corner  of  a  street.  All  the  other  statues  of 
the  Virgin  which  are  placed  in  the  streets  are  serenaded  in  the 
same  manner  every  Christmas  morning.  On  my  inquiring  into  the 
meaning  of  that  ceremony,  I  was  told  the  above-mentioned  circum- 
stance of  her  character.  My  informer  was  a  pilgrim,  who  stood 
listening  with  great  devotion  to  the  pipers.  He  told  me  at  the  same 
time,  that  the  Virgin's  taste  was  too  refined  to  have  much  satisfac- 
tion in  the  performance  of  these  poor  Calabrians,  which  was  chiefly 
intended  for  the  infant ;  and  he  desired  me  to  remark,  that  the  tunes 
were  plain  and  simple,  and  such  as  might  naturally  be  supposed 
agreeable  to  the  ear  of  a  child  of  his  time  of  life."  The  accompa- 
nying engraving  is  a  beautiful  representation  of  such  a  scene  as  is 
described  in  the  foregoing  interesting  extract  from  the  work  of  Dr. 
Moore.     (See  Engraving.) 

§  19. — Though  many  centuries  elapsed  before  an  idolatry  so  gross 
as  this  was  practised,  even  in  apostate  Rome,  yet  as  early  as  the 
fifth  century,  many  circumstances  were  tending  toward  this  idola- 
trous reverence  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  In  the  fifth  century,  a  contro- 
versy arose  relative  to  the  title  which  it  was  proper  to  apply  to  her, 
which  in  its  result  tended,  probably,  more  than  anything  else,  to 
increase  the  superstitious  veneration  with  which  she  had  long  been 
regarded.     The  occasion  of  this  controversy  was  furnished  by  the 

*  Dr.  Moore,  in  his  View  of  Society  and  Manners  in  Italy. 


86  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [bookh. 

Nestorian  controversy  on  the  title  "  mother  of  God."  Feasts  in  honor  of  the  Virgin- 

presbyter  Anastasius,  a  friend  of  Nestorius.  This  presbyter,  in  a 
public  discourse,  delivered,  A.  D.  428,  declaimed  warmly  against 
the  title  of  ©coroxoj,  or  mother  of  God,  which  was  now  frequently 
attributed  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  He  at  the  same  time  gave  it  as  his 
opinion  that  she  should  rather  be  called  XptoroToxo?,  i.  e.,  mother  of 
Christ,  since  the  Deity  can  neither  be  born  nor  die,  and  of  conse- 
quence the  son  of  man  alone  could  derive  his  birth  from  an  earthly 
parent.  Nestorius  applauded  these  sentiments,  and  explained  and 
defended  them  in  several  discourses. 

The  result  of  the  Nestorian  controversy,  as  it  was  called,  was  that 
at  the  third  general  council,  which  was  held  at  Ephesus,  in  431,  and  at 
which  Cyril,  the  powerful  and  imperious  antagonist  of  Nestorius, 
presided,  the  doctrine  was  condemned,  and  its  defender  branded  as 
another  Judas,  deposed  from  his  episcopal  dignity,  and  sent  into 
exile,  where  he  finished  his  days  in  the  deserts  of  Thebais  in  Egypt.* 
This  dispute,  as  is  truly  remarked  by  Gieseler,  first  led  men  to  set 
the  Virgin  Mary  above  all  other  saints  as  "  the  mother  of  God." 
To  those  who  reflect  upon  the  natural  tendency  of  an  exciting  con- 
troversy to  drive  men  to  extremes,  it  will  not  be  matter  of  wonder 
that  henceforward  much  more  was  said  and  done  in  honor  of  the 
"  blessed  Virgin,"  "  mother  of  God,"  and  "  ever  a  Virgin,"  than  at 
any  previous  period.  Among  the  images  with  which  the  magnifi- 
cent churches  began  now  to  be  adorned,  that  of  the  Virgin  Mary 
holding  the  child  Jesus  in  her  arms,  in  consequence  of  the  Nesto- 
rian controversy,  obtained  the  first  and  principal  place. 

§  20. — In  the  following  century,  two  festivals  were  established  in 
her  honor,  the  festum  purifications,  or  festival  of  the  "  purification 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,"  on  the  second  of  February  (Candlemas 
day),  and  the  festum  annunciationis,  the  festival  of  the  annunciation 
on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  March,  which  has  been  popularly  called 
Lady  Day.f  Mosheim  says,  with  appearance  of  reason,  that  the 
former  festival  was  established  with  a  design  "  to  remedy  the  unea- 
siness of  heathen  converts,  on  account  of  the  loss  of  their  lupercalia, 
or  feasts  of  the  god  Pan,  which  had  formerly  been  observed  in  the 

*  An  amusing  anecdote  is  related  concerning  the  Emperor  Constantine  Copro- 
nymus,  who  lived  more  than  three  hundred  years  after  Nestorius,  which  well  illus- 
trates the  unreasonable  importance  which  was  attached  for  ages  to  these  vain  dis- 
putes about  mere  words.  It  must  be  remembered  that  in  this  dispute  both  side3 
were  strictly  orthodox  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word.  Both  sides  admitted  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  God  as  well  as  man  ;  that  his  human  nature  was  born  of  the  Virgin, 
and  that  his  divine  nature  existed  from  eternity  ;  both  sides  admitted  the  distinction 
between  the  two  natures,  and  their  union  in  the  person  of  Christ.  Where  then  lay 
the  difference  ?  It  could  be  nowhere  but  in  phraseology.  Yet  this  notable  ques- 
tion raised  a  conflagration  in  the  church,  and  proved,  in  the  East,  the  source  of 
infinite  mischief,  hatred,  violence,  and  persecution.  The  Emperor  happened  one 
day  to  ask  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  "What  harm  would  there  be  in  culling 
the  Virgin  Mary  the  mother  of  Christ  ?"  "God  preserve  your  majesty,'"  answered 
the  patriarch  hastily,  with  great  emotion,  "from  entertaining  such  a  thought .'  Do 
you  not  see  how  Nestorius  is  anathematized  for  this  by  the  whole  church?"  "  I  only 
asked  for  my  own  information,"  replied  the  Emperor,  evidently  with  some  alarm", 
'■  but  let  it  go  no  farther." 

t  Bingham's  Antiquities,  vol.  ix.,  page  170. 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  87 

Egypt  the  birth-place  of  Monkery,  whether  heathen  or  Christian. 


month  of  February."*  The  latter  served  equally  well  as  a  substi- 
tute for  the  festival  of  the  ancient  heathen  goddess,  Cybele,  to  whom 
the  25th  of  February,  or  Lady  Day,  was  formerly  dedicated.  There 
is  indeed  a  strong  resemblance,  in  many  points,  between  the  pagan 
worship  of  Cybele,  and  the  popish  worship  of  the  Virgin.  The  same 
appellation  of  "  queen  of  heaven,"  which  is  frequently  applied  by 
papists  to  Mary,  was  generally  applied  by  the  ancient  Romans  to 
Cybele. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ORIGIN    OF    ROMISH    ERRORS    CONTINUED MONKERY. 

§  21. — Monkery,  like  most  of  the  characteristic  marks  of  Anti- 
christ, bears  the  most  indubitable  evidences  of  its  heathen  origin. 
Egypt,  the  rank  soil  in  which  it  sprang  up,  had  long  been  the  fruit- 
ful parent  of  a  race  of  gloomy  and  misanthropic  eremites.  It  was 
in  that  country  that  this  morose  discipline  had  its  rise ;  and  it  is 
observable,  that  Egypt  has,  in  all  times,  as  it  were  by  an  immu- 
table law,  or  disposition  of  nature,  abounded  with  persons  of  a 
melancholy  complexion,  and  produced,  in  proportion  to  its  extent, 
more  gloomy  spirits  than  any  other  part  of  the  world.  It  was 
here  that  the  Essenes  and  the  Therapeutse,  those  dismal  and  gloomy 
sects,  dwelt  principally,  long  before  the  coming  of  Christ;  as  also 
many  others  of  the  Ascetic  tribe,  who,  led  by  a  certain  melancholy 
turn  of  mind,  and  a  delusive  notion  of  rendering  themselves  more 
acceptable  to  the  Deity  by  their  austerities,  withdrew  themselves 
from  human  society,  and  from  all  the  innocent  pleasures  and  com- 
forts of  life.  Strabo,  Arrian,  Diodorus  Siculus,  Porphyry,  as  well 
as  several  of  the  fathers,  especially  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and 
Augustine,  have  handed  down  incidental  notices  of  the  philosophy 
and  manners  of  the  Indian  and  Egyptian  gymnosophists,  such  as 
are  amply  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  identifying  the  ancient,  and 
the  more  recent — the  Buddhist,  and  the  Christian  ascetic  institute. 
These  professors  of  a  divine  philosophy,  like  their  Christian  imita- 
tors, went  nearly  naked  ;  they  occupied  caverns  or  chinks  in  the 
rocks  ;  they  abstained  entirely  from  animal  food  ;  they  professed 
inviolable  virginity ;  they  practised  penance ;  they  passed  the 
greater  part  of  their  time  in  mute  meditation  ;  they  imposed  silence 
and  absolute  submission  upon  their  disciples;  they  professed  the 
doctrine,  that  the  perfection  of  human  nature  consists  in  an  annihi- 

*  See  Mosheim,  cent,  vi.,  part  2,  chapter  iv. 


Q3  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 

Resemblance  between  the  pagan  and  Christian  gymnosophiste.         Paul  the  hermit,  Anthony,  Hilarion. 

lation  of  the  passions,  and  every  affection  which  nature  has  im- 
planted, whether  in  the  animal  or  the  mental  constitution :  abnega- 
tion was,  with  them,  the  one  point  of  wisdom  and  virtue,  and  a  re- 
absorption  of  the  human  soul  into  the  abyss  of  the  divine  mind, 
was  the  happy  end  of  the  present  system,  to  the  pure  and  wise. 

§  22. Now,  one  might  reasonably  have  supposed  and  expected, 

that  a  system  of  doctrine  and  practice  such  as  this,  if  it  were  to 
come  at  all  under  the  powerful  influence  of  Christianity,  must  have 
admitted  some  extensive  modifications  ;  but  it  was  not  so  in  fact : — 
a  few  phrases  and  another  dialect,  or  slang,  adopted,  make  almost 
all  the  difference  which  serves  to  distinguish  the  ancient  gymno- 
sophist  from  the  Christian  anchoret.  The  more  rigid  and  he- 
roic of  the  Christian  anchorets  dispensed  with  all  clothing  except 
a  rug,  or  a  few  palm-leaves  round  the  loins.  Most  of  them  ab- 
stained from  the  use  of  water  for  ablution ;  nor  did  they  usually 
wash  or  change  the  garments  they  had  once  put  on ;  thus  St.  An- 
thony bequeathed  to  Athanasius  a  skin  in  which  his  sacred  person 
had  been  wrapped  for  half  a  century.  They  also  allowed  their 
beards  and  nails  to  grow,  and  sometimes  became  so  hirsute,  as  to 
be  actually  mistaken  for  hyaenas  or  bears.  It  need  not  be  said  that 
celibacy  was  the  first  law  of  this  institute,  and  that  an  abstinence 
the  most  rigid  was  its  second  law. 

At  what  time  precisely,  the  wilderness  exchanged  its  pagan  for  a 
Christian  tenantry,  it  is  not  easy  to  ascertain.  In  some  instances, 
no  doubt,  the  very  individuals  who  had  begun  their  course  as  hea- 
then gymnosophists,  ended  it  as  Christian  anchorets.  But  oftener, 
probably,  the  deserted  cell  or  cavern  of  the  savage  philosopher  was 
taken  possession  of  by  one  who,  having,  in  the  neighboring  cities, 
received  the  knowledge  of  the  gospel,  betook  himself  to  the  angelic 
life  in  consequence  of  persecutions,  or  of  disappointments  in  love 
or  in  business.* 

§  23. — The  most  remarkable  early  instances  of  this  gloomy 
fanaticism  on  record  are  those  of  Paul  the  hermit,  who,  during  the 
persecution  under  Decius,  about  A.  D.  250,  betook  himself  to  the 
solitary  deserts  of  Egypt,  where,  for  a  space  of  more  than  ninety 
years,  he  lived  a  life  more  worthy  of  a  savage  animal  than  a  human 
being.  Anthony,  an  Egyptian,  regarded  as  the  founder  of  the 
monastic  institution  (because  he  first  formed  monks  into  organized 
bodies),  who  fixed  his  abode  in  the  deserts  of  Egypt  twenty  or 
thirty  years  later  than  Paul,  and  died  in  the  year  356,  at  the  age  of 
105  ;  and  Hilarion,  a  Syrian  youth,  who  took  up  his  abode  on  a 
sandy  beach,  between  the  sea  and  a  morass,  about  eight  miles  from 
Gaza,  in  Palestine,  where  he  persisted  in  a  course  of  the  most  aus- 
tere penance  for  about  forty-eight  years. 

Influenced  by  these  eminent  examples,  immense  multitudes  be- 
took themselves  to  the  desert,  and  innumerable  monasteries  were 

*  See  Taylor's  Ancient  Christianity,  page  426,  &c,  with  references  to  ancient 
authorities. 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  89 

Vast  number  of  the  monks  in  Egypt,  &c.  St.  Symeon,  the  celebrated  pillar  saint. 

fixed  in  Egypt,  Ethiopia,  Lybia,  and  Syria.  Some  of  the  Egyptian 
abbots  are  spoken  of  as  having  had  five,  seven,  or  even  ten  thousand 
monks  under  their  personal  direction ;  and  the  Thebais,  as  well  as 
certain  spots  in  Arabia,  are  reported  to  have  been  literally  crowded 
with  solitaries.  Nearly  a  hundred  thousand  of  all  classes,  it  is 
said,  were  at  one  time  to  be  found  in  Egypt.  The  western  church 
probably  could  boast  of  no  such  swarms.  This  however  is  certain, 
that,  although  the  enthusiasm  might  be  at  a  lower  ebb  in  one  coun- 
try than  in  another,  it  actually  affected  the  church  universal,  so  far 
as  the  extant  materials  of  ecclesiastical  history  enable  us  to  trace 
its  rise  and  progress.  In  the  west,  Martin  of  Tours  founded  a 
monastery  at  Poictiers,  and  thus  introduced  monastic  institutions 
into  France.  His  monks  were  mostly  of  noble  families,  and  sub- 
mitted to  the  greatest  austerities  both  in  food  and  raiment ;  and 
such  was  the  rapidity  of  their  increase,  that  2000  of  them  attended 
his  funeral.  In  other  countries,  they  appear  to  have  increased  in 
equal  proportion,  and  the  progress  of  monkery  has  been  said  to 
have  equalled  the  rapidity  and  universality  of  Christianity  itself. 
Every  province,  and,  in  process  of  time,  every  city  of  the  empire, 
was  filled  with  their  increasing  multitudes. 

§  24. — We  may  learn  the  character  of  this  fanaticism  from  a 
eulogy  on  the  monastic  life,  composed  about  the  middle  of  the 
fourth  century  by  Gregory  Nazianzen.  There  were  some  of  these 
men,  he  tells  us,  "  who  loaded  themselves  with  iron  chains  in  order 
to  bear  down  their  bodies — others  who  shut  themselves  up  in  cabins 
and  appeared  to  nobody — some  continued  twenty  days  and  twenty 
nights  without  eating,  often  practising  the  half  of  the  fast  of  our 
Lord — one  individual  is  said  to  have  abstained  entirely  from  speak- 
ing, not  praising  God  except  in  thought — and  another  passed  whole 
years  in  a  church,  with  extended  hands,  like  an  animated  statue, 
yet  never  allowing  himself  to  sleep."* 

One  of  the  most  renowned  instances  of  monkish  penance  that  is 
upon  record  is  that  of  St.  Symeon,  as  the  papists  are  pleased  to 
call  him.  He  was  a  native  of  Syria,  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
monkish  life,  in  the  virtues  of  which  he  is  thought  to  have  outstrip- 
ped all  that  preceded  him.  We  are  told  that  he  lived  six-and-thirty 
years  on  a  pillar  erected  on  the  summit  of  a  high  mountain  in  Syria, 
from  which  he  obtained  the  name  of  Symeon  Stylites  (from  azvlog, 
a  pillar).  From  this  pillar,  it  is  said,  he  never  descended  except  to 
take  possession  of  another,  which  he  did  four  times,  having  in  the 
whole  occupied  five  of  them.  On  his  last  pillar,  which  was  loftier 
than  any  of  the  former,  being  sixty  feet  high  and  three  broad,  he 
remained,  according  to  report,  fifteen  years  without  intermission, 
summer  and  winter,  day  and  night,  exposed  to  all  the  inclemencies 
of  the  weather,  in  a  climate  subject  to  great  and  sudden  changes, 
from  the  most  sultry  heat  to  piercing  cold.  It  is  said  that  he  always 
stood ;  the  breadth  of  his  pillar  not  permitting  him  to  lie  down.    He 

*  See  Fleury's  Eccles.  Hist,  book  xvi.  chap.  51. 


90  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ii. 

A  strange  method  of  serving  God.  1244  bows.  Spacious  monasteries  erected. 

spent  the  day  till  three  in  the  afternoon  in  meditation  and  prayer  ; 
from  that  time  till  sunset  he  harangued  the  people  "who  flocked  to 
him  from  all  countries,  whom  he  then  dismissed  with  his  benedic- 
tion. He  would  on  no  account  suffer  females  to  come  within  his 
precincts — not  even  his  own  mother,  who  is  said,  through  mortifi- 
cation and  grief  at  being  refused  admittance,  to  have  died  on  the 
third  day  after  her  arrival.  To  show  how  indefatigable  he  was  in 
whatever  conduced  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  good  of  mankind, 
he  spent  much  time  daily  in  the  exemplary  exercise  of  bowing  so 
low  as  to  make  his  forehead  strike  his  toes,  and  so  frequently,  that 
one  who  went  to  see  him,  as  Theodoret,  the  ancient  ecclesiastical 
historian,  relates,  counted  no  fewer  than  1244  times — when,  being 
more  wearied  in  numbering  than  the  saint  was  in  bowing,  he  gave 
over  the  task  of  counting.* 

For  such  senseless  and  disgusting  practices  as  these  has  this 
poor  victim  of  superstition  been  enrolled  among  the  calendar  of 
saints,  and  down  to  the  present  day,  whenever  Romish  writers 
refer  to  this  famous  pillar  saint,  they  speak  of  him  with  the  great- 
est reverence  as  Saint  Symeon. 

§  25. — Up  to  nearly  the  close  of  the  fifth  century,  the  monks  had 
generally  lived  only  in  solitary  retreats,  and,  regarded  as  they  were 
as  laymen,  they  had  entertained  no  thoughts  of  assuming  any  rank 
among  the  sacerdotal  order.  Now,  however,  they  found  them- 
selves in  a  condition  to  claim  an  eminent  station  among  the  pillars 
of  the  Christian  community.  The  mistaken  piety  of  many  led 
them  to  erect  spacious  and  commodious  edifices  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  monks  and  holy  virgins,  more  resembling  the  palaces 
of  princes  than  the  rude  cells  of  the  primitive  monks,  and  at  the 
epoch  of  the  papal  supremacy,  these  monasteries  were  numerous 
and  powerful,  especially  in  the  neighborhood  of  large  cities.  The 
monks  who  dwelt  in  these  convents  were  called  Coenobites,  from  two 
Greek  words,  signifying  to  live  in  common. 

When  these  spacious  edifices  were  supplied  with  a  numerous 
fraternity,  governed  by  an  abbot  of  eminence  and  character,  so 
called  from  a  Syriac  word  signifying  father,  there  often  arose  a 
jealousy  between  the  abbot  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  bishop  on  the 
other,  in  whose  diocese  the  abbey  was  situated,  and  to  whom,  as 
things  stood  at  first,  the  abbot  and  the  friars  owed  spiritual  subjection. 
Out  of  their  mutual  jealousies  sprang  umbrages  ;  and  these  some- 
times terminated  in  quarrels  and  injuries.  In  such  cases,  the  abbots 
had  the  humiliating  disadvantage  to  be  under  the  obligation  of 
canonical  obedience  to  him,  as  the  ordinary  of  the  place,  with  whom 
they  were  at  variance.  That  they  might  deliver  themselves  from 
these  inconveniences,  real  or  pretended,  and  might  be  independent 

*  Those  who  wish  to  peruse  a  fuller  account  of  these  miserable  euthusiasts, 
and  the  absurd  legends  of  their  wonderful  miracles,  may  consult  Theodoret's  Ec- 
clesiastical History  ;  Jerom.  Vita  Pauli  Erem. ;  Middleton's  Free  Inquiry  into  the 
miraculous  powers,  &c,  p.  164-168  ;  and  Taylor's  Ancient  Christianity,  p.  461, 
&c. 


chap,  rv.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  91 

Monks  and  abbots  become  the  tools  of  the  pope.  Gregory's  inhuman  severity  to  a  poor  monk. 

of  their  rivals,  they  applied  to  Rome,  one  after  another,  for  a  release 
from  this  slavery,  as  they  called  it,  by  being  taken  under  the  pro- 
tection of  St.  Peter.  The  proposal  was  with  avidity  accepted  at 
Rome.  That  politic  court  saw  immediately  that  nothing  could  be 
better  calculated  for  supporting  papal  power.  Whoever  obtains 
privileges  is  obliged,  in  order  to  secure  his  privileges,  to  maintain 
the  authority  of  the  grantor. 

§  26. — Very  quickly  all  the  monasteries,  great  and  small,  abbeys, 
priories,  and  nunneries,  were  exempted  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
bishops.  The  two  last  were  inferior  sorts  of  monasteries,  and  often 
subordinate  to  some  abbey.  Even  the  chapters  of  cathedrals,  con- 
sisting mostly  of  regulars,  on  the  like  pretexts,  obtained  exemption. 
Finally,  whole  orders,  such  as  the  Benedictines,  who  were  estab- 
lished in  the  sixth  century,  and  others,  were  exempted.  This  effec- 
tually procured  a  prodigious  augmentation  to  the  pontifical  author- 
ity, which  now  came  to  have  a  sort  of  disciplined  troops  in  every 
place,  defended  and  protected  by  the  papacy,  who,  in  return,  were 
its  defenders  and  protectors,  serving  as  spies  on  the  bishops  as  well 
as  on  the  secular  powers.*  They  made  the  cause  of  the  pope  their 
own,  and  represented  him  as  a  sort  of  god,  to  the  ignorant  multi- 
tude, over  whom  they  had  gained  a  prodigious  ascendant  by  the 
notion  that  generally  prevailed,  of  the  sanctity  of  the  monastic 
order.  It  is  at  the  same  time  to  be  observed  that  this  immunity  of 
the  monks  was  a  fruitful  source  of  licentiousness  and  disorder,  and 
occasioned  the  greatest  part  of  the  vices  with  which  they  were 
afterward  so  justly  charged. 

Previous  to  the  elevation  of  Gregory  I.  to  the  See  of  Rome,  he 
was  himself  abbot  of  a  monastery,  and  exacted  of  the  monks  the 
strictest  observance  of  the  rules  of  poverty,  chastity,  and  implicit 
obedience.  An  instance  of  superstitious,  and,  as  it  appears  to  us, 
inhuman  severity  toward  one  of  them,  is  related  by  Gregory  him- 
self,! and  is  worth  recording  as  an  illustration  of  the  character  of 
Gregory,  and  of  the  spirit  of  that  superstitious  age.  The  monk's 
name  was  Justus  ;  he  had  practised  physic  before  entering  the 
monastery,  and  had  attended  Gregory  night  and  day  during  his 
long  illness.  Being  himself  taken  ill,  he  discovered,  at  the  point  of 
death,  to  his  brother,  a  layman,  that  he  had  three  pieces  of  gold  coin 
concealed  in  his  cell.  Some  monks  overheard  him,  and  thereupon 
rummaging  his  cell,  found,  after  a  long  search,  which  nothing  could 
escape,  the  three  pieces  concealed  in  a  medicament,  and  brought 
them  to  Gregory.  As,  by  the  laws  of  the  monastery,  no  monk  was 
to  possess  anything  whatever  in  private,  the  abbot,  to  bring  the 
dying  monk  to  a  due  sense  of  his  crime,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to 
deter  the  rest,  by  his  punishment,  from  following  his  example, 
strictly  forbade  the  other  monks  to  afford  him  any  kind  of  comfort 
or  relief  in  the  agonies  of  death,  or  even  to  approach  him.     Not 

*  See  Campbell's  Lectures  on  Ecclesiastical  History,  page  325. 
f  Gregory's  Dialogues,  lib.  iv.,  c.  55. 


92  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [booku. 

Monasteries  fertile  in  pretended  saints. 

satisfied  with  that  inhuman  severity,  he  required  the  brother  of  the 
unhappy  monk  to  let  him  know  that  he  died  avoided,  detested,  and 
abhorred,  by  all  his  brethren.  He  did  not  even  stop  here,  but 
exceeding  all  bounds,  ordered  the  body  of  the  deceased,  as  soon  as 
he  expired,  to  be  thrown  on  a  dunghill,  and  with  it  the  three  pieces 
of  gold,  all  the  monks  crying  out,  aloud,  "  Thy  money  perish  with 
thee !" 

§  27. — In  an  age  so  dark  as  that  which  gave  birth  to  Popery,  it 
might  be  expected  that  the  newly  established  monastic  institutions 
would  produce  hundreds  of  gloomy  religionists,  whom  the  credulous 
devotion  of  an  ignorant  and  superstitious  multitude  would  enshrine 
as  saints.  Such  we  find  was  actually  the  fact.  In  the  sixth  century, 
according  to  Mosheim,  such  as  wished  to  enforce  the  duties  of  Chris- 
tianity, by  exhibiting  examples  of  piety  and  virtue  to  those  for 
whom  their  instructions  were  designed,  wrote  for  this  purpose  the 
Lives  of  the  saints;  and  there  was  a  considerable  number  of  biogra- 
phers, both  among  the  Greeks  and  Latins.  Ennodius,  Eugippius, 
Cyril  of  Scythopolis,  Dionysius  the  Little,  Cogitosus,  and  others, 
are  to  be  ranked  in  this  class.  But  however  pious  the  intentions  of 
these  biographers  may  have  been,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that 
they  executed  it  in  a  most  contemptible  manner.  No  models  of 
rational  piety  are  to  be  found  among  those  pretended  worthies, 
whom  they  propose  to  Christians  as  objects  of  imitation.  They 
amuse  their  readers  with  gigantic  fables  and  trifling  romances ;  the 
examples  they  exhibit  are  those  of  certain  delirious  fanatics,  whom 
they  call  saints,  men  of  corrupt  and  perverted  judgment,  who 
offered  violence  to  reason  and  nature,  by  the  horrors  of  an  extrava- 
gant austerity  in  their  own  conduct,  and  by  the  severity  of  those 
singular  and  inhuman  rules  which  they  prescribed  to  others.  For 
by  what  means  were  these  men  sainted  ?  By  starving  themselves 
with  a  frantic  obstinacy,  and  bearing  the  useless  hardships  of  hunger, 
thirst,  and  inclement  seasons,  with  steadfastness  and  perseverance ; 
by  running  about  the  country  like  madmen,  in  tattered  garments, 
and  sometimes  half  naked,  or  shutting  themselves  up  in  a  narrow 
space,  where  they  continued  motionless ;  by  standing  for  a  long 
time  in  certain  postures,  with  their  eyes  closed,  in  the  enthusiastic 
expectation  of  divine  light.  All  this  was  saintlike  and  glorious  ; 
and  the  more  that  any  ambitious  fanatic  departed  from  the  dictates 
of  reason  and  common  sense,  and  counterfeited  the  wild  gestures 
and  the  incoherent  conduct  of  an  idiot  or  a  lunatic,  the  surer  was 
his  prospect  of  obtaining  an  eminent  rank  among  the  heroes  and 
demigods  of  a  corrupt  and  degenerate  church.* 

*  See  Mosheim,  century  vi.,  part  2,  chap.  iii. 


93 


CHAPTER  V. 

ORIGIN    OF    ROMISH    ERRORS    CONTINUED WORSHIP    OF    SAINTS    AND 

RELICS,    ETC. 

§  28. — The  invocation  of  saints  is  another  of  the  unscriptural 
practices  of  Popery,  which  boasts  of  an  origin  anterior  to  the  papal 
supremacy.  In  modern  times  this  idolatrous  worship  of  created 
beings  has  grown  to  such  a  height  in  the  Romish  church,  as  well 
nigh  to  exclude  altogether  the  worship  of  the  Creator ;  and  who- 
ever will  take  the  trouble  to  examine  a  popish  book  of  devotion 
will  see  that  there  are  many  petitions  offered  to  the  saints  for  every 
one  that  is  offered  to  the  Deity. 

In  all  probability  this  practice  grew  up,  by  degrees,  from  the 
honors  which,  in  the  early  ages,  were  paid  to  the  martyrs  ;  and 
those  who,  in  the  third  or  fourth  century,  thus  laid  the  foundation 
of  this  system  of  idolatry,  little  imagined  the  huge  fabric  of  super- 
stition that  would  be  erected  thereon.  Perhaps  it  would  be  too 
severe  to  pronounce  an  indiscriminate  censure  upon  those  early 
Christians,  who,  prompted  by  respect  for  the  virtues  of  their  mar- 
tyred brethren,  were  accustomed  to  assemble  around  their  graves, 
to  mourn  over  their  loss,  and  to  send  up  their  supplications  to  the 
common  God  and  Father  of  the  martyred  dead  and  the  suffering 
living.  In  process  of  time,  however,  the  due  reverence  with  which 
these  witnesses  for  Jesus  had  been  regarded,  increased  to  a  kind  of 
idolatrous  veneration,  and  religious  services  performed  over  their 
sepulchres  were  regarded  as  possessing  a  peculiar  sanctity  and  vir- 
tue. The  growth  of  this  idea  was  so  rapid,  that  in  the  age  of 
Constantine  we  find  that  stately  churches  were,  in  some  instances, 
erected  over  their  graves,  and  where  this  was  impracticable,  some 
relic,  real  or  imaginary,  of  one  of  these  saints  was  enshrined,  with 
all  due  solemnity,  in  the  magnificent  buildings  erected  to  their 
honor.* 

§  29. — Fleury,  the  celebrated  Roman  Catholic  ecclesiastical  his- 
torian, relatesf  that  on  one  occasion,  in  the  year  386,  St.  Ambrose, 
being  about  to  consecrate  a  church  at  Milan,  was  prevented  by  the 
fact  that  he  had  no  relics  of  martyrs  to  deposit  in  the  altars,  when 
"  immediately  his  heart  burned  within  him,  in  presage,  as  he  felt,  of 
what  was  to  happen."  The  historian  proceeds  to  tell  us  that  God 
revealed  to  him,  in  a  dream,  the  place  where  the  bodies  of  St.  Ger- 
vasius  and  St.  Protasius  were  to  be  found.  "  Having  discovered 
their  sepulchres,  two  skeletons  were  discovered  of  more  than  or- 
dinary size,  all  their  bones  entire,  a  quantity  of  blood  about,  and 
their  heads  separated  from  their  bodies.  They  arranged  the  bodies, 
putting  every  bone  into  its  proper  place,  and  they  covered  them 

*  Eusebius — de  vita  Constant.,  iii.  48. 

f  Fleury's  Eccles.  Hist.,  book  xviii.,  chap.  48. 


94  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 

Discovery  of  bodies  of  Saints.  Ceremony  of  depositing  relics  in  the  altars  of  churches. 

with  cloths  and  laid  them  on  litters.  In  this  manner  were  they 
carried  towards  evening  to  the  Basilica  of  St.  Fausta,  where  vigils 
were  celebrated  all  night,  and  several  that  were  possessed  received 
imposition  of  hands.  That  day  and  the  next,  there  was  a  great 
concourse  of  people,  and  then  the  old  men  recollected  that  they 
had  formerly  heard  the  names  of  these  martyrs,  and  had  read  the 
inscription  on  their  tomb.  The  next  day  the  relics  were  transferred 
to  the  Basilica  Ambrosiana,"  or  church  of  St.  Ambrose  at  Milan.* 
So  general  had  the  notion  become  that  a  church  could  not  be  con- 
secrated without  relics,  that  it  was  decreed  by  a  council  at  Con- 
stantinople, that  those  altars  under  which  no  relics  were  found 
should  be  demolished. 

The  same  necessity  of  relics  to  be  deposited  in  the  altar  of 
Romish  churches,  in  order  to  their  due  consecration,  is  contended 
for  down  to  the  present  day.  No  matter  how  minute  the  particle 
of  supposed  holy  dust  of  the  saint  to  whom  the  church  is  to  be  dedi- 
cated ; — a  tooth,  a  toe-nail,  a  hair,  a  drop  of  the  blood,  or  a  pre- 
served tear  from  the  eye  ;  anything  will  do,  so  that  it  has  been 
christened  or  declared  genuine  by  his  infallible  holiness,  the  Pope. 
Upon  the  arrival  of  the  duly  authenticated  relic,  it  is  borne  in  so- 
lemn procession  by  priests  in  their  robes  to  the  altar  in  which  it  is 
to  be  deposited,  and  when  arrived  at  its  destination,  it  is  placed  by 
the  hands  of  the  bishop  himself  in  the  place  prepared  for  its  recep- 
tion. The  first  of  the  adjoining  plates  represents  the  procession  of 
relics  to  the  church,  and  the  other  the  bishop  in  the  act  of  closing 
up  the  sacred  deposit  within  the  altar.  Before  he  does  this  he 
marks  the  sepulchre  on  the  four  sides  with  the  sign  of  the  cross. 
This  is  the  consecration  of  the  sepulchre.  He  then  deposits  the  relic 
box  with  all  possible  veneration,  which  must  be  done  bare-headed, 
the  better  to  testify  to  the  congregation  the  reverence  attached  to 
the  ceremony.  After  this  an  anthem  is  repeated,  during  which,  the 
celebrant,  still  without  his  mitre  on,  incenses  the  relics,  and  after- 
wards puts  it  on,  takes  the  stone  which  is  to  be  laid  over  the  sepul- 
chre with  his  right  hand,  dips  the  thumb  of  the  other  in  chrism,  and 
makes  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  the  middle  of  the  stone  on  the  side 
that  is  to  be  towards  the  relics,  in  order  to  consecrate  it  on  that 
side.  Anthems  and  the  Oremus  immediately  follow  according  to 
custom.  After  this  the  celebrant  fixes  the  stone  upon  the  sepul- 
chre, the  masons  make  an  end  of  the  work,  and  the  celebrant  sanc- 
tifies it  by  the  sign  of  the  cross  which  is  reverently  to  be  made  on 
the  stone.     (See  Engraving.) 

§  30. — To  return  to  the  origin  of  these  superstitions.  In  Egypt, 
about  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  another  method  was  adopted  of 
showing  the  reverence  of  Christians  for  the  mortal  relics  of  de- 
parted saints.  In  that  country,  according  to  Gieseler,  the  Christians 
began  to  embalm  the  bodies  of  reputed  saints,  and  keep  them  in 
their  houses.     The  communion  with  the  martyrs  being  thus  asso- 

*  Fleury!8  Eccles.  Hist.,  book  xviii.,  chap.  46. 


Relics  carried  in  procession  to  a  Church,  to  be  consecrated. 


CI  i   ''.'  ho  closing  tip  the  relies  in  the  Altar 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  97 

Invocation  of  Saints.  Gregory  Nazianzen's  address  to  his  departed  father  and  to  Cyprian. 

ciated  with  the  presence  of  their  material  remains,  these  were  dug 
up  from  the  graves  and  placed  in  the  churches;  especially  under  the 
altars  ;  and  the  popular  feeling  having  now  a  visible  object  to  ex- 
cite it,  became  more  extravagant  and  superstitious  than  ever.  The 
opinion  of  the  efficacy  of  the  intercession  of  those  who  had  died  a 
martyr's  death,  was  now  united  with  the  belief  that  it  was  possible 
to  communicate  with  them  directly ;  a  belief  founded  partly  on  the 
popular  heathen  notion  that  departed  souls  always  lingered  around 
the  bodies  they  had  once  inhabited,  and  partly  on  the  views  enter- 
tained of  the  glorified  state  of  the  martyrs,  a  sort  of  omnipresence 
being  ascribed  to  them.  These  notions  may  be  traced  to  Origen, 
and  his  followers  were  the  first  who  apostrophized  the  martyrs  in 
their  sermons,  and  besought  their  intercession.  But  though  the 
orators  were  somewhat  extravagant  in  this  respect,  they  were  far 
outdone  by  the  poets,  who  soon  took  up  this  theme,  and  could  find 
no  expressions  strong  enough  to  describe  the  power  and  the  glory 
of  the  martyrs.  Christians  were  now  but  seldom  called  upon  to 
address  their  prayers  to  God  ;  the  usual  mode  being  to  pray  only 
to  some  saint  for  his  intercession.  With  this  worship  of  the  saints 
were  joined  many  of  the  customs  of  the  heathen.  Men  chose  their 
patron  saints,  and  dedicated  churches  to  their  worship.  The  hea- 
then, whom  the  Christians  used  to  reproach  with  worshipping  dead 
men,  found  now  ample  opportunity  of  retort.*  In  proportion  as 
men  felt  the  need  of  such  intercession,  they  strove  to  increase  the 
number  of  the  intercessors.  Martyrs,  before  unknown,  according 
to  the  legends  of  those  times,  announced  themselves  in  visions, 
-others  revealed  the  place  of  their  burial,  and  the  populace  were 
disposed  to  regard  every  obscure  grave  as  the  burial-place  of  a 
martyr,  f 

§  31. — As  specimens  of  the  kind  of  invocations  addressed  to  the 
saints  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  century,  we  may  refer  to  the 
funeral  orations  of  the  eloquent  Gregory  Nazianzen  upon  the  mar- 
tyr Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage,  and  upon  his  own  father.  At  the 
close  of  the  former,  he  addresses  a  prayer  to  St.  Cyprian,  in  which 
he  implores  the  assistance  and  protection  of  the  glorified  martyr 
"  to  aid  him  in  the  government  of  his  flock."  In  the  latter  he  says, 
I  do  not  doubt  that  my  departed  father,  "  being  now  much  nearer 
to  God,  does  a  great  deal  more  for  his  flock  by  his  intercession  than 
he  did  on  earth  by  his  teaching."  The  celebrated  Roman  Catholic 
historian,  Dupin,  commenting  upon  this  oration,  which  was  de- 
livered about  A.  D.  381,  remarks  that,  "  the  church,  in  the  time  of 
St.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  believed  that  the  martyrs  and  saints  en- 
joyed already  eternal  happiness  and  the  vision  of  God  ;  that  they 
took  care  of  men  upon  earth  ;  that  they  interceded  for  them,  and 
that  it  was  very  profitable  to  pray  to  them  for  the  obtaining  of 
spiritual  and  temporal  favors."J 

*  See  Gieseler,  vol.  i.,  p.  283,  with  citations  of  ancient  authorities. 

f  Sulpicius  Severus,  de  vita  Martini.,  cap.  xi. 

j  Duph/s  lives  and  writings  of  the  primitive  fathers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  167. 


08  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ii. 

Epiphnnius  in  the  fourth  century  opposes  images  in  the  churches  as  contrary  to  Scripture. 

It  should  be  observed,  however,  that  in  that  age  this  idolatrous 
custom  of  the  Romish  church  was  but  in  its  incipient  state.  There 
is  a  vast  difference  between  the  impassioned  addresses  of  orators 
and  poets  to  the  spirits  of  the  departed  martyrs  in  the  age  of 
Gregory  and  Basil,  and  the  regular  liturgical  prayers  to  the  saints 
incorporated  into  the  set  forms  of  devotion  in  a  later  generation, 
and  perpetuated  in  their  worst  forms  of  idolatry  and  creature  wor- 
ship, down  to  the  present  time. 

§  32. — It  is  to  be  remembered  too,  that  as  yet  the  anti-Christian 
abomination  of  the  worship  of  images  had  not  yet  arisen.  "  In  the 
fourth  century,"  says  Gieseler,  "  the  worship  of  images  was  still 
abominated  as  a  heathen  practice."  A  proof  of  this  is  furnished  by 
a  singular  letter  of  Epiphanius  to  John  of  Jerusalem,  written  near 
the  close  of  the  century  in  which  he  writes  as  follows :  "  Having 
entered  into  a  church  in  a  village  of  Palestine,  named  Anablatha,  I 
found  there  a  veil  which  was  suspended  at  the  door,  and  painted  with 
a  representation,  whether  of  Jesus  Christ  or  of  some  saint,  for  I  do  not 
recollect  whose  image  it  was,  but  seeing  that  in  opposition  to  the 
authority  of  Scripture,  there  was  a  human  image  in  the  church  of 
Jesus  Christ,  I  tore  it  in  pieces,  and  gave  order  to  those  who  had 
care  of  that  church,  to  bury  the  corpse  with  the  veil.  And  as  they 
grumbled  out  some  answer,  that  '  since  he  has  chosen  to  tear  the 
veil,  he  might  as  well  find  another,'  I  promised  them  one,  and  I 
now  discharge  that  promise." 

From  this  letter  we  learn,  not  only  that  the  worship,  but  the  use 
of  images  in  the  churches  was  altogether  condemned  at  this  time. 
As  the  account  given  by  Mosheim,  of  the  progress  of  this  and  kindred 
degrading  superstitions,  from  the  age  of  the  Nicene  fathers,  to  the 
establishment  of  the  papal  supremacy,  is  so  graphic,  and  so  true,  I 
shall  present  the  reader  with  a  condensation  of  his  remarks.  An 
enormous  train  of  different  superstitions,  says  he,  were  gradually 
substituted  in  the  place  of  true  religion  and  genuine  piety.  This 
odious  revolution  was  owing  to  a  variety  of  causes.  A  ridiculous 
precipitation  in  receiving  new  opinions,  a  preposterous  desire  of 
imitating  the  pagan  rites,  and  of  blending  them  with  the  Christian 
worship,  and  that  idle  propensity  which  the  generality  of  man- 
kind have  toward  a  gaudy  and  ostentatious  religion,  all  contributed 
to  establish  the  reign  of  superstition  upon  the  ruins  of  Christianity. 
Accordingly,  frequent  pilgrimages  were  undertaken  to  Palestine, 
and  to  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  as  if  there  alone  the  sacred  princi- 
ples of  virtue,  and  the  certain  hope  of  salvation,  were  to  be  acquired. 
The  reins  being  once  let  loose  to  superstition,  which  knows  no 
bounds,  absurd  notions  and  idle  ceremonies  multiplied  every  day. 
Quantities  of  dust  and  earth  brought  from  Palestine,  and  other  places 
remarkable  for  their  supposed  sanctity,  wen1  handed  about  as  the 
most  powerful  remedies  against  the  violence  of  wicked  spirits,  and 
were  sold  and  bought  at  enormous  prices. 

§33. — The  public  processions  and  supplications,  by  which  the  pa- 
gans endeavored  to  appease  their  gods,  were  now  adopted  into  the 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTIL— A.  D.  606.  99 

Shameful  impositions  and  lying  Wonders.  Forged  relics  and  miracles. 

Christian  worship,  and  celebrated  with  great  pomp  and  magnificence 
in  several  places.  The  virtues  that  had  Formerly  been  ascribed  to  the 
heathen  temples,  to  their  lustrations,  to  the  statues  ol"  their  gods  and 
heroes,  were  now  attributed  to  Christian  churches,  to  holy  water, 
consecrated  by  certain  forms  of  prayer,  and  to  the  images  of  holy 
men.  And  the  same  privileges  that  the  former  enjoyed  under  the 
darkness  of  Paganism,  were  conferred  upon  the  latter  under  the 
light  of  the  gospel,  or  rather  under  that  cloud  of  superstition  that 
was  obscuring  its  glory.  It  is  true  that  as  yet  images  were  not 
very  common  ;  nor  were  there  any  statues  at  all.  But  it  is  at  the 
same  time  as  undoubtedly  certain,  as  it  is  extravagant  and  mon- 
strous, that  the  worship  of  the  martyrs  was  modelled,  by  degrees, 
according  to  the  religious  services  that  were  paid  to  the  gods  before 
the  coming  of  Christ. 

§  34. — Among  other  unhappy  effects,  these  superstitious  notions 
opened  a  wide  door  to  the  endless  frauds  of  those  odious  impostors, 
who  were  so  far  destitute  of  all  principle,  as  to  enrich  themselves  bv 
the  ignorance  and  errors  of  the  people.  Rumors  were  artfully  spread 
abroad  of  prodigies  and  miracles  to  be  seen  in  certain  places,  a  trick 
often  practised  by  the  heathen  priests,  and  the  design  of  these 
reports  was  to  draw  the  populace,  in  multitudes,  to  these  places, 
and  to  impose  upon  their  credulity.  These  stratagems  were  gene- 
rally successful ;  for  the  ignorance  and  slowness  of  apprehension  of 
the  people,  to  whom  everything  that  is  new  and  singular  appears 
miraculous,  rendered  them  easily  the  dupes  of  this  abominable  arti- 
fice. Nor  was  this  all ;  certain  tombs  were  falsely  given  out  for 
the  sepulchres  of  saints  and  confessors  ;  the  list  of  these  saints  was 
augmented  with  fictitious  names,  and  even  robbers  were  converted 
into  martyrs.  Some  buried  the  bones  of  dead  men  in  certain  retired 
places,  and  then  affirmed  that  they  were  divinely  admonished  by  a 
dream,  that  the  body  of  some  friend  of  God  lay  there.  Many, 
especially  of  the  monks,  travelled  through  the  different  provinces  ; 
and  not  only  sold,  with  the  most  frontless  impudence,  their  fictitious 
relics,  but  also  deceived  the  eyes  of  the  multitude  with  ludicrous 
combats  with  evil  spirits  or  genii. 

These  shameful  impostures  and  frauds  have  indeed  been  char- 
acteristic of  Popery  in  all  ages.  One  feature  in  the  inspired  descrip- 
tion of  the  man  of  sin,  is  that  his  coming  should  be  with  "  signs  and 
lying  wonders,  and  all  deceivableness  of  unrighteousness  "  (2  Thess., 
ii.,  9,  10),  and  all  history  shows  the  fidelity  of  the  picture.  The 
popish  writers  themselves  are  forced  to  allow,  that  many  both  of 
their  relics  and  their  miracles  have  been  forged  by  the  craft  of 
priests,  for  the  sake  of  money  and  lucre.  Durantus,  a  zealous 
defender  of  all  their  ceremonies,  gives  several  instances  of  the 
former  ;  particularly  of  the  bones  of  a.  common  thief,  which  had  for 
some  time  been  honored  with  an  altar,  and  worshipped  under  the 
title  of  a  saint.*     And  for  the  latter,  Lyra,  in  his  comment  on  Bel 

*  S.  Martinus  Altare,  quod  in  honorem  Martyrio  exstructum  fuerat  cum  ossa  et 
reliquias  cujusdam  latronis  esse  deprehendisset,  submoveri  jussit.  (Durant,  de 
Ritib.,  1.  i.,  c.  25.) 


100  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 

Dr.  Middleton's  account  of  fictitious  saints.  Saint  Mount-Oracte. 

and  the  Dragon,  observes  that  sometimes  also  in  the  church,  very 
gnat  cheats  arc  put  upon  the  people,  by  l'ulsu  miracles,  contrived, 
or  countenanced  at  least,  by  their  priests,  for  some  gain  and  tempo- 
ral advantage.*  And  what  their  own  authors  confess  of  some  of 
their  miracles,  we  may  venture,  without  any  breach  of  charity,  to 
believe  of  them  all ;  nay,  we  cannot  indeed  believe  anything  else 
without  impiety,  and  without  supposing  God  to  concur  in  an  extra- 
ordinary manner,  to  the  establishment  of  fraud,  error,  and  supersti- 
tion in  the  world. 

§  35. — Several  ludicrous,  but  well  authenticated  instances  of  these 
fictitious  saints  are  mentioned  by  the  learned  Dr.  Conyers  Middleton, 
in  his  letters  from  Rome.  In  one  of  these  cases  a  mountain  has 
been  converted  into  a  saint,  by  the  corruption  of  the  name  of  mount 
Soracte,  near  Rome,  into  S.  Oracte,  then  S.  Oreste,  or  Saint 
Oreste.  This  is  mentioned  also  by  Addison,f  who  adds  that  a 
monastery  has  been  founded  in  honor  of  this  imaginary  saint.  This 
mistake  is  the  less  to  be  wondered  at,  because  the  Italians  usually 
write  the  title  of  saint  with  the  single  letter  S.  (as  S.  Gregory),  and 
thus  in  ages  of  darkness  and  ignorance,  it  was  easy  to  transform 
mount  Soracte,  into  Saint  Orestes.  Thus  this  holy  mountain  stands 
now  under  the  protection  of  a  patron,  whose  being  and  power  is 
just  as  imaginary  as  that  of  the  old  guardian  Apollo. 

Sancti  custos  Soractis  Apollo — Vir.  Mn.  9. 

No  suspicion  of  this  kind  will  appear  extravagant  to  those  who 
are  at  all  acquainted  with  the  history  of  Popery,  which  abounds 
with  instances  of  the  grossest  forgeries,  both  of  saints  and  relics, 
which,  to  the  scandal  of  many  even  among  themselves,  have  been 
imposed  for  genuine  on  the  poorngnorant  people.  Even  the  learned 
Mabillon,  himself  a  Roman  Catholic  writer,  speaks  of  some  who 
promulgated  the  feigned  histories  of  new  found  saints,  and  who  even 
sometimes  published  the  inscriptions  of  pagans  for  Christians.^  In 
the  earlier  ages  of  Christianity,  the  Christians  often  made  free  with 
the  sepulchral  stones  of  heathen  monuments,  which  being  ready  cut 
to  their  hands,  they  converted  to  their  own  use  ;  and  turning  down- 
wards the  side  on  which  the  old  epitaph  was  engraved,  used  eitRer 
to  inscribe  a  new  one  on  the  other  side,  or  leave  it  perhaps  without 
any  inscription  at  all,  as  they  are  often  found  in  the  catacombs  of 
Rome.  Now,  this  one  custom  has  frequently  been  the  occasion  of 
ascribing  martyrdom  and  saintship  to  persons  and  names  of  mere 
pagans. 

*  Aliquando  fit  in  Ecclesia  maxima  deceptio  populi  in  miraculis  fictis  a  sacer- 
dotibus,  vel  eis  adhaerentibus  propter  lucrum  temporale,  &c.  (I\'ic.  Lyr.  in 
Dan.  c.  14.) 

\  Travels  from  Pesaro,  &c,  to  Rome. 

I  *  *  qui  sanctorum  recens  absque  certis  nominibus  inventorum  fictas  historias 
comminiscuntur  ad  confusionem  verarum  historiarum  imo  et  qui  paganorum 
inscriptiones  aliquando  pro  Christianis  vulgant,  &c.  (Mabill.  Iter.  Ital., 
page  225.) 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  101 


More  fictitious  saints.  Saint  Julia  Evodia,  Saint  Viar.  Saint  cloak- Am  phi  bolus. 

§  30. — Mabillon  gives  a  remarkable  instance  of  it  in  an  old  stone, 
found  on  the  grave  of  a  Christian  with  this  inscription  : 

D.  M. 

IVLIA  EVODIA 

FILIA  FECIT. 

MATRI. 

And  because  in  the  same  grave  there  was  found  likewise  a  glass 
vial,  or  lacrymatory  vessel,  tinged  with  a  reddish  color,  which  they 
called  blood,  they  regarded  this  circumstance  as  a  certain  proof  of 
martyrdom,  and  Julia  Evodia,  though  undoubtedly  a  heathen,  was 
presently  adopted  both  for  saint  and  martyr,  on  the  authority  of  an 
inscription  that  appears  evidently  to  have  been  one  of  those  above- 
mentioned,  and  borrowed  from  a  heathen  sepulchre.  But  whatever 
the  party  there  buried  might  have  been,  whether  heathen  or  Chris- 
tian :  it  is  certain  that  it  could  not  be  Evodia  herself,  but  her  mother 
only,  as  the  meaning  of  the  Latin  inscription  is,  that  the  daughter 
Julia  Evodia  raised  this  stone  to  her  mother. 

The  same  author  mentions  some  original  papers  which  he  found 
in  the  Barbarine  library,  giving  a  pleasant  account  of  a  negotiation 
between  the  Spaniards  and  pope  Urban  VIII.,  in  relation  to  a  cer- 
tain Saint  Viar.  The  Spaniards,  it  seems,  have  a  saint,  held  in 
great  reverence  in  some  parts  of  Spain,  called  Viar  ;  for  the  farther 
encouragement  of  whose  worship  they  solicited  the  pope  to  grant 
some  special  indulgences  to  his  altars ;  and  upon  the  Pope's  desir- 
ing to  be  better  acquainted  first  with  his  character,  and  the  proofs 
which  they  had  of  his  saintship,  they  produced  a  stone  with  these 
antique  letters,  S.  VIAR,  which  the  antiquaries  readily  saw  to  be  a 
fragment  of  some  Roman  inscription,  in  memory  of  one  who  had 
been  PrcefectuS  VIARum,  or  overseer  over  all  the  highways. 

But  we  have  in  England  an  instance  still  more  ridiculous,  of  a 
fictitious  saintship,  in  the  case  of  a  certain  saint  called  Amphibolus  ; 
who,  according  to  our  monkish  historians,  was  bishop  of  the  Isle  of 
Man,  and  fell  martyr  and  disciple  of  Saint  Alban.  Yet  the  learned 
archbishop  Usher*  has  given  us  good  reasons  to  convince  us  that 
he  owes  the  honor  of  his  saintship  to  a  mistaken  passage  in  the  old 
acts  or  legends  of  St. „ Alban,  where  the  A?nphibolus  mentioned, 
and  since  reverenced  as  a  saint  and  martyr,  was  nothing  more  than 
the  cloak  which  Alban  happened  to  have  at  the  time  of  his  execution  ; 
being  a  word  derived  from  the  Greek,  and  signifying  a  rough,  shag- 
gy cloak,  such  as  was  worn  by  the  monks  in  that  age.  Thus  we 
see  that  Romanists  can  boast  not  only  of  a  Saint  Mount  Oracte,  but 
also  of  a  Saint  Cloak  Amphibolus.  But  this  is  not  the  climax  of 
Rome's  worse  than  pagan  idolatry.  They  have  not  only  a  Saint 
Cloak,  but  also  a  Saint  Handkerchief,  to  which  they  actually  ad- 
dress prayers. 

They  pretend  to  show  at  Rome,  says  Dr.  Middleton,  two  original 

*  Usser.  de  Britan.  Eccles.  primord.,  c.  14,  p.  539. 


102  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 


Saint  true-image  Veronica.  Blnsphemous  prayer  to  the  holy  handkerchief 

impressions  of  our  Saviour's  face,  on  two  different  handkerchiefs ;  the 
one,  sent  a  present  by  himself  to  Agbarus,  prince  of  Edessa,  who 
by  letter  had  desired  a  picture  of  him  ;  the  other  given  by  him  at 
the  time  of  his  execution  to  a  saint  or  holy  woman,  Veronica,  upon 
a  handkerchief,  which  she  had  lent  him  to  wipe  his  face  on  that 
occasion  ;  both  which  handkerchiefs  are  preserved,  as  they  affirm, 
and  now  kept  with  the  utmost  reverence  ;  the  first  in  St.  Sylves- 
ter's church,  the  second  in  St.  Peter's,  where  in  honor  of  this  sacred 
relic,  there  is  a  fine  altar  built  by  pope  Urban  VIII.,  with  the  statue 
of  Veronica  herself,  with  the  following  inscription  : 

SALVATORIS  IMAGINEM  VERONICjE 

SVDARIO  EXCEPTAM 

VT  LOCI  MAIESTAS  DECENTER 

CVSTODIRET  URBANVS  VIII. 

PONT.   MAX. 

MARMORLVM  SIGNVM 

ET  ALTARE  ADDIDIT  CONDITORIVM 

EXTRVXIT  ET  ORNAVIT. 

But  notwithstanding  the  authority  of  pope  Urban,  and  his  inscrip- 
tion, this  veronica  (as  Mabillon,  one  of  their  own  best  authors, 
has  showrn),  like  Amphibolus,  before-mentioned,  was  not  any  real 
person,  but  the  name  given  to  the  picture  itself  by  old  writers,  who 
mention  it ;  being  formed  by  blundering  and  confounding  the  words 
vera  icon,  Latin  for  true  image,  the  title  inscribed  perhaps,  or 
given  originally  to  the  handkerchief  by  the  first  contrivers  of  the 
imposture. 

It  is  related  by  Bower,  upon  the  authority  of  Mabillon,  that  pope 
Innocent  III.  composed  a  prayer  in  honor  of  this  image,  and 
granted  a  ten  days'  indulgence  to  all  who  should  visit  it,  and  that 
pope  John  XXII.,  more  generous  than  Innocent,  vouchsafed  no  less 
than  ten  thousand  days'  indulgence  to  every  repetition  of  the  fol- 
lowing blasphemous  prayer  :  "  Hail,  holy  face  of  our  Redeemer, 

PRINTED  UPON  A  CLOTH  AS  WHITE  AS  SNOW  ;  PURGE  US  FROM  ALL  SPOT 
OF  VICE,  AND  JOIN  US  TO  THE  COMPANY  OF  THE  BLESSED.  BfilNG  US  TO 
OUR    COUNTRY,  O    HAPPY    FIGURE,  THERE    to  see  THE  PURE    face 

of  Christ."* 

Is  it  possible  for  impious  idolatry  to  go  beyond  this  ?  and  yet  this 
prayer  to  the  holy  handkerchief,  says  Middleton,  is  inserted  in  the 
popish  book  of  offices,  and  ordered  by  the  rubric  to  be  addressed  to 
it,  and  this  absurd  legend,  and  others  like  it,  fabulous  and  childish 
as  they  appear  to  men  of  sense,  are  urged  by  grave  authors  in 
defence  of  their  image  worship,  as  certain  proofs  of  its  divine  origin, 
and  sufficient  to  confound  all  the  impious  opposers  of  it.t 

§  87. — To  return  to  the  origin  of  these  lying  wonders,  Mosheim  re- 
marks (vol.  i.,  p.  371),  that  "  the  interests  of  virtue  and  true  religion 

*  Bower's  Lives  of  the  Popes.     In  vita  Innoc.  III. 

f  Aring.  Rom.  subt.  Tom.  ii.,  lib.  v.,  c.  iv.  Conformity  of  Ancient  and  Modern 
Ceremonies,  page  158,  referred  to  by  Middleton,  ul  supra. 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  105 


Pious  frauds  and  persecution  declared  lawful.  Praying  at  the  sepulchres  of  saints. 

suffered  grievously  by  two  monstrous  errors  which  were  almost 
universally  adopted  in  the  fourth  century,  and  became  a  source  of 
innumerable  calamities  and  mischiefs  in  the  succeeding  ages.  The 
first  of  these  maxims  was,  that  it  was  an  act  of  virtue  to  deceive  and 
lie,  when  by  that  means  the  interests  of  the  church  might  be  promoted; 
and  the  second  equally  horrible,  though  in  another  point  of  view, 
was  that  errors  in  religion,  when  maintained  and  adhered  to,  after 
proper  admonition,  were  punishable  with  civil  penalties  and  corporal 
tortures.  The  former  of  these  erroneous  maxims  was  now  of  a 
long  standing  ;  it  had  been  adopted  for  some  ages  past,  and  had 
produced  an  incredible  number  of  ridiculous  fables,  fictitious  prodi- 
gies, and  pious  frauds,  to  the  unspeakable  detriment  of  that  glorious 
cause  in  which  they  were  employed.  The  other  maxim,  relating  to 
the  justice  and  expediency  of  punishing  error,  was  introduced  with 
those  serene  and  peaceful  times  which  the  accession  of  Constantine 
to  the  imperial  throne  procured  to  the  church.  It  was  from  that 
period  approved  by  many,  enforced  by  several  examples  during  the 
contests  that  arose  with  the  priscillianists  and  donatists,  confirmed 
and  established  by  the  authority  of  Augustine,  and  thus  transmitted 
to  the  following  ages." 

§  38. — In  relation  to  the  fifth  century,  the  same  historian  remarks  : 
If  before  this  time,  the  lustre  of  religion  was  clouded  with  super- 
stition, and  its  divine  precepts  adulterated  with  a  mixture  of  human 
inventions,  this  evil,  instead  of  diminishing,  increased  daily.  The 
happy  souls  of  departed  Christians  were  invoked  by  numbers,  and 
their  aid  implored  by  assiduous  and  fervent  prayers  ;  while  none 
stood  up  to  censure  or  oppose  this  preposterous  worship.  The 
question,  how  the  prayers  of  mortals  ascended  to  the  celestial 
spirits,  a  question  which  afterward  produced  much  wrangling  and 
many  idle  fancies,  did  not  as  yet  occasion  any  difficulty.  For  the 
Christians  of  this  century  did  not  imagine  that  the  souls  of  the 
saints  were  so  entirely  confined  to  the  celestial  mansions,  as  to  be 
deprived  of  the  privilege  of  visiting  mortals,  and  travelling,  when 
they  pleased,  through  various  countries.  They  were  further  of 
opinion,  that  the  places  most  frequented  by  departed  spirits  were 
those  where  the  bodies  they  had  formerly  animated  were  interred  ; 
and  this  opinion,  which  the  Christians  borrowed  from  the  Greeks 
and  Romans,  rendered  the  sepulchres  of  the  saints  the  general  ren- 
dezvous of  suppliant  multitudes.     (See  Engraving.) 

A  singular  and  irresistible  efficacy  was  also  attributed  to  the 
bones  of  martyrs,  and  to  the  figure  of  the  cross,  in  defeating  the 
attempts  of  Satan,  removing  all  sorts  of  calamities,  and  in  healing 
not  only  the  diseases  of  the  body,  but  also  those  of  the  mind.  We 
shall  not  enter  here  into  a  particular  account  of  the  public  suppli- 
cations, the  holy  pilgrimages,  the  superstitious  services  paid  to  de- 
parted souls,  the  multiplication  of  temples,  altars,  penitential  gar- 
ments, and  a  multitude  of  other  circumstances,  that  showed  the  de- 
cline of  genuine  piety,  and  the  corrupt  darkness  that  was  eclipsing 


10G  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ii. 


Increasing  corruptions  in  the  sixth  century.  Superstition  of  Gregory  the  Great 

the  lustre  of  primitive  Christianity.  As  there  were  none  in  these 
times  to  hinder  the  Christians  from  retaining  the  opinions  of  their 
pagan  ancestors  concerning  departed  souls,  heroes,  demons,  tem- 
ples, and  such  like  matters,  and  even  transferring  them  into  their 
religious  services  ;  and  as,  instead  of  entirely  abolishing  the  rites 
and  institutions  of  ancient  times,  these  institutions  were  still  ob- 
served with  only  some  slight  alterations ;  all  this  swelled  of  ne- 
cessity the  torrent  of  superstition,  and  deformed  the  beauty  of  the 
Christian  religion  and  worship  with  those  corrupt  remains  of  Pa- 
ganism, which  still  subsist  in  the  Romish  church. 

§  39. — In  the  sixth  century,  the  public  teachers  seemed  to  aim  at 
nothing  else  than  to  sink  the  multitude  into  the  most  opprobrious  ignor- 
ance and  superstition,  to  efface  in  their  minds  all  sense  of  the  beauty 
and  excellence  of  genuine  piety,  and  to  substitute,  in  the  place  of  re- 
ligious principles,  a  blind  veneration  for  the  clergy,  and  a  stupid 
zeal  for  a  senseless  round  of  ridiculous  rites  and  ceremonies.  This, 
perhaps,  will  appear  less  surprising,  when  we  consider  that  the 
blind  led  the  blind;  for  the  public  ministers  and  teachers  of  religion 
were  for  the  most  part  grossly  ignorant ;  nay,  almost  as  much  so 
as  the  multitude  whom  they  were  appointed  to  instruct.  To  be 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  dismal  representation  we  have  here 
given  of  the  state  of  religion  at  this  time,  nothing  more  is  necessary 
than  to  cast  an  eye  upon  the  doctrines  now  taught  concerning  the 
worship  of  images  and  saints,  the  fire  of  purgatory,  the  efficacy  of 
good  works ;  i.  e.,  the  observance  of  human  rites  and  institutions, 
toward  the  attainment  of  salvation,  the  power  of  relics  to  heal  the 
diseases  of  body  and  mind;  and  such  like  sordid  and  miserable 
fancies,  which  are  inculcated  in  many  of  the  superstitious  produc- 
tions of  this  century,  and  particularly  in  the  epistles  and  other 
writings  of  Gregory  the  Great.  Nothing  more  ridiculous  on  the 
one  hand,  than  the  solemnity  and  liberality  with  which  this  super- 
stitious pontiff  distributed  the  wonderworking  relics  ;  and  nothing 
more  lamentable  on  the  other,  than  the  stupid  eagerness  and  devo- 
tion with  which  the  deluded  multitude  received  them,  and  suffered 
themselves  to  be  persuaded,  that  a  portion  of  stinking  oil,  taken 
from  the  lamps  which  burned  at  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  or  the 
filings  of  a  chain  supposed  to  have  been  worn  by  a  saint,  had  a 
supernatural  efficacy  to  sanctify  their  possessors,  and  to  defend 
them  from  all  dangers  both  of  a  temporal  and  spiritual  nature. 

There  was  an  incredible  number  of  temples  erected  in  honor  of 
the  saints,  during  the  sixth  century,  both  in  the  eastern  and  western 
provinces.  The  places  set  apart  for  public  worship  were  already 
very  numerous ;  but  it  was  now  that  Christians  first  began  to  con- 
sider these  sacred  edifices,  as  the  means  of  purchasing  the  favor 
and  protection  of  the  saints,  and  to  be  persuaded  that  these  de- 
parted spirits  defended  and  guarded,  against  evils  and  calamities  of 
every  kind,  the  provinces,  lands,  cities,  and  villages,  in  which  they 
were  honored  with  temples.     The  number  of  these  temples  was 


chap,   v.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  107 

The  Empress  writes  to  Gregory  for  a  portion  of  the  body  of  St.  Paul  His  singular  letter  in  reply. 

almost  equalled  by  that  of  the  festivals,  which  were  now  observed 
in  the  Christian  church,  and  many  of  which  seemed  to  have  been 
instituted  upon  a  pagan  model.* 

§  40. — In  order  to  show  that  the  charge  above  referred  to  in  re- 
lation to  Gregory's  superstitious  regard  to  relics  is  not  made  with- 
out sufficient  reason,  I  will  present  the  reader  with  a  translation  of 
an  epistle  which  he  wrote  to  the  empress  Constantina,  who  was 
building  a  church  at  Constantinople  in  honor  of  St.  Paul,  and  had 
written  to  Gregory  to  grant  her  either  the  head  or  some  other  part 
of  the  body  of  that  Apostle,  which  was  said  to  be  at  Rome,  for 
the  purpose  of  enshrining  it  in  the  church  when  completed.  After 
a  respectful  allusion  to  the  request  of  the  empress,  Gregory  pro- 
ceeds— "  Major  mcestitia  tenuit,  fyc.  Great  sadness  hath  possessed 
me,  because  you  have  enjoined  upon  me  those  things  which  I  neither 
can  or  dare  do  ;  for  the  bodies  of  the  holy  Apostles,  Peter  and 
Paul,  are  so  resplendent  with  miracles  and  terrific  prodigies  in  their 
own  churches,  that  no  one  can  approach  them  without  great  awe, 
even  for  the  purpose  of  adoring  them.  When  my  predecessor,  of 
happy  memory,  wished  to  change  some  silver  ornament  which  was 
placed  over  the  most  holy  body  of  St.  Peter,  though  at  the  distance 
of  almost  fifteen  feet,  a  warning  of  no  small  terror  appeared  to 
him.  Even  I  myself  wished  to  make  some  alteration  near  the  most 
holy  body  of  St.  Paul,  and  it  was  necessary  to  dig  rather  deeply 
near  his  tomb.  The  Superior  of  the  place  found  some  bones  which 
were  not  at  all  connected  with  that  tomb  ;  and,  having  presumed 
to  disturb  and  remove  them  to  some  other  place,  he  was  visited  by 
certain  fearful  apparitions,  and  died  suddenly.  My  predecessor,  of 
holy  memory,  also  undertook  to  make  some  repairs  near  the  tomb 
of  St.  Lawrence  :  as  they  were  digging,  without  knowing  pre- 
cisely where  the  venerable  body  was  placed,  they  happened  to 
open  his  sepulchre.  The  monks  and  guardians  who  were  at  the 
work,  only  because  they  had  seen  the  body  of  that  martyr,  though 
they  did  not  presume  so  much  as  to  touch  it,  all  died  within  ten 
days  ;  to  the  end  that  no  man  might  remain  in  life  who  had  beheld 
the  body  of  that  just  man. 

"  Be  it  then  known  to  you,  that  it  is  the  custom  of  the  Romans, 
when  they  give  any  relics,  not  to  venture  to  touch  any  portion  of 
the  body  ;  only  they  put  into  a  box  a  piece  of  linen  (called  bran- 
deum),  which  is  placed  near  the  holy  bodies  ;  then  it  is  withdrawn, 
and  shut  up  with  due  veneration  in  the  church  which  is  to  be  dedi- 
cated, and  as  many  prodigies  are  then  wrought  by  it  as  if  the  bodies 
themselves  had  been  carried  thither  ;  whence  it  happened,  that  in 
the  time  of  St.  Leo  (as  we  learn  from  our  ancestors),  when  some 
Greeks  doubted  the  virtue  of  such  relics,  that  Pope  called  for  a  pair 
of  scissors,  and  cut  the  linen,  and  blood  flowed  from  the  incision. 
And  not  at  Rome  only,  but  throughout  the  whole  of  the  West,  it  is 
held  sacrilegious  to  touch  the  bodies  of  the  saints,  nor  does  such 

*  See  Mosheim,  Centuries  iv.,  v.,  vi.,  passim. 


108  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 

Gregory  consents  to  send  the  Empress  some  holy  filings.  Promotes  pilgrimages,  purgatory,  &c. 

temerity  ever  remain  unpunished.  For  which  reason  we  are  much 
astonished  at  the  custom  of  the  Greeks  to  take  away  the  bones  of 
the  saints,  and  we  scarcely  gave  credit  to  it.  But  what  shall  I  say 
respecting  the  bodies  of  the  holy  Apostles,  when  it  is  a  known  fact, 
that  at  the  time  of  their  martyrdom,  a  number  of  the  faithful  came 
from  the  East  to  claim  them  ?  But  when  they  had  carried  them 
out  of  the  city,  to  the  second  milestone,  to  a  place  called  the  Cata- 
combs, the  whole  multitude  was  unable  to  move  them  farther, — 
such  a  tempest  of  thunder  and  lightning  terrified  and  dispersed 
them.  The  napkin,  too,  which  you  wished  to  be  sent  at  the  same 
time,  is  with  the  body  and  cannot  be  touched  more  than  the  body 
can  be  approached. 

"  But  that  your  religious  desire  may  not  be  wholly  frustrated,  I 
will  hasten  to  send  to  you  some  part  of  those  chains  which  St.  Paul 
wore  on  his  neck  and  hands,  if  indeed  I  shall  succeed  in  getting  off 
any  filings  from  them.  For  since  many  continually  solicit  as  a  bless- 
ing that  they  may  carry  off  from  those  chains  some  small  portion 
of  their  filings,  a  priest  stands  by  ivith  a  file  ;  and  sometimes  it  hap- 
pens that  some  portions  fall  off  from  the  chains  instantly,  and  with- 
out delay  ;  while,  at  other  times,  the  file  is  long  drawn  over  the 
chains,  and  yet  nothing  is  at  last  scraped  off  from  them."* 

§  41. — Besides  the  superstitious  and  idolatrous  reverence  of  Gre- 
gory for  relics,  he  labored  hard  in  exalting  the  merit  of  pil- 
grimages to  holy  places  ;  encouraged  the  use,  though  he  condemned 
the  worship,  of  images  in  the  churches  ;  introduced  a  more  impos- 
ing method  of  administering  the  communion,  with  a  magnificent 
assemblage  of  pompous  ceremonies,  which  institution  was  called 
the  Canon  of  the  mass,  and  which,  without  doubt,  tended  a  century 
or  two  later  to  the  conception  of  the  absurd  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation  ;  he  also  seriously  inculcated  a  belief  in  the  pagan  doctrine 
concerning  the  purification  of  departed  souls  by  a  certain  kind  of  fire, 
which  he  called  Purgatory,  and  which  doctrine,  as  Gieseler  asserts, 
was  first  suggested  by  Augustine,  the  bishop  of  Hippo,  towards 
the  close  of  the  fourth  century,  f  A  doctrine  this  which,  conjoined 
with  the  opinion  afterwards  invented  of  the  efficacy  of  masses  in 
delivering  tormented  souls  from  these  fires,  and  the  power  of  the 
Pope  to  grant  indulgences,  exempting  the  purchasers  from  a  portion 
or  from  the  whole  of  their  merited  period  of  suffering  in  them,  was 
the  origin  of  an  almost  inexhaustible  source  of  wealth  to  the  Pope 

*  The  original  of  this  letter  may  be  found  in  Gregory's  epistles,  Lib.  iv.,  epist. 
30.  The  larger  part  of  it  is  quoted  in  Latin  by  Gieseler,  vol.  i.,  p.  350,  note  5. 
It  is  worthy  of  remark  also,  that  Cardinal  Baronius,  the  great  Roman  Catholic 
annalist,  cites  this  reply  of  Gregory  to  the  Empress  with  considerable  admiration, 
as  though  he  really  believed  the  extravagant  stories  related  by  Gregory  of  the 
pretended  wonders  wrought  by  these  holy  bones.  Baronius  attributes  the  request 
of  the  Empress  to  ecclesiastical  ambition,  as  though  she  wished  to  elevate  the  See 
of  Constantinople  to  a  level  with  that  of  Rome,  by  obtaining  for  her  church  the 
head  of  so  great  an  apostle. 

f  See  Gieseler,  vol.  i.,  page  352.  note  14,  with  quotations  from  Augustine. 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  109 

With  few  exceptions,  Popery  at  its  birth  and  Popery  in  its  dotage,  identical. 

and  the  clergy,  extorted  from  the  credulity  and  the  fears  alike  of 
the  rich  and  the  poor  through  long  ages  of  superstition  and  night. 

§  42. — From  the  review  which  we  have  thus  taken  of  the  origin 
and  progress  of  these  various  corruptions  of  Christianity,  it  appears 
that,  with  the  exceptions  of  the  belief  in  transubstantiation,  the 
general  worship  of  images,  the  practice  of  auricular  confession, 
the  performance  of  worship  in  an  unknown  tongue,  and  a  few 
minor  particulars,  there  is  but  little  difference  between  the  cha- 
racteristic features  of  Popery  at  its  birth  in  the  seventh  century, 
and  Popery  in  its  dotage  in  the  nineteenth. 

It  is  true  that,  as  age  after  age  rolled  away,  as  old  corruptions 
were  strengthened  and  new  ones  added  to  the  list,  as  "  the  man  of 
sin,"  in  the  course  of  a  few  centuries,  trampled  upon  the  thrones  of 
monarchs,  unsheathed  the  sword  of  persecution  against  the  suffer- 
ing martyrs  of  Jesus,  and  reeled  onward  in  the  career  of  ages, 
"  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints,"  the  title  of  anti-Christ  be- 
came more  deeply  branded  on  his  shameless  front : — and  yet  it  is 
equally  true  that  Popery,  at  its  birth  in  606,  was  characterized  by 
every  one  of  the  predicted  marks  of  the  great  Apostasy,  as  truly 
as  it  bears  those  marks  at  the  present  day. 

Then,  as  now,  the  apostate  church  of  Rome  had  departed  from 
the  faith,  "  giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits  and  doctrines  of  devils  ; 
speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy,  having  their  conscience  seared  with  a 
hot  iron  ;  forbidding  to  marry,  and  commanding  to  abstain  from 
meats."  (1  Tim.  iv.,  1,  2.)  Then,  as  now,  that  "man  of  sin"  was 
revealed,  even  "  the  son  of  perdition,  who  opposeth  and  exalteth 
himself  above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  worshipped  ;  so  that 
he,  as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he 
is  God ;"  and  his  "  coming  was  after  the  working  of  Satan,  with 
all  power,  and  signs  and  lying  wonders."  (2  Thess.  ii.,  3,  4,  9,  10.) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

STRIKING  RESEMBLANCE  BETWEEN  PAGAN  AND  PAPAL  CEREMONIES. 

THE  LATTER  DERIVED  FROM  THE  FORMER. 

§  43. — In  tracing  the  origin  of  the  corrupt  doctrines  and  practices 
of  the  Romish  church,  we  have  had  frequent  occasion,  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapters,  to  allude  to  the  fact,  that  most  of  its  anti-scriptural 
rites  and  ceremonies  were  adopted  from  the  pagan  worship  of 
Greece,  Rome,  and  other  heathen  nations.  The  scholar,  familiar  as 
he  is  with  the  classic  descriptions  of  ancient  mythology,  when  he 
directs  his  attention  to  the  ceremonies  of  papal  worship,  cannot  avoid 


110  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ii. 

Popish  and  pagan  ceremonies.  1  heir  close  and  striking  resemblance. 

recognizing  their  close  resemblance,  if  not  their  absolute  identity.  The 
temples  of  Jupiter,  I  >iana,Venus,or  Apollo,  their  "  altars  smoking  with 
incense  "  ("  thure  calent  Arae"  Virgil.),  their  boys  in  sacred  habits, 
holding  the  incense  box,  and  attending  upon  the  priests  ("Da  mihi 
Tlnira,  Puer"  Ovid.),  their  holy  water  at  the  entrance  of  the  temples 
('•  Spar  gens  rore  levi"  Virgil.),  with  their  aspergilla  or  sprinkling 
brushes,  their  thuribula,  or  vessels  of  incense,  their  ever-burning 
lamps  before  the  statues  of  their  deities  ("  vigilemque  sacraverat 
ignem."  Virgil.),  are  irresistibly  brought  before  his  mind,  whenever 
he  visits  a  Roman  Catholic  place  of  worship,  and  witnesses  pre- 
cisely the  same  things. 

If  a  Roman  scholar  of  the  age  of  the  Caesars,  who,  previous  to  his 
death,  had  formed  some  acquaintance  with  the  religion  of  the 
despised  Nazarenes,  had  in  the  seventh  or  eighth  century  arisen 
from  his  grave  in  the  Campus  Martius,  and  wandered  into  the  spa- 
cious church  of  Constantino  at  Rome,  which  then  stood  on  the  spot 
now  occupied  by  Saint  Peter's,  if  he  had  there  witnessed  these 
institutions  of  Paganism,  which  were  then  and  ever  since  have  been 
incorporated  with  the  worship  of  Rome,  would  he  not  have  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  he  had  found  his  way  into  some  temple  dedi- 
cated to  Diana,  Venus,  or  Apollo,  rather  than  into  a  Christian  place 
of  worship,  where  the  successors  of  Peter  the  fisherman,  or  Paul  the 
tentmaker,  had  met  for  the  worship  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ?  It  is 
impossible  to  conceive  of  a  greater  contrast  than  that  which  is  pre- 
sented between  the  plain  and  simple  rites  of  primitive  apostolic 
Christian  worship  in  the  first  century,  and  the  pompous  and  impos- 
ing spectacle  of  papal  worship,  performed  in  some  stately  cathedral, 
adorned  with  its  altars,  pictures,  images,  and  burning  wax-lights, 
with  all  the  array  of  holy  water,  smoking  incense,  tinkling  bells, 
and  priests  and  boys  arrayed  in  gaudy  colored  vestments,  as  they 
were  seen  in  the  time  of  pope  Boniface,  of  the  seventh  century,  and 
as  they  are  still  seen,  with  but  little  change,  after  the  lapse  of  twelve 
hundred  years. 

§  44. — The  practice  of  thus  accommodating  the  forms  of  Chris- 
tian worship  to  the  prejudices  of  the  heathen  nations,  was  introduced 
in  various  places  long  before  the  establishment  of  Popery  in  GOO  ; 
though,  of  course,  as  there  was  then  no  acknowledged  earthly 
sovereign  and  head  of  the  church,  the  observance  of  these  heathen 
rites  was  not  regarded  as  obligatory  upon  all,  till  enjoined  by  the 
newly  established  pupal  authority,  in  the  seventh  century.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  this  policy,  in  its  ineipient  stage,  commenced  by  a  mis- 
taken, but  well-intended  desire  of  some  good  men,  like  the  apostle 
Paul,  to  "  become  all  things  to  all  men,"  that  they  might  "  by  all 
means  save  some."  Yet  this  apology  can  by  no  means  be  admitted 
as  an  excuse  for  the  almost  entire  subversion  of  Christianity  in  the 
Romish  communion,  by  the  adoption  of  these  heathen  rites,  ceremo- 
nies, and  superstitions.  The  ancient  heathen  nations  had  always 
been  accustomed  to  a  variety  of  imposing  ceremonies  in  their  reli- 
gious services,  hence  they  looked  with  contempt  upon  the  simplicity 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  1 1 1 

Reasons  for  the  admission  of  pagan  ceremonies  dictated  by  worldly  policy. 

of  Christian  worship,  destitute  as  it  was  of  these  pompous  and  mag- 
nificent rites,  and  it  was  a  step  pregnant  with  disaster  to  the  cause 
of  genuine  Christianity,  when,  as  early  as  the  third  century  some 
advocated  the  necessity  of  admitting  a  portion  of  the  ancient  cere- 
monies to  which  the  people  had  been  accustomed,  for  the  purpose 
of  rendering  Christian  worship  more  striking  and  captivating  to  the 
outward  senses. 

•  As  a  proof  that  Christianity  began  thus  early  to  be  corrupted,  it 
is  related  in  the  life  of  Gregory,  bishop  of  New  Cesarea,  surnamed 
Thaumaturgus,  or  wonder-worker,  that  when  he  perceived  that 
the  ignorant  multitude  persisted  in  their  idolatry,  on  account  of  the 
pleasures  and  sensual  gratifications  which  they  enjoyed  at  the 
pagan  festivals,  he  granted  them  a  permission  to  indulge  themselves 
in  the  like  pleasures,  in  celebrating  the  memory  of  the  holy  martyrs, 
hoping,  that,  in  process  of  time,  they  would  return,  of  their  own 
accord,  to  a  more  virtuous  and  regular  course  of  life." 

"  This  addition  of  external  rites,"  says  Mosheim,  "  was  also  de- 
signed to  remove  the  opprobrious  calumnies  which  the  Jewish  and 
pagan  priests  cast  upon  the  Christians,  on  account  of  the  simplicity 
of  their  worship,  esteeming  them  little  better  than  atheists,  because 
they  had  no  temples,  altars,  victims,  priests,  nor  anything  of  that 
external  pomp  in  which  the  vulgar  are  so  prone  to  place  the  essence 
of  religion.  The  rulers  of  the  church  adopted,  therefore,  certain 
external  ceremonies,  that  thus  they  might  captivate  the  senses  of 
the  vulgar,  and  be  able  to  refute  the  reproaches  of  their  adversaries, 
thus  obscuring  the  native  lustre  of  the  gospel,  in  order  to  extend  its 
influence,  and  making  it  lose,  in  point  of  real  excellence,  what  it 
gained  in  point  of  popular  esteem."* 

§  45. — After  the  conversion  of  Constantine  in  the  fourth  century, 
when  Christianity  was  taken  under  the  protection  of  the  state,  this 
sinful  conformity  to  the  practices  of  Paganism  increased  to  such  a 
degree,  that  the  beauty  and  simplicity  of  Christian  worship  were 
almost  entirely  obscured,  and  by  the  time  these  corruptions  were 
ripe  for  the  establishment  of  the  Popedom,  Christianity — the  Chris- 
tianity of  the  state — to  judge  from  the  institutions  of  its  public 
worship — seemed  but  little  else  than  a  system  of  Christianized 
Paganism. 

Here  we  may  apply  that  well  known  saying  of  Augustine, 
that  the  yoke  under  which  the  Jews  formerly  groaned,  was  more 
tolerable  than  that  imposed  upon  many  Christians  in  his  time.  The 
rites  and  institutions,  by  which  the  Greeks,  Romans,  and  other  na- 
tions, had  formerly  testified  their  religious  veneration  for  fictitious 
deities,  were  now  adopted,  with  some  slight  alterations,  by  Chris- 
tian bishops,  and  employed  in  the  service  of  the  true  God.  We 
have  already  mentioned  the  reasons  alleged  for  this  imitation,  so 
proper  to  disgust  all  who  have  a  just  sense  of  the  native  beauty  of 
genuine  Christianity.     These  fervent  heralds  of  the  gospel,  whose 

*  Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  i.,  page  197, 


112  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ii. 

Waddington  quoted.  Christianity  paganized.  Dr.  Conyers  Middleton's  visit  to  Rome. 

zeal  outran  their  candor  and  ingenuity,  imagined  that  the  nations 
would  receive  Christianity  with  more  facility,  when  they  saw  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  to  which  they  were  accustomed,  adopted  in 
the  church,  and  the:  same  worship  paid  to  Christ  and  his  martyrs, 
which  they  had  formerly  offered  to  their  idol  deities.  Hence  it 
happened,  that  in  these  times,  the  religion  of  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  differed  very  little,  in  its  external  appearance,  from  that  of 
the  Christians.  They  had  both  a  most  pompous  and  splendid  ritual. 
Gorgeous  robes,  mitres,  tiaras,  wax  tapers,  crosiers,  processions, 
lustrations,  images,  gold  and  silver  vases,  and  many  such  circum- 
stances of  pageantry,  were  equally  to  be  seen  in  the  heathen  tem- 
ples and  the  Christian  churches.* 

In  the  words  of  a  distinguished  member  of  the  establishment 
in  Great  Britain,  Dean  Waddington,  "the  copious  transfusion  of 
heathen  ceremonies  into  Christian  worship,  which  had  taken  place 
before  the  end  of  the  fourth  century,  had,  to  a  certain  extent, 
paganized  (if  we  may  so  express  it)  the  outward  form  and  aspect 
of  religion,  and  these  ceremonies  became  more  general  and  more 
numerous,  and,  so  far  as  the  calamities  of  the  times  would  permit, 
more  splendid  in  the  age  which  followed.  To  console  the  convert 
for  the  loss  of  his  favorite  festival,  others  of  a  different  name,  but 
similar  description,  were  introduced  ;  and  the  simple  and  serious 
occupation  of  spiritual  devotion  was  beginning  to  degenerate  into  a 
worship  of  parade  and  demonstration,  or  a  mere  scene  of  riotous 

festivity."! 

When  pope  Boniface  was  invested,  by  the  emperor  Phocas, 
with  supreme  authority  over  all  the  churches  of  the  empire,  in 
the  way  we  have  seen,  he  not  only  adopted  all  the  pagan  ceremo- 
nies that  had  previously,  in  various  places,  been  incorporated  into 
Christian  worship,  but  speedily  issued  his  sovereign  decrees,  enjoin- 
ing uniformity  of  worship,  and  thus  rendered  these  heathen  rites 
binding  upon  all  who  were  desirous  of  continuing  in  fellowship  with 
the  Romish  church,  or,  as  it  now  was  called,  the  Holy  Catholic 
church.  Thus  incorporated,  they  became  a  constituent  element  of 
the  anti-Christian  Apostasy,  and  have  so  continued  to  the  present 
day. 

§  40. — In  the  year  1729,  a  distinguished  scholar  and  divine  of 
the  Episcopal  church  of  England,  the  Rev.  Conyers  Middleton, 
D.D.,  visited  the  city  of  Rome,  and  has  so  skilfully  traced  "  the 
exact  conformity  of  Popery  and  Paganism  "  in  his  celebrated  "  let- 
ter from  Rome,"  to  which  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  refer, 
that  I  shall  avail  myself,  in  the  present  chapter,  somewhat  at  length 
of  that  learned  publication,  in  tracing  the  ceremonies  of  papal 
worship  to  their  heathen  originals. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  Dr.  Middleton  visited  Rome  not 
as  a  theologian,  but  as  a  classical  scholar  ;  not  so  much  for  the 

*  Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History,  cent,  iv.,  part  2,  chap.  4. 
f  Waddington's  History  of  the  Church,  page  118. 


chat,  vi.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  113 

Lying  wonders  of  Rome  The  leaping  head  and  the  fountains  of  milk. 

purpose  of  studying  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  and  worship,  as 
for  the  sake  of  studying  the  remains  of  ancient  classic  antiquity, 
and  thus  gratifying  the  taste  which  he  had  acquired  at  the  English 
universities,  for  the  study  of  the  poets,  historians,  and  orators  of 
ancient  Rome  ; — but  that  when  he  reached  Rome,  so  exact  did  he 
find  the  resemblance  between  the  temples,  the  images,  and  ceremo- 
nies of  Popery,  and  those  of  Paganism,  that  he  came  to  the  just 
conclusion  that  he  could  in  no  way  more  effectually  increase  his 
familiarity  with  the  latter  than  by  directing  his  attention  to  the 
former.     But  let  us  hear  the  doctor  himself. 

"  As  for  my  own  journey  to  this  place,"  says  he,  "  it  was  not  any 
motive  of  devotion,  which  draws  so  many  others  hither,  that  oc- 
casioned it.     My  zeal  was  not  bent  on  visiting  the  holy  thresholds 
of  the  apostles,  and  kissing  the  feet  of  their  successor.     I  knew 
that  their  ecclesiastical  antiquities  were  mostly  fabulous  and  legend- 
ary ;  supported  by  fictions  and  impostures,  too  gross  to  employ  the 
attention  of  a  man  of  sense.     For  should  we  allow  that  Peter  had 
been  at  Rome,  of  which  many  learned  men  however  have  doubted, 
yet  they  had  not  any  authentic  monuments  remaining  of  him  ;  any 
visible  footsteps   subsisting  to  demonstrate   his   residence   among 
them :  and  should  we  ask  them  for  any  evidence  of  that  kind,  they 
would  refer  to  the  impression  of  his  face  on  the  wall  of  the  dungeon 
in  which  he  was  confined,  or  to  a  fountain  in  the  bottom  of  it,  raised 
miraculously  by  him  out  of  the  rock,  in  order  to  baptize  his  fellow 
prisoners ;  or  to  the  mark  of  our  Saviour 's  feet  in  a  stone,  on  which 
he  appeared  to  him  and  stopped  him  as  he  was  flying  out  of  the 
city,  from  a  persecution  then  raging.     In  memory  of  which,  there 
was  a  church  built  on  the  spot  called  St.  Mary  delle  Piante,  or  of 
the  marks  of  the  feet ;  which  falling  into  decay,  was  supplied  by  a 
chapel,  at  the  expense  of  Cardinal  Pole.     But  the  stone  itself,  more 
valuable,  as  the  writers  say,  than  any  of  the  precious  ones,  being 
a  perpetual  monument  and  proof  of  the  Christian  religion  (!)  is 
preserved  with  all  due  reverence  in  St.  Sebastian's  church ;  where 
I  purchased  a  print  of  it,  with  several  others  of  the  same  kind.    Or 
they  would  appeal  perhaps  to  the  evidence  of  some  miracle  wrought 
at  his  execution ;  as  they  do  in  the  case  of  St.  Paul  in  a  church 
called  '  at  the  three  Fountains  ;'  the  place  where  he  was  beheaded : 
on  which  occasion,  '  instead  of  blood  there  issued  only  milk  from  his 
veins ;  and  his  head  when  separated  from  his  body,  having  made 
three  jumps  upon  the  ground,  raised  at  each  place  a  spring  of  living 
water,  which  retains  still,  as  they  would  persuade  us,  the  plain  taste 
of  milk  ;'  of  all  of  which  facts  we  have  an  account  in  Baronius,  Ma- 
billon,  and  all  their  gravest  authors  ;  and  may  see  printed  figures 
of  them  in  the  description  of  modern  Rome  ! ! 

"  It  was  no  part  of  my  design  to   spend  my  time  abroad  in 

attending  to  ridiculous  fictions  of  this  kind;    the  chief  pleasure 

which  I  proposed  to  myself,  was  to  visit  the  genuine  remains  and 

venerable  relics  of  Pagan  Rome  ;  the  authentic  monuments  of  an- 

8 


j  14  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ii. 


Dr.  Middleton's  reason  for  visiting  Rome.  Pagan  antiquities  best  studied  through  popish  ceremonies. 

tiquity,  that  demonstrate  the  truth  of  those  histories,  which  are  the 
entertainment  as  well  as  the  instruction  of  our  younger  years. 

"As  therefore  my  general  studies  had  furnished  me  with  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  Roman  history,  as  well  as  an  inclination  to 
search  more  particularly  into  some  branches  of  its  antiquities,  so  1 
had  resolved  to  employ  myself  in  inquiries  of  this  sort ;  and  to 
lose  as  little  time  as  possible  in  taking  notice  of  the  fopperies  and 
ridiculous  ceremonies  of  the  present  religion  of  the  place.  But  I 
soon  found  myself  mistaken  ;  for  the  whole  form  and  outward 
dress  of  their  worship  seem  so  grossly  idolatrous  and  extravagant, 
beyond  what  I  had  imagined,  and  made  so  strong  an  impression  on 
me,  that  I  could  not  help  considering  it  with  a  peculiar  regard  ;  espe- 
cially when  the  very  reason,  which  I  thought  would  have  hindered 
me  from  any  notice  of  it  at  all,  was  the  chief  cause  that  engaged 
me  to  pay  so  much  attention  to  it ;  for  nothing,  I  found,  concurred 
so  much  with  my  original  intention  of  conversing  with  the  ancients  ; 
or  so  much  helped  my  imagination,  to  find  myself  wandering  about 
in  old  Heathen  Rome,  as  to  observe  and  attend  to  their  religious 
worship  ;  all  whose  ceremonies  appear  plainly  to  have  been  copied 
from  the  rituals  of  primitive  Paganism ;  as  if  handed  down  by  an 
uninterrupted  succession  from  the  priests  of  old,  to  the  priests  ol 
new  Rome  ;  whilst  each  of  them  readily  explained,  and  called  to 
mind  some  passages  of  a  classic  author,  where  the  same  ceremony 
was  described,  as  transacted  in  the  same  form  and  manner,  and  in 
the  same  place  where  I  now  saw  it  executed  before  my  eyes :  so 
that  as  oft  as  I  was  present  at  any  religious  exercise  in  the  churches, 
it  was  more  natural  to  fancy  myself  looking  on  at  some  solemn  act 
of  idolatry  in  old  Rome,  than  assisting  at  a  worship  instituted  on 
the  principles,  and  founded  upon  the  plan  of  Christianity." 

§  47. — As  a  proof  that  these  assertions  are  founded  in  truth,  the 
following  are  presented  as  a  few  instances  of  the  way  in  which 
heathen  ceremonies  and  superstitions  were  transferred  from  Pagan 
to  professedly  Christian  worship.  The  first  is  given  upon  the 
authority  of  Mosheim,  the  others  upon  that  of  Dr.  Middleton,  who 
refers  to  various  classical  authors  among  the  ancients,  and  to  Mont- 
faucon,  Polydore,  Virgil,  Platina,  Hospinian,  Mabillon,  &c,  among 
the  moderns,  for  his  authorities  ;  but  those  who  wish  to  consult  the 
original  authorities,  I  must  refer  to  the  work  of  Dr.  Middleton.* 

(1.)  Worshipping  toward  the  East. — Before  the  coming  of  Christ, 
all  the  eastern  nations  performed  divine  worship  with  their  faces 
turned  to  that  part  of  the  heavens  where  the  sun  displays  his  rising 
beams.  This  custom  was  founded  upon  a  general  opinion  that  God, 
whose  essence  they  looked  upon  to  be  light,  and  whom  they  consid- 
ered as  circumscribed  within  certain  limits,  dwelt  in  that  part  of  the 
firmament,  from  whence  he  sends  forth  the  sun,  the  bright  image  of  his 

*  Dr.  Conyers  Middleton's  Letter  from  Rome,  on  the  exact  conformity  between 
Popery  and  Paganism,  London,  1761 — fassim. 


! 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  115 

Burning  of  incense  a  heathen  ceremony. 

benignity  and  glory.  They  who  embraced  the  Christian  religion, 
rejected,  indeed,  this  gross  error,  but  they  retained  the  ancient  and 
universal  custom  of  worshipping  toward  the  East,  which  sprung 
from  it.  Nor  is  that  custom  abolished  even  in  our  times,  but  still 
prevails  in  a  great  number  of  Christian  churches.* 

(2.)  The  burning  of  incense. — Many  of  our  divines,  says  Dr. 
Middleton,  have  with  much  learning  and  solid  reasoning,  charged 
and  effectually  proved  the  crime  of  idolatry  on  the  church  of  Rome;  but 
these  controversies  where  the  charge  is  denied,  and  with  much  sub- 
tlety evaded,  are  not  capable  of  giving  that  conviction  which  I  imme- 
diately received  from  my  senses  ;  the  surest  witness  of  the  fact  in  all 
cases,  and  which  no  man  can  fail  to  be  furnished  with,  who  sees 
Popery  as  it  is  exercised  in  Italy,  in  the  full  pomp  and  display  of 
its  pageantry  ;  and  practising  all  its  arts  and  powers  without  caution 
or  reserve.  This  similitude  of  the  popish  and  pagan  religion, 
seemed  so  evident  and  clear,  and  struck  my  imagination  so  forcibly, 
that  I  soon  resolved  to  give  myself  the  trouble  of  searching  it  to  the 
bottom :  and  to  explain  and  demonstrate  the  certainty  of  it,  by  com- 
paring together  the  principal  and  most  obvious  part  of  each  worship, 
which,  as  it  was  my  first  employment  after  I  came  to  Rome,  shall 
be  the  subject  of  my  letter ;  showing  the  source  and  origin  of  the 
popish  ceremonies,  and  the  exact  conformity  of  them  with  those  of 
their  pagan  ancestors. 

The  very  first  thing  that  a  stranger  must  necessarily  take  notice 
of,  as  soon  as  he  enters  their  churches,  is  the  use  of  incense  or  per- 
fumes in  their  religious  offices  ;  the  first  step  which  he  takes  within 
the  door,  will  be  sure  to  make  him  sensible  of  it,  by  the  offence  that 
he  will  immediately  receive  from  the  smell  as  well  as  the  smoke  of 
this  incense,  with  which  the  whole  church  continues  filled  for  some 
time  after  every  solemn  service.  A  custom  received  directly  from 
paganism  ;  and  which  presently  called  to  my  mind  the  old  descrip- 
tions of  the  heathen  temples  and  altars,  which  are  never  mentioned 
by  the  ancients,  without  the  epithet  of  perfumed  or  incensed. 

Thuricremis  cum  dona  imponerit  Aris. — Virg.,  Mn.  iv.,  453,  486. 

Saepe  Jovem  vidi  cum  jam  sua  mittere  vellet 
Fulmina,  thure  dato  sustinuisse  manum. — Ovid. 

In  some  of  their  principal  churches,  where  you  have  before  you  in 
one  view,  a  great  number  of  altars,  and  all  of  them  smoking  at  once 
with  streams  of  incense,  how  natural  it  is  to  imagine  one's  self  trans- 
ported into  the  temple  of  some  heathen  deity,  or  that  of  the  Paphian 
Venus  described  by  Virgil : 

Her  hundred  altars  there  with  garlands  crown'd, 
And  richest  incense  smoking,  breathe  around 
Sweet  odors,  &c. — JEn.  i.,  420. 

Under  the  pagan  emperors,  the  use  of  incense  for  any  purpose  of 
religion  was  thought  so  contrary  to  the  obligations  of  Christianity, 

*  Mosheim,  cent,  ii.,  part  2,  chap.  iv. 


110  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 

Use  of  holy  wuter  derived  from  Paganism.  The  Jesuit  La  Cerda  acknowledges  it. 

that  in  their  persecutions,  the  very  method  of  trying  and  convicting 
a  Christian,  was  by  requiring  him  only  to  throw  the  least  grain  of 
it  into  the  censer,  or  on  the  altar.  Under  the  Christian  emperors, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  was  looked  upon  as  a  rite  so  peculiarly  heathen- 
ish, that  the  very  places  or  houses  where  it  could  he  proved  to  have 
been  done,  were,  by  a  law  of  Theodosius,  confiscated  to  the  govern- 
ment. 

In  the  old  bas-reliefs,  or  pieces  of  sculpture,  where  any  heathen 
sacrifice  is  represented,  we  never  fail  to  see  a  boy  in  a  sacred  habit, 
which  was  always  white,  attending  on  the  priest,  with  a  little  chest 
or  box  in  his  hands,  in  which  this  incense  was  kept  for  the  use  of  the 
altar.  And  in  the  same  manner  still  in  the  church  of  Rome,  there 
is  always  a  boy  in  surplice  waiting  on  the  priest  at  the  altar,  with 
the  sacred  utensils  ;  among  the  rest  the  Thuribulum  or  vessel  of 
incense,  which  the  priest,  with  many  ridiculous  motions  and  cross- 
ings, waves  several  times,  as  it  is  smoking,  around  and  over  the 
altar,  in  different  parts  of  the  service. 

(3.)  The  use  of  holy  water. — The  next  thing  in  the  Roman 
worship,  that  will,  of  course,  strike  the  imagination,  is  the  use  the 
papists  make  of  the  holy  water,  for  nobody  ever  goes  in  or  out  of  a 
church,  but  is  either  sprinkled  by  the  priest,  who  attends  for  that 
purpose  on  solemn  days,  or  else  serves  himself  with  it  from  a  vessel, 
usually  of  marble,  placed  just  at  the  door,  not  unlike  to  one  of  our 
baptismal  fonts.  Now  this  ceremony  is  so  notoriously  and  directly 
transmitted  to  them  from  Paganism,  that  their  own  writers  make  not 
the  least  scruple  to  own  it.  The  Jesuit  La  Cerda,  in  his  notes  on  a 
passage  of  Virgil,  where  this  practice  is  mentioned,  says,  "  Hence 
was  derived  the  custom  of  the  holy  church,  to  provide  purifying  of 
holy  water  at  the  entrance  of  their  churches." 

Aquaminarium  or  Amula,  says  the  learned  Montfaucon,  was  a 
vase  of  holy  water,  placed  by  the  heathens  at  the  entrance  of  their 
temples,  to  sprinkle  themselves  with.  The  same  vessel  was  by  the 
Greeks  called  Perrirranterion ;  two  of  -which,  the  one  of  gold,  the 
other  of  silver,  were  given  by  Croesus  to  the  temple  of  Apollo  at 
Delphi ;  and  the  custom  of  sprinkling  themselves  was  so  necessary 
a  part  of  their  religious  offices,  that  the  method  of  excommunication 
seems  to  have  been  by  prohibiting  to  offenders  the  approach  and  use  of 
the  holy  water  pot.  The  very  composition  of  this  holy  water  was 
the  same  also  among  the  heathens,  as  it  is  now  among  the  papists, 
being  nothing  more"  than  a  mixture  of  salt  with  common  water  ; 
4  Porro  singulis  diebus  Dominicis  sacerdos  missae  sacrum  facturus, 
aquara  sale  adspersam,  benedicendo  revocare  debet  eaque  populuiu 
adspcrgere'  (Durant.  de  Rit.,  1.  1,  c.  21);  and  the  form  of  the 
sprinkling-brush,  called  by  the  ancients  aspersorium  or  aspergilli/?}/, 
which  is  much  the  same  with  what  the  priests  now  make  use  of, 
may  be  seen  in  the  bas-reliefs,  or  ancient  coins,  wherever  the  insig- 
nia, or  emblems  of  the  pagan  priesthood,  are  described,  of  which 
it  is  generally  one. 

Platina,  in  his  lives  of  the  popes,  and  other  authors,  ascribe  the 


( 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  117 


) 


Justin  Martyr  says  that  it  was  invented  by  demons.  Festival  of  St.  Anthony. 

institution  of  holy  water  to  pope  Alexander  L,  who  is  said  to  have 
lived  about  the  year  of  Christ  113  :  but  it  could  not  have  been  intro- 
duced so  early,  since  for  some  ages  after,  we  find  the  primitive 
fathers  speaking  of  it  as  a  custom  purely  heathenish,  condemning  it 
as  impious  and  detestable.  Justin  Martyr  says,  "  That  it  was  in- 
vented by  daemons  in  imitation  of  the  true  baptism  signified  by  the 
prophets,  that  their  votaries  might  also  have  their  pretended  purifi- 
cations by  water"  (Apol.  1,  p.  91);  and  the  emperor  Julian,  out  of 
spite  to  the  Christians,  used  to  order  their  victuals  in  the  markets  to 
be  sprinkled  with  holy  water,  on  purpose  either  to  starve,  or  force 
them  to  eat,  what  by  their  own  principles  they  esteemed  polluted. 
Thus  we  see  what  contrary  notions  the  primitive  and  Romish 
church  have  of  this  ceremony  ;  the  first  condemns  it  as  superstition, 
abominable  and  irreconcilable  with  Christianity ;  the  latter  adopts 
it  as  highly  edifying  and  applicable  to  the  improvement  of  Christian 
piety  ;  the  one  looks  upon  it  as  the  contrivance  of  the  devil  to  delude 
mankind  ;  the  other  as  the  security  of  mankind  against  the  delusions 
of  the  devil!! 

One  of  the  most  senseless  and  extraordinary  uses  to  which  the 
papists  apply  this  holy  water,  is  the  sprinkling  and  blessing  of  horses, 
mules,  asses,  tyc,  on  the  festival  of  St.  Anthony,  observed  annually 
on  the  17th  of  January.  On  that  day  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of 
Rome  and  vicinity  send  their  horses,  &c,  decked  with  ribands,  to 
the  convent  of  St.  Anthony,  which  is  situated  near  the  church  of 
St.  Mary  the  Great.  The  priest,  in  his  sacerdotal  garments,  stands 
at  the  church  door,  with  a  large  sprinkling-brush  in  his  hand,  and  as 
each  animal  is  presented  to  him,  he  takes  off  his  skull  cap,  mutters  a 
few  words,  in  Latin,  intimating  that  through  the  merits  of  the  blessed 
St.  Anthony,  they  are  to  be  preserved  for  the  coming  year  from  sick- 
ness and  death,  famine  and  danger,  then  dips  his  brush  in  a  huge  bucket 
of  holy  water,  that  stands  by  him,  and  sprinkles  them  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.*     The  priest 

*  In  the  preface  to  his  letter  from  Rome,  Dr.  Middleton  gives  the  following  story 
from  St.  Jerome,  as  the  most  probable  origin  of  this  absurd  custom.  "  A  citizen 
of  Gaza,  a  Christian,  who  kept  a  stable  of  running  horses  for  the  Circensian  games, 
was  always  beaten  by  his  antagonist,  an  idolator,  the  master  of  the  rival  stable. 
For  the  idolator,  by  the  help  of  certain  charms,  and  diabolical  imprecations,  con- 
stantly damped  the"  spirits  of  the  Christian's  horses,  and  added  courage  to  his  own. 
The  Christian,  therefore,  in  despair,  applied  himself  to  St.  Hilarion,  and  implored 
his  assistance ;  but  the  saint  was  unwilling  to  enter  into  an  affair  so  frivolous  and 
profane,  till  the  Christian  urged  it  as  a  necessary  defence  against  these  adversaries 
of  God,  whose  insults  were  levelled  not  so  much  at  him,  as  the  Church  of  Christ. 
And  his  entreaties  being  seconded  by  the  monks  who  were  present,  the  saint  ordered 
his  earthen  jug,  out  of  which  he  used  to  drink,  to  be  filled  with  water  and  delivered 
to  the  man,  who  presently  sprinkled  his  stable,  his  horses,  his  charioteers,  his 
chariot,  and  the  very  boundaries  of  the  course  with  it.  Upon  this  the  whole  city 
was  in  wondrous  expectation.  The  idolators  derided  what  the  Christian  was  doing, 
while  the  Christians  took  courage,  and  assured  themselves  of  victory  ;  till  the 
signal  being  given  for  the  race,  the  Christian's  horses  seemed  to  fly,  whilst  the 
idolator's  were  laboring  behind  and  left  quite  out  of  sight !  so  that  the  pagans 
themselves  were  obliged  to  cry  out  that  their  god  Marnas  was  conquered  at  last 
by  Christ."— Page  17. 


U8  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 


Ludicrous  annual  ceremony  at  Rome.  Sprinkling  of  horses,  asses,  &.C.,  with  holy  water. 

receives  a  fee  for  sprinkling  each  animal,  and  Dr.  Middleton  re- 
marks that  amongst  the  rest  he  had  his  own  horses  blessed  at  the 
expense  of  about  eighteen  pence  "  as  well  to  satisfy  his  own  curi- 
osity, as  to  humor  the  coachman  ;  who  was  persuaded,  as  the  com- 
mon people  generally  are,  that  some  mischance  would  belall  them 
within  the  year,  if  they  wanted  the  benefit  of  this  benediction."  He 
adds,  a  revenue  is  thus  provided,  sufficient  for  the  maintenance  of 
forty  or  fifty  of  the  lazy  drones  called  monks. 

Sometimes  the  visitor  at  Rome  will  see  a  splendid  equipage 
drive  up,  attended  by  outriders,  in  elegant  livery,  to  have  the  horses 
thus  sprinkled  with  holy  water,  all  the  people  remaining  uncov- 
ered till  the  absurd  and  disgusting  ceremony  is  over.  On  one  occa- 
sion a  traveller  observed  a  countryman,  whose  beast  having  re- 
ceived the  holy  water,  set  off  from  the  church  door  at  a  gallop,  but 
had  scarcely  gone  a  hundred  yards  before  the  ungainly  animal 
tumbled  down  with  him,  and  over  its  head  he  rolled  into  the  dust. 
He  soon,  however,  arose,  and  so  did  the  horse,  without  either  seem- 
ing to  have  sustained  much  injury.  The  priest  looked  on,  and 
though  his  blessing  had  failed,  he  was  not  out  of  countenance; 
while  some  of  the  bystanders  said  that  but  for  it,  the  horse  and 
his  rider  might  have  broken  their  necks.     (See  Engraving.) 

A  recent  writer,  formerly  a  Romish  priest,  and  who,  therefore, 
knows  whereof  he  affirms,  writes  as  follows,  in  relation  to  this  cere- 
mony, "  If  I  could  lead  my  readers  on  the  17th  of  January,  to  the 
church  of  St.  Antoin  in  Rome,  I  am  convinced  they  would  not  know 
whether  they  should  laugh  at  the  ridiculous  religious  performances, 
or  weep  over  the  heathenish  practices  of  the  church  of  Rome.     He 
would  see  a  priest  in  his  sacerdotal  garments,  with  a  stole  over  his 
neck,  a  brush  in  his  right  hand,  and  sprinkling  the  mules,  asses,  and 
horses,  with  holy  water,  and  praying  for  them  and  with  them,  and 
blessing  them  in  order  to  be  preserved  the  whole  year  from  sick- 
ness and  death,  famine  and  danger,  for  the  sake  and  merits  of  the 
holy  Antony.     All  this  is  a  grotesque  scene,  so  grotesque  that  no 
American  can  have  any  idea  of  it,  and  heathen  priests  would  never 
have  thought  of  it.     Add  to  that,  the  great  mass  of  people,  the 
kickings  of  the  mules,  the  meetings  of  the  lovers,  the  neighings  of 
the  horses,  the  melodious  voices  of  the  asses,  the  shoutings  of  the 
multitude,  and  mockings  of  the  protestants,  who  reside  in  Rome, 
and  you  have  a  spectacle,  which  would  be  new,  entirely  new,  not 
only  for  American  protestants,  but  for  the  heathen  themselves,  and 
must  be  abominable  in  the  eye  of  God.     But  enough  ;  the  subject 
is  too  serious  ;  it  is  a  religious  exercise,  practised  by  the  priests  of 
Rome,  in  the  so-called  metropolis  of  the  Christian  world,  sanctioned 
by  the  self-styled  infallible  head  of  the  church  of  Rome.    All  we  can 
say  is:  'Ichabod,  thy  glory  is  departed.'     The  priests  of  heathen 
Rome  would  be  ashamed  of  such  a  religious  display  in  the  nine- 
teenth century."* 

*  See  Papal  Rome  as  it  Is,  by  Rev.  L.  Gustiniani,  D.  D.,  formerly  a  Roman 
priest,  now  minister  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 


) 


Sprinkling  ;inrt  Blc=^itiir  of  Horses  at  Rome,  on  St  Anthony's  Day. 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  121 

Lighting  up  candles  in  the  day  time  a  heathen  custom 

(4.)  Burning  wax  candles  in  the  day  time. — No  sooner  is  a  man 
advanced  a  little  forward  into  their  churches,  and  begins  to  look 
about  him,  but  he  will  find  his  eyes  and  attention  attracted  by  a 
number  of  lamps  and  wax  candles,  which  are  kept  constantly  burn- 
ing before  the  shrines  and  images  of  their  saints.  In  the  great 
churches  of  Italy,  says  Mabillon,  they  hang  up  lamps  at  every  altar ; 
a  sight  which  not  only  surprises  a  stranger  by  the  novelty  of  it,  but 
will  furnish  him  with  another  proof  and  example  of  the  conformity 
of  the  Romish  with  the  pagan  worship  ;  by  recalling  to  his  memory 
many  passages  of  the  heathen  writers,  where  their  perpetual  lamps 
and  candles  are  described  as  continually  burning  before  the  altars 
and  statues  of  their  deities.  '  Centum  aras  posuit  vigilemque  sacra- 
verat  ignem.'   Virg.,  JE,n.  iv.,  200. 

Herodotus  tells  us  of  the  Egyptians  who  first  introduced  the  use 
of  lamps  into  their  temples.  That  they  had  a  famous  yearly  festival, 
called  from  the  principal  ceremony  of  it,  the  lighting  up  of  candles, 
but  there  is  scarcely  a  single  festival  at  Rome,  which  might  not  for 
the  same  reason  be  called  by  the  same  name.  The  primitive 
writers  frequently  expose  the  folly  and  absurdity  of  this  heathenish 
custom.  "  They  light  up  candles  to  God"  says  Lactantius,  "  as  if  he 
lived  in  the  dark  ;  and  do  they  not  deserve  to  pass  for  madmen,  who 
offer  lamps  to  the  author  and  giver  of  light  ?" 

In  the  collections  of  old  inscriptions,  we  may  find  instances  of 
presents  and  donations  from  private  persons,  of  lamps  and  candle- 
sticks to  the  temples  and  altars  of  their  gods.  A  piece  of  zeal  which 
continues  still  the  same  in  modern  Rome,  where  each  church 
abounds  with  lamps  of  massive  silver,  and  sometimes  even  of  gold  ; 
the  gifts  of  princes,  and  other  persons  of  distinction  ;  and  it  is  sur- 
prising to  see  how  great  a  number  of  this  kind  are  perpetually 
before  the  altars  of  their  principal  saints,  or  miraculous  images ;  as 
St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  or  the  lady  of  Loretto ;  as  well  as  the  vast 
profusion  of  wax  candles,  with  which  their  churches  are  illuminated 
on  every  great  festival  when  the  high  altar  covered  with  gold  and 
silver  plate,  brought  out  of  their  treasuries,  and  stuck  full  of  wax 
lights,  disposed  in  beautiful  figures,  looks  more  like  the  rich  side- 
board of  some  great  prince,  dressed  out  for  a  feast,  than  an  altar  to 
pay  divine  worship  at. 

(5.)  Votive  gifts  and  offerings. — But  a  stranger  will  not  be  more 
surprised  at  the  number  of  lamps  or  wax-lights,  burning  before  their 
altars,  than  at  the  number  of  offerings  or  votive  gifts,  which  are 
hanging  all  around  them,  in  consequence  of  vows  made  in  the  time 
of  danger,  and  in  gratitude  for  deliverance  and  cures  wrought  in 
sickness  or  distress ;  a  practice  so  common  among  the  heathens, 
that  no  one  custom  of  antiquity  is  so  frequently  mentioned  by  all 
their  writers  ;  and  many  of  their  original  donaria,  or  votive  offer- 
ings, are  preserved  to  this  day  in  the  cabinets  of  the  curious  ;  images 
of  metal,  stone,  or  clay,  as  well  as  legs,  arms,  and  other  parts  of 
the  body,  which  had  formerly  been  hung  up  in  their  temples  in  tes- 
timony of  some  divine  favor  or  cure  effected  by  their  titular  deity 


122 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 


Votive  offerings. 


Hands,  feet,  &c,  in  wax.  Copies  of  heathen  originals. 


in  that  particular  member.  But  the  most  common  of  all  offerings 
were  pictures  representing  the  history  of  the  miraculous  cure  or 
deliverance,  vouchsafed  upon  the  vow  of  the  donor. 

Nunc  dea,  nunc  succurre  mihi ;  nam  posse 

Picta  docet  templis  multa  tabella  tuis. — Tibul.,  El.  i.,  3. 

Now,  goddess,  help,  for  thou  canst  help  bestow ; 
As  all  these  pictures  round  thy  altars  show. 

A  friend  of  Diagoras,  the  philosopher,  called  the  atheist,  having 
found  him  once  in  a  temple,  as  the  story  is  told  by  Cicero,  "  You," 
says  he,  "  who  think  the  gods  take  no  notice  of  human  affairs,  do 
you  not  see  here  by  this  number  of  pictures,  how  many  people,  for 
the  sake  of  their  vows,  have  been  saved  in  storms  at  sea,  and  got 
safe  into  harbor  ?"  "  Yes,"  says  Diagoras,  "  I  see  how  it  is,  for 
those  are  never  painted  who  happen  to  be  drowned."  The  temples 
of  Esculapius  were  more  especially  rich  in  those  offerings,  which 
Livy  says  were  the  price  and  pay  for  the  cures  he  had  wrought  for 
the  sick ;  where  they  used  always  to  hang  up  and  expose  to  com- 
mon view,  in  tables  of  brass  or  marble,  a  catalogue  of  all  the 
miraculous  cures  which  he  had  performed  for  his  votaries.  A  re- 
markable fragment  of  one  of  these  tables  is  still  remaining  and  pub- 
lished in  Gruter's  Collections,  having  been  found  in  the  ruins  of  a 
temple  of  that  god,  in  the  island  of  the  Tiber  at  Rome  :  upon  which 
the  learned  Roman  Catholic  writer,  Montfaucon,  makes  this  reflec- 
tion :  that  in  it  are  either  seen  the  wiles  of  the  devil,  to  deceive  the  cre- 
dulous ;  or  else  the  tricks  of  pagan  priests  suborning  men  to  coun- 
terfeit diseases  and  miraculous  cures.  Why  is  not  this  as  true  of 
Popery  as  Paganism  ? 

Now  this  piece  of  superstition  had  been  found  of  old  so  beneficial 
to  the  priesthood,  that  it  could  not  fail  of  being  taken  into  the  scheme 
of  the  Romish  worship  ;  where  it  reigns  at  this  day  in  its  full  height 
and  vigor,  as  in  the  ages  of  pagan  idolatry  ;  and  in  so  gross  a  man- 
ner, as  to  give  scandal  and  offence  even  to  some  of  their  own  com- 
munion. Polydore  Virgil,  after  having  described  this  practice  of  the 
ancients,  "  in  "the  same  manner,"  says  he,  "  do  we  now  offer  up  in 
our  churches  little  images  of  wax ;  and  as  oft  as  any  part  of  the 
body  is  hurt,  as  the  hand  or  foot,  &c,  we  presently  make  a  vow  to 
God,  or  one  of  his  saints,  to  whom,  upon  our  recovery,  we  make  an 
offering  of  that  hand  or  foot  in  wax ;  which  custom  is  now  come  to 
that  extravagance,  that  we  do  the  same  for  our  cattle  which  we  do 
for  ourselves,  and  make  offerings  on  account  of  our  oxen,  horses, 
sheep ;  where  a  scrupulous  man  will  question,  in  this  we  imitate 
the  religion  or  the  superstition  of  our  ancestors."  As  oft  as  I  have 
had  the  curiosity  to  look  over  those  Donaria,  or  votive  offerings, 
hanging  round  the  shrines  of  their  images,  and  consider  the  several 
stories  of  each,  as  they  are  either  expressed  in  painting  or  related 
in  writing,  I  have  always  found  them  to  be  mere  copies,  or  verbal 
translations  of  the  originals  of  heathenism  ;  for  the  vow  is  often  said 
to  have  been  divinely  inspired,  or  expressly  commanded ;  and  the 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  123 

Revival  of  old  Pagan  impostures.  Worship  of  idols  or  images. 

cure  and  deliverance  to  have  been  wrought  either  by  the  visible 
apparition,  and  immediate  hand  of  the  titular  saint,  or  by  the  notice 
of  a  dream,  or  some  other  miraculous  admonition  from  heaven. 
"  There  can  be  no  doubt,"  say  their  writers,  "  but  that  images  of  our 
saints  often  work  signal  miracles,  by  procuring  health  to  the  infirm, 
and  appearing  to  us  often  in  dreams,  to  suggest  something  of  great 
moment  for  our  service." 

And  what  is  all  this  but  a  revival  of  the  old  impostures,  and  a  re- 
petition of  the  same  old  stories  of  which  the  ancient  inscriptions 
are  full,  with  no  difference  than  what  the  pagans  ascribe  to  the 
imaginary  help  of  their  deities,  the  papists  as  foolishly  impute  to  the 
favor  of  their  saints  ?  Whether  the  reflection  of  Father  Montfau- 
con  on  the  pagan  priests,  mentioned  above,  be  not,  in  the  very  same 
case,  as  justly  applicable  to  the  Roman  priests,  I  must  leave  to  the 
judgment  of  my  reader. 

(6.)  Adoration  of  idols  or  images. — When  a  man  is  once  en- 
gaged in  reflections  of  this  kind,  imagining  himself  in  some  heathen 
temple,  and  expecting,  as  it  were,  some  sacrifice  or  other  piece  of 
Paganism  to  ensue,  he  will  not  be  long  in  suspense,  before  he  sees 
the  finishing  act  and  last  scene  of  genuine  idolatry,  in  crowds  of 
bigot  votaries,  prostrating  themselves  before  some  image  of  wood 
or  stone,  and  paying  divine  honors  to  an  idol  of  their  own  erecting. 
Should  they  squabble  with  us  here,  about  the  meaning  of  the  word 
idol.  Jerome  has  determined  it  to  the  very  case  in  question,  telling 
us,  that,  by  idols  are  to  be  understood  the  images  of  the  dead  :  '  Idola 
intelligimus  Imagines  mortuorum.'  (Hier  Com.  in  Isa.,  c.  xxxvii.) 
And  the  worshippers  of  such  images  are  used  always  in  the  style 
of  the  fathers,  as  terms  synonymous  and  equivalent  to  heathens 
and  pagans.  As  to  the  practice  itself,  it  was  condemned  by  many 
of  the  wisest  heathens,  and  for  several  ages,  even  in  pagan  Rome, 
was  thought  impious  and  detestable :  for  Numa,  we  find,  prohibited 
it  to  the  old  Romans,  nor  would  suffer  any  images  in  their  temples ; 
which  constitution  they  observed  religiously,  says  Plutarch,  for  the 
first  hundred  and  seventy  years  of  the  city.  But  as  image  wor- 
ship was  thought  abominable  even  by  some  pagan  princes,  so  by 
some  of  the  Christian  emperors  it  was  forbidden  on  pain  of  death ; 
not  because  those  images  were  the  representations  of  demons  or 
false  gods,  but  because  they  were  vain,  senseless  idols,  the  work 
of  men's  hands,  and  for  that  reason  unworthy  of  any  honor :  and 
all  the  instances  and  overt  acts  of  such  worship,  described  and 
condemned  by  them,  are  exactly  the  same  with  what  the  papists 
practise  at  this  day ;  lighting  up  candles,  burning  incense,  hanging 
up  garlands,  &c,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  law  of  Theodosius  before 
mentioned,  which  confiscates  that  house  or  land  where  any  such 
act  of  Gentile  superstition  had  been  committed.  Those  princes 
who  were  influenced,  we  may  suppose,  in  their  constitutions  of 
this  sort,  by  the  advice  of  their  bishops,  did  not  think  Paganism 
abolished,  till  the  adoration  of  images  was  utterly  extirpated ; 
which  was  reckoned  always  the  principal  of  those  Gentile  rites, 


124  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 

Pagan  heroes  and  demigods  with  Christian  names.    The  Pantheon  dedicated  to  Mary  and  all  the  saints 

that  agreeably  to  the  sense  of  the  purest  ages  of  Christianity,  are 
never  mentioned  in  the  imperial  laws  without  the  epithets  of  pro- 
fane, damnable,  impious,  &c. 

What  opinion  then  can  we  have  of  the  present  practice  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  but  that  by  a  change  only  of  name,  they  have 
found  means  to  retain  the  thing  ;  and  by  substituting  their  saints  in 
the  place  of  the  old  demigods,  have  but  set  up  idols  of  their  own, 
instead  of  those  of  their  forefathers  ?  In  which  it  is  hard  to  say 
whether  their  assurance  or  their  address  is  more  to  be  admired, 
who  have  the  face  to  make  that  the  principal  part  of  Christian 
worship,  which  the  first  Christians  looked  upon  as  the  most  criminal 
part  even  of  Paganism,  and  have  found  means  to  extract  gain  and 
great  revenues  out  of  a  practice  which  in  primitive  times  would 
have  cost  a  man  both  his  life  and  estate.  But  our  notion  of  the 
idolatry  of  modern  Rome  will  be  much  heightened  still  and  con- 
firmed, as  oft  as  we  follow  them  into  those  temples,  and  to  those 
very  altars  which  were  built  originally  by  their  heathen  ancestors, 
the  old  Romans,  to  the  honor  of  their  pagan  deities,  where  we 
shall  hardly  see  any  other  alteration  than  the  shrine  of  some  old 
hero  filled  by  the  meaner  statue  of  some  modern  saint.  Nay,  they 
have  not  always,  as  I  am  well  informed,  given  themselves  the 
trouble  of  making  even  this  change,  but  have  been  content  sometimes 
to  take  up  with  the  old  image,  just  as  they  found  it ;  after  baptizing 
it  only,  as  it  were,  or  consecrating  it  anew  by  the  imposition  of  a 
Christian  name.  This  their  antiquaries  do  not  scruple  to  put 
strangers  in  mind  of  in  showing  their  churches  ;  and  it  was,  I 
think,  in  that  of  St.  Agnes  where  they  showed  me  an  antique  of  a 
young  Bacchus,  which,  with  a  new  name  and  a  little  change  of 
drapery,  stands  now  worshipped  under  the  title  of  a  female  saint. 

(7.)  The  Gods  of  the  Pantheon  turned  into  popish  saints. — The 
noblest  heathen  temple  now  remaining  in  the  world,  is  the  Pantheon, 
or  Rotunda  ;  which,  as  the  inscription  over  the  portico  informs  us, 
having  been  impiously  dedicated  of  old  by  Agrippa  to  Jove  and  all 
the  gods,  was  impiously  reconsecrated  by  Pope  Boniface  IV.,  about 

A.  D.   610,  TO    THE    BLESSED    VlRGIN    AND    ALL    THE    SAINTS. 

PANTHEON,  &c. 

AB  AGRIPPA  AUGUSTI  GENERO, 

IMPIE  JOVI,  CiETERISQ;   MENDACIBUS  DIIS, 

A.  BONIFACIO  IIII.  PONTIFICE, 

DEIPAR^E  &  S.  S.  CHRISTI  MARTYRIBUS  PIO 

DICATUM,  &c. 

With  this  single  alteration,  it  serves  as  exactly  for  all  the  pur- 
poses of  the  popish  as  it  did  for  the  pagan  worship,  for  which  it 
was  built.  For  as  in  the  old  temple,  every  one  might  find  the  God 
of  his  country,  and  address  himself  to  that  deity,  whose  religion  he 
was  most  devoted  to  ;  so  it  is  the  same  thing  now  ;  every  one 
chooses  the  patron  whom  he  likes  best  ;  and  one  may  see  here 
different  services  going  on  at  the  same  time  at  different  altars,  with 


CHAr.  vi.l  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  125 

Heathen  idols  changed  into  Christian  saints.  Road  gods. 

distinct  congregations  round  them,  just  as  the  inclinations  of  the 
people  lead  them  to  the  worship  of  this  or  that  particular  Saint. 

And  what  better  title  can  the  new  demigods  show,  to  the 
adoration  now  paid  them,  than  the  old  ones,  whose  shrines  they 
have  usurped  ?  Or  how  comes  it  to  be  less  criminal  to  worship 
images,  erected  by  the  Pope,  than  those  which  Agrippa,  or  that 
which  Nebuchadnezzar  set  up  1  If  there  be  any  real  difference, 
most  people  will,  I  dare  say,  be  apt  to  determine  in  favor  of  the 
old  possessors.  For  those  heroes  of  antiquity  were  raised  up  into 
gods,  and  received  divine  honors,  for  some  signal  benefits,  of  which 
they  had  been  the  authors  to  mankind  ;  as  the  invention  of  arts 
and  sciences  ;  or  of  something  highly  useful  and  necessary  to  life. 
Whereas  of  the  Romish  saints,  it  is  certain  that  many  of  them 
were  never  heard  of,  but  in  their  own  legends  or  fabulous  histories ; 
and  many  more,  instead  of  services  done  to  mankind,  owe  all  the 
honors  now  paid  to  them,  to  their  vices  or  their  errors  ;  whose 
merit,  like  that  of  Demetrius,  (Acts  xix.,  23),  was  their  skill  of  raising 
rebellions  in  defence  of  an  idol,  and  throwing  kingdoms  into  con- 
vulsions, for  the  sake  of  some  gainful  imposture. 

And  as  it  is  in  the  Pantheon,  it  is  just  the  same  in  all  the  other 
heathen  temples,  that  still  remain  in  Rome ;  they  have  only  pulled 
down  one  idol  to  set  up  another  ;  and  .changed  rather  the  name 
than  the  object  of  their  worship.  Thus  the  little  temple  of  Vesta, 
near  the  Tiber,  mentioned  by  Horace,  is  now  possessed  by  Madonna 
of  the  Sun  ;  that  of  Fortuna  Virilis,  by  Mary  the  Egyptian  ;  that 
of  Saturn,  where  the  public  treasure  was  anciently  kept,  by  St. 
Adrian  ;  that  of  Romulus  and  Remus  in  the  Via  Sacra,  by  two 
other  brothers,  Cosmas  and  Damianus  ;  that  of  Antoninus  Pius,  by 
Laurence  the  saint ;  but  for  my  part,  adds  Dr.  Middleton,  I  should 
sooner  be  tempted  to  prostrate  myself  before  the  statue  of  a  Romu- 
lus or  an  Antonine,  than  that  of  a  Laurence  or  a  Damian  ;  and 
give  divine  honors  rather  with  pagan  Rome,  to  the  founders  of 
empires,  than  with  popish  Rome,  to  the  founders  of  monasteries. 

In  reply  to  these  observations  of  Dr.  Middleton,  some  may 
inquire  whether  there  is  anything  wrong  in  the  change  of  a  hea- 
then temple  to  a  Christian  place  of  worship,  any  more  than  in  the 
change  of  theatres  into  churches,  which  is  frequently  done  in  the 
present  day.  To  this  objection  we  answer,  that  it  is  not  to  the 
change  of  the  Pantheon  into  a  Christian  temple  we  object,  but  to 
the  adoption  of  the  pagan  ceremonies  into  Christian  worship,  and 
the  adoring  the  same  images  of  heathen  deities,  under  the  names 
of  Christian  saints. 

(8.)  Road  gods  and  saints. — But  their  temples  are  not  the  only 
places  where  we  see  the  proofs  and  overt  acts  of  their  superstition  : 
the  whole  face  of  the  country  has  the  visible  characters  of  Paganism 
upon  it ;  and  wherever  we  look  about  us,  we  cannot  but  find,  as 
Paul  did  in  Athens  (Acts  xvii.  17),  clear  evidence  of  its  being  pos- 
sessed by  a  superstitious  and  idolatrous  people. 

The  old  Romans,  we  know,  had  their  gods,  who  presided  pecu- 


126  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  u. 


Reverence  of  the  papists  for  these  rood  gods  Kissing  the  Pope's  toe. 

Uarly  over  the  roads,  streets,  and  highways,  called  Vialcs,  Semitales, 
Oompitales :  whose  little  temples  or  altars  are  decked  with  flowers, 
or  whose  statues  at  least,  coarsely  carved  of  wood  or  stone,  were 
placed  at  convenient  distances  in  the  public  ways,  for  the  benefit 
of  travellers,  who  used  to  step  aside  to  pay  their  devotions  to  those 
rural  shrines,  and  beg  a  prosperous  journey  and  safety  in  their 
travels. 

Now  this  custom  prevails  still  so  generally  in  all  popish  coun- 
tries, but  especially  in  Italy,  that  one  can  see  no  other  difference 
between  the  old  and  present  superstition,  than  that  of  changing  the 
name  of  the  Deity,  and  christening  as  it  were  the  old  Hecate  in 
triviis,  by  the  new  name  of  Maria  in  trivio ;  by  which  title  I  have 
observed  one  of  their  churches  dedicated  in  this  city :  and  as  the 
heathens  used  to  paint  over  the  ordinary  statues  of  their  gods  with 
red  or  some  such  gay  color,  so  I  have  oft  observed  the  coarse 
images  of  those  saints  so  daubed  over  with  a  gaudy  red,  as  to 
resemble  exactly  the  description  of  the  god  Pan  in  Virgil  {Eclogue 
10).  In  passing  along  the  road,  it  is  common  to  see  travellers  on 
their  knees  before  these  rustic  altars ;  which  none  ever  presume 
to  approach  without  some  act  of  reverence ;  and  those  who  are 
most  in  haste,  or  at  a  distance,  are  sure  to  pull  off  their  hats,  at 
least,  in  token  of  respect :  and  I  took  notice  that  our  postillion  used 
to  look  back  upon  us  to  see  how  we  behaved  on  such  occasions, 
and  seemed  surprised  at  our  passing  so  negligently  before  places 
esteemed  so  sacred. 

(9.)  The  Pope  and  the  Pontifex  Maximus  and  kissing  the  Pope's 
tot. — In  their  very  priesthood,  they  have  contrived  to  keep  up  as 
near  a  resemblance  as  they  could  to  that  of  pagan  Rome  :  and  the 
sovereign  pontiff,  instead  of  deriving  his  succession  from  Peter, 
who,  if  ever  he  was  at  Rome,  did  not  reside  there  at  least  in  any 
worldly  pomp  or  splendor,  may  with  more  reason  and  much  better 
plea  style  himself  the  successor  of  the  Pontifex  Maximus,  or  chief 
priest  of  old  Rome  ;  whose  authority  and  dignity  was  the  greatest 
in  the  republic  ;  and  who  was  looked  upon  as  the  arbiter  or  judge 
of  all  things,  civil  as  well  as  sacred,  human  as  well  as  divine  : 
whose  power  established  almost  with  the  foundation  of  the  city, 
"  was  an  omen,"  says  Polydore  Virgil,  "  and  sure  presage  of  priestly 
majesty,  by  which  Rome  was  once  again  to  reign  as  universally,  as 
it  had  done  before  by  the  force  of  its  arms." 

But  of  all  the  sovereign  pontiffs  of  pagan  Rome,  it  is  very  re- 
markable that  Caligula  was  the  first  who  ever  offered  his  foot  to  be 
kissed  by  any  who  approached  him :  which  raised  a  general  indig- 
nation through  the  city,  to  see  themselves  reduced  to  suffer  so  great 
an  indignity.  Those  who  endeavored  to  excuse  it,  said  that  it 
was  not  done  out  of  insolence,  but  vanity ;  and  for  the  sake  of 
showing  his  golden  slipper,  set  with  jewels.  Seneca  declaims  upon 
it  as  the  last  affront  to  liberty,  and  the  introduction  of  a  Persian 
slavery  into  the  manners  of  Rome.  Yet,  this  servile  act,  unworthy 
either  to  be  imposed  or  complied  with  by  man,  is  now  the  standing 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  127 


Pagan  and  popish  processions.  The  fiagellantes,  or  self-vvhippers. 

ceremonial  of  Christian  Rome,  and  a  necessary  condition  of  access 
to  the  reigning  Popes,  though  derived  from  no  better  origin  than 
the  frantic  pride  of  a  brutal  pagan  tyrant. 

(10.)  Processions  of  worshippers  and  self-whippers. — The  de- 
scriptions of  the  religious  pomps  and  processions  of  the  heathens 
come  so  near  to  what  we  see  on  every  festival  of  the  Virgin  or 
other  Romish  saint,  that  one  can  hardly  help  thinking  those  popish 
ones  to  be  still  regulated  by  the  old  ceremonial  of  pagan  Rome. 
At  these  solemnities  the  chief  magistrates  used  frequently  to  assist 
in  robes  of  ceremony,  attended  by  the  priests  in  surplices,  with 
wax  candles  in  their  hands,  carrying  upon  a  pageant  or  thensa  the 
images  of  their  gods,  dressed  out  in  their  best  clothes.  These 
were  usually  followed  by  the  principal  youth  of  the  place  in  white 
linen  vestments  or  surplices,  singing  hymns  in  honor  of  the  god 
whose  festival  they  were  celebrating,  accompanied  by  crowds  of 
all  sorts,  that  were  initiated  in  the  same  religion,  all  with  flambeaux 
or  wax  candles  in  their  hands.  This  is  the  account  which  Apuleius 
and  other  authors  give  us  of  a  pagan  procession ;  and  I  may  ap- 
peal to  all  who  have  been  abroad,  whether  it  might  not  pass  quite 
as  well  for  the  description  of  a  popish  one.  Tournefort,  in  his 
travels  through  Greece,  reflects  upon  the  Greek  church  for  having 
retained  and  taken  into  their  present  worship  many  of  the  old  rites 
of  heathenism,  and  particularly  that  of  carrying  and  dancing  about 
the  images  of  the  saints  in  their  processions  to  singing  and  music. 
The  reflection  is  full  as  applicable  to  his  own,  as  it  is  to  the  Greek 
church,  and  the  practice  itself  is  so  far  from  giving  scandal  in  Italy, 
that  the  learned  publisher  of  the  Florentine  Inscriptions  takes  occa- 
sion to  show  the  conformity  between  them  and  the  heathens,  from 
this  very  instance  of  carrying  about  the  pictures  of  their  saints,  as 
the  pagans  did  those  of  their  gods,  in  their  sacred  processions. 
(Inscrip.  Antiq.  Flor.,  377.) 

In  one  of  those  processions  made  lately  to  St.  Peter's  in  the 
time  of  Lent,  I  saw  that  ridiculous  penance  of  the  fiagellantes  or 
self-whippers,  who  march  with  whips  in  their  hands,  and  lash  them- 
selves as  they  go  along  on  the  bare  back  till  it  is  all  covered  with 
blood  ;  in  the  same  manner  as  the  fanatical  priests  of  Bellona  or 
the  Syrian  Goddess,  as  well  as  the  votaries  of  Isis,  used  to  slash 
and  cut  themselves  of  old,  in  order  to  please  the  goddess  by  the 
sacrifice  of  their  own  blood,  which  mad  piece  of  discipline  we  find 
frequently  mentioned  and  as  oft  ridiculed  by  the  ancient  writers. 

But  they  have  another  exercise  of  the  same  kind  and  in  the  same 
season  of  Lent,  which,  under  the  notion  of  penance,  is  still  a  more 
absurd  mockery  of  all  religion.  When  on  a  certain  day  appointed 
annually  for  this  discipline,  men  of  all  conditions  assemble  them- 
selves towards  the  evening  in  one  of  the  churches  of  the  city, 
where  the  whips  or  lashes  made  of  cords  are  provided  and  dis- 
tributed to  every  person  present,  and  after  they  are  all  served,  and 
a  short  office  of  devotion  performed,  the  candles  being  put  out, 
upon  the  warning  of  a  little  bell,  the  whole  company  begin  to  strip 


128  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ii. 

Seneca's  opinion  of  the  self  whippers.  Pugn  and  papal  mendicant  monks. 

and  try  the  force  of  these  whips  on  their  own  backs,  for  the  space 
of  Dear  an  hour;  during  all  which  time  the  church  becomes,  as  it 
were,  the  proper  image  of  hell  ;  where  nothing  is  heard  but  the 
noise  of  lashes  and  chains,  mixed  with  the  groans  of  those  self-tor- 
mentors ;  till  satiated  with  their  exercise  they  are  content  to  put 
on  their  clothes,  and  the  candles  being  lighted  again,  upon  the  tink- 
ling of  a  second  bell,  they  all  appear  in  their  proper  dress. 

Seneca,  alluding  to  the  very  same  effects  of  fanaticism  in  pagan 
Rome,  says,  "  So  great  is  the  force  of  it  on  disordered  minds,  that 
they  try  to  appease  the  gods  by  such  methods  as  an  enraged  man 
would  hardly  take  to  revenge  himself.  But,  if  there  be  any  gods 
who  desire  to  be  worshipped  after  this  manner,  they  do  not  deserve 
to  be  worshipped  at  all ;  since  the  very  worst  of  tyrants,  though 
they  have  sometimes  torn  and  tortured  people's  limbs,  yet  have 
never  commanded  men  to  torture  themselves." 

(11.)  Religious  orders  of  monks,  nuns,  fye. — The  great  variety 
of  their  religious  orders  and  societies  of  priests  seems  to  have  been 
formed  upon  the  plan  of  the  old  colleges  or  fraternities  of  the  Au- 
gurs, Pontifices,  Selli,  Fratres  Arvales,  &c.  The  vestal  virgins 
might  furnish  the  hint  for  the  foundation  of  nunneries  ;  and  I  have 
observed  something  very  like  to  the  rules  and  austerities  of  the 
monastic  life,  in  the  character  and  manner  of  several  priests  of  the 
heathens,  who  used  to  live  by  themselves  retired  from  the  world, 
near  to  the  temple  or  oracle  of  the  deity  to  whose  particular  ser- 
vice they  were  devoted  ;  as  the  Selli,  the  priests  of  Dodonsean  Jove, 
or  self-mortifying  race.  From  the  character  of  those  Selli,  or  as 
others  call  them  Elli,  the  monks  of  the  pagan  world,  seated  in  the 
fruitful  soil  of  Dodona,  abounding,  as  Hesiod  describes  it,  with 
everything  that  could  make  life  easy  and  happy,  and  whither  no 
man  ever  approached  them  without  an  offering  in  his  hands,  we 
may  learn  whence  their  successors  of  modern  times  have  derived 
their  peculiar  skill  or  prescriptive  right  of  choosing  the  richest  part 
of  every  country  for  the  place  of  their  settlement. 

Whose  groves  the  Selli,  race  austere,  surround  ; 

Their  feet  unwash'd,  their  slumbers  on  the  ground. — Pope,  II.  xvii.,  324. 

But  above  all,  in  the  old  descriptions  of  the  lazy  mendicant 
priests  among  the  heathens,  who  used  to  travel  from  house  to  house, 
with  sacks  on  their  backs,  and,  from  an  opinion  of  their  sanctity, 
raise  large  contributions  of  money,  bread,  wine,  and  all  kinds  of 
victuals  for  the  support  of  their  fraternity,  we  see  the  very  picture 
of  the  begging  friars,  who  are  always  about  the  streets  in  the  same 
habit  and  on  the  same  errand,  and  never  fail  to  carry  home  with 
them  a  good  sack  full  of  provisions  for  the  use  of  their  convent. 

Cicero,  in  his  book  of  laws,  restrains  this  practice  of  begging  or 
gathering  alms  to  one  particular  order  of  priests,  and  that  only  on 
certain  days ;  because,  as  he  says,  it  propagates  superstition  and 
impoverishes  families.  Which  may  let  us  see  the  policy  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  in  the  great  care  that  they  have  taken  to  multiply 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  600.  129 


This  conformity  between  Popery  and  Paganism  acknowledged  and  defended  by  a  Romanist  author. 


their  beo-fin^  orders.  '  Stipem  sustulimus,  usi  eam  quam  ad  paucos 
dies  propriam  Idsese  matris  excepimus.  Implet  enim  superstitione 
animos,  exhaurit  domos.'  (Cic.  de  Legib.,  1,  2,  9,  16.) 

§  48. — After  carrying  out  the  comparison  between  Paganism 
and  Popery,  in  relation  to  their  pretended  miracles,  lying  signs  and 
wonders,  &c,  Dr.  Middleton  concludes  his  learned  and  most  con- 
clusive letter  as  follows: — I  could  easily  carry  on  this  parallel, 
through  many  more  instances  of  the  pagan  and  popish  ceremonies, 
to  show  from  what  spring  all  that  superstition  flows,  which  we  so 
justly  charge  them  with,  and  how  vain  an  attempt  it  must  be  to 
justify  by  the  principles  of  Christianity,  a  worship  formed  upon 
the  plan  and  after  the  very  pattern  of  pure  heathenism.  I  shall 
not  trouble  myself  with  inquiring  at  what  time  and  in  what  manner 
those  several  corruptions  were  introduced  into  the  church  ;  whether 
they  were  contrived  by  the  intrigues  and  avarice  of  priests,  who 
found  their  advantage  in  reviving  and  propagating  impostures, 
which  had  been  of  old  so  profitable  to  their  predecessors  ;  or 
whether  the  genius  of  Rome  was  so  strongly  turned  to  fanaticism 
and  superstition  that  they  were  forced,  in  condescension  to  the 
humor  of  the  people,  to  dress  up  their  new  religion  to  the  modes 
and  fopperies  of  the  old.  This,  I  know,  is  the  principle  by  which 
their  own  writers  defend  themselves  as  oft  as  they  are  attacked  on 
this  head. 

Aringhus,  a  Roman  Catholic  writer,  in  his  account  of  subter- 
raneous Rome,  acknowledges  this  conformity  between  the  pagan 
and  popish  rites,  and  defends  the  admission  of  the  ceremonies  of 
heathenism  into  the  service  of  the  church  by  the  authority  of  their 
wisest  popes  and  governors  ;  "  who  found  it  necessary,"  he  says, 
"  in  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles,  to  dissemble  and  wink  at  many 
things  and  yield  to  the  times,  and  not  to  use  force  against  customs 
which  the  people  are  so  obstinately  fond  of,  nor  to  think  of  extir- 
pating at  once  everything  that  had  the  appearance  of  profane."  It 
is  by  the  same  principles  that  the  Jesuits  defend  the  concessions 
which  they  make  at  this  day  to  their  proselytes  in  China  ;  who, 
where  pure  Christianity  will  not  go  down,  never  scruple  to  com- 
pound the  matter  between  Jesus  and  Confucius,  and  prudently 
allow  what  the  stiff  old  prophets  so  impoliticly  condemned,  a  part- 
nership between  God  and  Baal ;  of  which,  though  they  have  often 
been  accused  at  the  court  of  Rome,  yet  I  have  never  heard  that 
their  conduct  has  been  censured.  But  this  kind  of  reasoning,  how 
plausible  soever  it  may  be,  with  regard  to  the  first  ages  of  Chris- 
tianity, or  to  nations  just  converted  from  Paganism,  is  so  far  from 
excusing  the  present  heathenism  of  the  church  of  Rome,  that  it 
is  a  direct  condemnation  of  it ;  since  the  necessity  alleged  for  the 
practice,  if  ever  it  had  any  real  force,  has  not,  at  least  for  many 
ages  past,  at  all  subsisted  ;  and  their  toleration  of  such  practices 
seems  now  to  be  the  readiest  way  to  drive  Christians  back  again 
to  heathenism. 

I  have  sufficiently  made  good  what  I  first  undertook  to  prove  ; 
9 


130  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  n. 

This  policy  of  conciliating  the  heathen  adopted  by  Gregory  the  Great 


an  exact  conformity,  or  rather  uniformity,  of  worship  between 
Popery  and  Paganism.  For  since  we  see  the  present  people  of 
Rome  worshipping  in  the  same  temples,  at  the  same  altars, 
sometimes  the  same  images,  and  always  with  the  same  cere- 
monies as  the  old  Romans,  who  can  absolve  them  from  the  same 
superstition  and  idolatry  of  which  we  condemn  their  pagan 
ancestors  ? 

Those  who  would  wish  to  see  this  striking  parallel  between 
Popery  and  Paganism  carried  out  yet  farther,  must  consult  the  valu- 
able and  masterly  work  to  which  I  am  indebted  for  most  of  these 
interesting  particulars,  with  the  full  references  and  original  quota- 
tions from  various  authorities,  ancient  as  well  as  modern,  Roman 
Catholic  as  well  as  protestant. 

§  49. — That  this  policy  of  conciliating  the  heathen  nations  by 
adopting  their  pagan  ceremonies  into  Christian  worship,  had  been 
adopted  previous  to  the  epoch  of  the  papal  supremacy,  A.  D.  600,  is 
abundantly  evident  from  the  instructions  given  by  Gregory  the 
Great,  to  Augustin,  his  missionary  in  Britain,  and  to  Serenus,  the 
bishop  of  Marseilles,  in  France,  both  of  whom  had  written  to  the 
pontiff  for  advice. 

The  account  of  Gregory's  instructions  to  Augustin,  as  related  by 
Bower,  is  as  follows :  "  Not  satisfied  with  directing  Austin  not  to 
destroy,  but  to  reserve  for  the  worship  of  God,  the  profane  places 
where  the  pagan  Saxons  had  worshipped  their  idols,  Gregory 
would  have  him  treat  the  more  profane  usages,  rites,  and  ceremo- 
nies of  the  pagans  in  the  same  manner,  that  is,  not  to  abolish,  but  to 
sanctify  them,  by  changing  the  end  for  which  they  were  instituted, 
and  introduce  them,  thus  sanctified,  into  the  Christian  worship. 
This  he  specifies  in  a  particular  ceremony.  '  Whereas  it  is  a  custom,' 
says  he, '  among  the  Saxons  to  slay  abundance  of  oxen,  and  sacri- 
fice them  to  the  devil,  you  must  not  abolish  that  custom,  but  ap- 
point a  new  festival  to  be  kept  either  on  the  clay  of  the  consecration 
of  the  churches,  or  the  birth-day  of  the  saints,  whose  relics  are 
deposited  there,  and  on  these  days  the  Saxons  may  be  allowed  to 
make  arbors  round  the  temples  changed  into  churches,  to  kill  their 
oxen,  and  to  feast,  as  they  did  while  they  were  still  pagans,  only 
they  shall  offer  their  thanks  and  praises,  not  to  the  devil,  but  to  God.' 
This  advice,  absolutely  irreconcilable  with  the  purity  of  the  gospel- 
worship,  the  Pope  founds  on  a  pretended  impossibility  of  wean- 
ing men  at  once  from  rites  and  ceremonies  to  which  they  have  been 
long  accustomed,  and  on  the  hopes  of  bringing  the  converts,  in  due 
time,  by  such  an  indulgence,  to  a  better  sense  of  their  duty  to  God. 
Thus  was  the  religion  of  the  Saxons,  our  ancestors,  so  disfigured 
and  corrupted  with  all  the  superstitions  of  Paganism,  at  its  first 
being  planted  among  them,  that  it  scarce  deserved  the  name  of 
Christianity,  but  was  rather  a  mixture  of  Christianity  and  Pagan- 
ism, or  Christianity  and  Paganism  moulded,  as  it  were,  into  a  third 
religion." 

The  other  instance  was  as  follows  :  "  The  Franks,  who  had  settled 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  AT  ITS  BIRTH.— A.  D.  606.  131 


He  commands  Serenus  to  restore  the  images  to  the  churches,  for  the  sake  of  gratifying  the  pagans. 

in  the  south  of  Gaul,  now  France,  had  been  indulged,  at  the  time 
of  their  conversion,  in  the  use  of  images,  and  that  indulgence 
had  insensibly  brought  them  back  to  idolatry,  for  turning  the  images 
of  Christ  into  idols,  they  paid  them  the  same  kind  of  worship  or 
adoration,  after  their  conversion,  which  they  had  paid  to  their  idols 
before  their  conversion.  This  Serenus  could  not  bear,  and,  there- 
fore, to  show  his  abhorrence  of  such  abominations,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  prevent  them  in  time  to  come,  he  caused  all  the  images 
throughout  his  diocese  to  be  pulled  down,  and  to  be  cast  out  of  the 
churches,  and  destroyed.  That  wise  and  zealous  prelate  was,  it 
seems,  even  then,  when  the  dangerous  practice  of  setting  up  images 
was  yet  in  its  infancy,  apprised  of  a  truth,  which  all  have  now 
learned  by  the  experience  of  many  ages, — all,  at  least,  who  care  to 
learn  it,  viz. :  that  images  cannot  be  allowed,  and  idolatry  pre- 
vented. However,  this  instance  of  his  zeal  for  the  purity  of  the 
Christian  worship,  was  very  ill  received  at  Rome.  And,  indeed, 
Gregory  acted  therein  consistently  with  himself,  for,  having  directed 
Austin,  this  very  year,  to  introduce  the  pagan  rites  and  usages  into 
the  church,  he  could  not  but  blame  Serenus  for  thus  excluding  them, 
and  he  wrote  to  him  accordingly,  commending  indeed  his  zeal  in  not 
suffering  to  be  worshipped  that  which  was  made  with  hands,  but  at 
the  same  time  blaming  him  for  breaking  them, '  to  prevent  their  being 
worshipped,  since  they  served  the  ignorant  in  the  room  of  books, 
and  instructed,  by  being  seen,  those  who  could  not  read.'  But  the 
reason  on  which  the  pope  seems  to  have  laid  his  chief  stress,  in 
censuring  the  conduct  of  Serenus,  was,  that,  by  breaking  the  images, 
and  banishing  them  from  the  churches,  he  would  prejudice  the  bar- 
barians (that  is,  the  Franks),  among  whom  he  lived,  against  the 
Christian  religion  ;  so  that  it  was  chiefly  to  gratify  the  pagans,  who 
were  converted,  to  facilitate  the  conversion  of  the  others,  and  to 
adapt  the  Christian  religion  to  their  ideas  and  notions,  that  the  use 
of  images,  and  many  other  rites  of  the  pagan  worship,  were  allowed 
in  the  church.  But  how  different  was  this  method  of  converting 
the  pagans  from  that  which  the  apostles  pursued,  and  their  immedi- 
ate successors,  nay,  and  all  apostolic  men  for  the  three  first  centu- 
ries after  Christ  ?  With  them  it  was  a  principle  not  to  sanctify,  but 
utterly  to  abolish  all  pagan  rites,  all  superstitious  practices  what- 
ever, and  introduce,  in  their  room,  a  plainness  and  simplicity  suited 
to  the  worship  of  God,  in  spirit  and  truth.  Upon  that  principle 
images  of  no  kind  were  suffered  in  the  churches  during  the  three 
first  centuries,  as  is  allowed  by  several  Roman  Catholic  writers  ; 
nay,  it  was  not  till  the  latter  end  of  the  fourth  century,  that  the 
pao-an  temples  began  to  be  converted  into  Christian  churches.  They 
had  all,  till  then,  been  either  shut  up,  or  pulled  down,  the  bishops  of 
those  times  thinking  it  a  great  profanation  to  worship  God  even  in 
the  places  where  worship  had  been  paid  to  the  devil."* 

The  above  remarkable  instances  of  papal  conformity  to  Pagan- 

*  Bower's  History  of  the  Popes,  in  vita  Gregory  I. 


132  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ii. 

This  time-serving  conformity  to  Paganism,  as  early  as  the  papal  supremacy. 

ism,  related  upon  the  unquestionable  authority  of  Gregory's  own 
epistles,*  are  a  proof  that  this  wicked  policy  had  been  thus  early 
adopted,  and  though  it  is  not  perhaps  absolutely  certain  that  all  the  pa- 
gan ceremonies,  above  enumerated,  were  introduced  into  the  Romish 
worship  so  early  as  GOG,  yet,  without  doubt,  most  of  them  were  in  use 
in  the  time  of  Boniface,  and  the  others,  not  long  after.  The  Pantheon, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  consecrated  to  "  the  virgin  and  all  the  saints," 
within  four  or  five  years  of  the  establishment  of  the  papal  supre- 
macy ;  and  on  that  occasion  pope  Boniface  IV.  employed  the  newly 
acquired  papal  authority,  in  enjoining  upon  all  the  faithful  the 
observance  of  a  festival  in  commemoration  of  that  event,  which  is 
still  celebrated  with  great  ceremony  in  all  popish  countries,  on  the 
first  of  November,  called  the  Feast  of  All  Saints.  Image  worship,  as 
we  shall  see,  was  not  finally  and  fully  established  till  about  the 
middle  of  the  ninth  century,  after  a  long  contest  between  different 
emperors,  popes,  and  councils.  The  history  and  origin  of  these 
pagan  innovations  upon  Christian  worship,  has  been  given  at  con- 
siderable length,  because  it  is  believed  that  the  most  satisfactory 
mode  is  thereby  suggested  of  answering  the  question  which  so  fre- 
quently presents  itself  to  the  candid  and  inquiring  mind,  when  con- 
templating the  heathen  mummeries  of  papal  worship.  Can  it  be 
possible  that  this  is  Christianity  ?  that  this  is  the  religion  of  the  New 
Testament  1  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles  ?  and  if  it  is  called  by 
the  name,  whence  did  it  become  so  corrupted  ?  so  like  the  religion 
of  pagan  Greece  and  Rome  ?  The  answer  is  no,  this  is  not  Chris- 
tianity, it  is  Paganism,  under  that  venerated  name,  and  the  trans- 
formation was  effected  by  borrowing  the  temples,  the  idols,  and  the 
ceremonies  of  heathenism,  to  silence  the  scruples,  and  to  win  the 
suffrages  of  those  who  had  no  taste  for  a  religion  so  pure,  so  spirit- 
ual, AND  SO  HOLY  AS  THE  RELIGION  OF  CHRIST. 

*  See  Epist.  Greg.,  lib.  ix.,  epist.  71,  and  lib.  vii.,  epist  110. 


133 
BOOK    III. 

POPERY  ADVANCING-A.D, 606-800. 


FROM    THE    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    THE    SPIRITUAL    SUPREMACY,    A.  D.    606, 

TO    THE    POPES'    TEMPORAL    SOVEREIGNTY,    756,  AND    TO    THE 

CROWNING    OF    THE    EMPEROR    CHARLEMAGNE,    800. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GRADUAL    INCREASE    OF   THE    PAPAL    POWER.       DARKNESS,  SUPERSTITION, 
AND    IGNORANCE    OF    THIS    PERIOD. 

§  1. — That  part  of  the  above-named  period  extending  from 
the  establishment  of  the  papal  supremacy  in  606  to  the  epoch 
of  the  Popes'  temporal  sovereignty,  756,  possesses  peculiar  interest 
to  the  student  of  history.  These  two  dates  are  those  upon  which 
writers  on  the  prophecies,  relative  to  Popery,  have  been  chiefly 
divided  as  to  the  proper  commencement  of  its  existence  as  the 
little  horn  of  Daniel  (ch.  vii.  8).  The  most  judicious  writers,  how- 
ever, have  generally  preferred  the  latter  date,  or  some  other  noting 
the  increase  or  confirmation  of  the  Popes'  temporal  power,  as 
Popery  could  not  properly  be  called  a  horn  till  it  was,  like  the 
other  horns,  a  temporal  sovereignty. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  various  churches  of  the  West, 
much  less  of  the  East,  gave  up  without  a  struggle  their  ancient 
liberty  and  independence  as  soon  as  the  decree  of  a  tyrant  consti- 
tuted the  Roman  prelate  Universal  Bishop  and  supreme  head  of  the 
church.  The  Popes,  it  is  true,  used  all  sorts  of  means  to  maintain 
and  enlarge  the  authority  and  pre-eminence  which  they  had  ac- 
quired by  a  grant  from  the  most  odious  tyrant  that  ever  disgraced 
the  annals  of  history.  We  find,  however,  in  the  most  authentic  ac- 
counts of  the  transactions  of  this  century,  that  not  only  several 
emperors  and  princes,  but  also  whole  nations,  opposed  the  ambitious 
views  of  the  bishops  of  Rome.  Besides  all  this,  multitudes  of  pri- 
vate persons  expressed  publicly,  and  without  the  least  hesitation, 
their  abhorrence  of  the  vices,  and  particularly  of  the  lordly  am- 
bition of  the  Roman  pontiffs  ;  and  it  is  highly  probable,  that  the 
Waldenses  or  Vaudois  had  already,  in  this  century,  retired  into  the 
valleys  of  Piedmont,  that  they  might  be  more  at  their  liberty  to 
oppose  the  tyranny  of  those  imperious  prelates.* 

*  See  Antoine  Leger's  Histoire  des  Eglises  Vaudoises,  livr.  i.,  p.  15. 


131  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ni. 

Election  of  popes  confirmed  by  the  Emperor.  Popish  morality  No  faith  with  heretics. 

§  2. — The  popes  were  still  the  subjects  of  the  Roman  emperors, 
and  their  election  to  the  Popedom  gave  them  no  official  authority 
till  confirmed  either  by  the  Emperor  himself  or  his  viceroy  in  Italy, 
the  exarch  of  Ravenna.  This,  of  course,  was  nothing  more  than 
natural  and  just,  that  since  this  spiritual  sovereignty  was  created 
by  the  Emperor  it  should  be  confirmed  by  the  same  authority. 
Sometimes  when  the  popes  elect  were  suspected  of  being  opposed 
to  the  views  of  the  Emperor,  considerable  difficulty  was  ex- 
perienced in  obtaining  the  imperial  confirmation  of  their  election. 
Thus,  upon  the  election  of  pope  Scverinus  in  640,  we  learn  from  a 
letter  of  the  monk  Maximus,  that  the  emperor  Heraclius,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  clergy  of  Constantinople,  refused  to  confirm  his 
election  to  the  popedom  till  his  legates  had  promised  the  Emperor 
to  persuade  the  newly-elected  pope  to  sign  the  Echthesis,  a  decree 
of  which  we  shall  hear  more  in  a  future  chapter  ;  but,  adds  the 
monk,  though  they  complied  with  the  Emperor's  demand,  they 
never  intended  to  perform  so  sinful  a  promise.  So  that,  as  Bower 
remarks,  "  they  did  not,  it  seems,  think  it  sinful  to  make  a  promise 
which  they  thought  it  sinful  to  perform."*  A  characteristic  illus- 
tration of  genuine  popish  morality  !  But  why  complain  ?  Hera- 
clius, in  the  estimation  of  the  Pope  and  his  legates,  was  a  heretic, 
and  the  votaries  of  Rome  had  already  learned  to  act  upon  the  prin- 
ciple, so  shamelessly  avowed  seven  or  eight  centuries  later,  in  the 
council  of  Constance,  that  no  faith  is  to  be  kept  with  heretics. 
The  consequence  of  this  delay  was,  that  pope  Severinus  was  not 
ordained  till  about  a  year  and  a  half  after  his  election. 

§  3. — In  685,  pope  Benedict  II.,  according  to  the  account  of  the 
Romish  historian  Anastasius,  had  sufficient  influence  with  the 
emperor  Constantine  IV.  to  obtain  from  him  a  decree  permitting 
the  ordination  of  popes  in  future,  immediately  upon  their  election, 
without  waiting  for  the  confirmation  of  the  Emperor  or  his  deputy 
in  Italy  ;  but  in  less  than  two  years,  Justinian,  who  had  succeeded 
his  father  in  the  empire,  conceiving  this  to  be  a  dangerous  conces- 
sion, revoked  the  decree,  and  vested  the  power  of  confirming  the 
election  of  future  popes  in  the  exarch  of  Italy,  commonly  called, 
from  the  place  of  his  residence,  the  exarch  of  Ravenna.  Two  or 
three  years  later  the  Exarch  made  a  profitable  use  of  this  privilege 
by  unjustly  extorting  an  enormous  sum  from  pope  Sergius,  before 
consenting  to  confirm  his  election. f  It  had  ever  been  the  custom, 
at  least  since  the  decree  of  Phocas,  to  pay  a  certain  sum  into  the  im- 
perial treasury,  when  the  election  of  a  pope  was  confirmed,  but  in 
this  case  the  Exarch  demanded  a  much  larger  sum  than  usual. 
The  circumstances  were  these  :  In  the  year  687,  two  candidates 
for  the  popedom,  Theodore  and  Pascal,  had  been  elected  by  rival 

*  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  21. 

f  Anastasius  in  vita  Sergius.  This  historian,  generally  called  Anastasius  Bib- 
liothecarius,  lived  in  the  ninth  century.  He  was  the  librarian  of  the  church  of 
Rome  and  abhot  of  St.  Mary  beyond  the  Tiber.  He  wrote  Liber  Pontificalis,  in 
four  volumes,  folio,  containing  the  lives  of  some  of  the  popes. 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.D.  606—800.  135 

Price  of  a  seat  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  The  Pope  appoints  Theodore  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

parties.  A  violent  and  disgraceful  tumult  ensued  between  the  re- 
spective friends  of  each.  The  judges  and  magistrates  of  Rome  in 
vain  sought  to  bring  the  two  ambitious  priests  to  an  agreement, 
and  to  induce  one  to  yield  to  the  other.  Failing  in  this  attempt, 
they  formed  a  new  party,  and  proceeded  to  efect  a  third  candidate 
named  Sergius,  and  carrying  him  in  triumph  to  the  Lateran,  forced 
the  gates  and  put  him  in  possession  of  the  place.  Upon  this  Theo- 
dore yielded  his  claim  and  joined  the  party  of  Sergius.  The  other 
competitor,  Paschal,  obstinately  persisted  in  his  claim.  He  had 
made  a  private  agreement  with  the  Exarch  to  reward  him  with  a 
bribe  of  thirty  pounds  of  gold,  upon  condition  that  he  should  be 
chosen  and  confirmed  as  pope.  Instead,  therefore,  of  yielding  to 
Sergius,  he  despatched  a  messenger  in  all  haste  to  Ravenna,  for  the 
Exarch  immediately  to  repair  to  Rome  and  consummate  his  agree- 
ment. Upon  the  arrival  of  the  latter  in  the  city,  learning  the  dis- 
couraging situation  of  Paschal's  affairs,  and  concluding  that  he 
could  make  a  better  bargain  with  Sergius,  he  immediately  acknow- 
ledged him  as  pope,  but  demanded  the  enormous  sum  of  one  hun- 
dred pounds  of  gold  before  he  would  consent  to  confirm  his  elec- 
tion. In  the  end,  though  much  against  his  will,  Sergius  was  under 
the  necessity  of  submitting  to  the  exorbitant  demand,  though  he 
had  to  pawn  the  very  ornaments  of  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter  before 
he  could  raise  the  sum  necessary  to  secure  the  imperial  signature 
to  the  decree  confirming  his  election.  The  above  is  named,  upon 
the  authority  of  Anastasius,  only  as  a  specimen  of  the  means  fre- 
quently resorted  to  in  order  to  supply  the  links  in  this  boasted  un- 
broken chain  of  holy  apostolical  succession  !  It  serves  also  as 
an  illustration  of  the  fact  that  the  popes  had  not  yet  attained  tem- 
poral sovereignty,  but  were  still  dependent  for  the  spiritual  power 
they  wielded  upon  the  emperors. 

§  4. — The  popes,  however,  were  restless,  under  this  odious  re- 
straint ;  they  had  reached,  by  means  of  the  emperors,  the  height  of 
spiritual  supremacy,  and  now  they  were  anxious  to  knock  away  the 
ladder  by  which  they  had  attained  this  eminence,  render  themselves 
independent  of  all  earthly  governments,  and  assume  a  rank  among 
the  temporal  sovereigns  of  the  earth,  and,  they  watched  with  eagle 
gaze  for  every  opportunity  of  confirming  and  enlarging  their  power. 
One  remarkable  instance  of  this  occurred  in  the  appointment  by  the 
sole  authority  of  the  Pope,  in  667,  of  Theodore,  as  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  the  prelate  that  had  been 
appointed  in  England,  while  waiting  at  Rome  for  his  ordination. 
To  reconcile  king  Oswy  to  his  assumption,  he,  the  Pope,  sent  him  a 
flattering  letter,  with  a  choice  collection  of  his  trumpery  relics,  and 
to  his  "  spiritual  daughter,"  the  queen,  he  sent  a  cross  and  golden 
key,  enriched  with  a  portion  of  the  filings  of  Peter's  noted  chain. 
Theodore,  after  having  his  head  shaved  according  to  the  Roman  law, 
was  despatched  to  England,  and  forthwith  acknowledged,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  having  been  chosen  and  ordained  by  the  successor  of 
St.  Peter,  as  the  primate  of  all  England.     From  that  time  to  the 


130  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  m. 

Important  matters  of  dispute. Ecclesiastical  tonsure. Different  ways  of  shaving  heads. 

present,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  has  enjoyed  a  degree  of  power 
and  authority  in  Great  Britain,  superior  to  that  of  any  other  eccle- 
siastic in  the  realm. 

§  5. — As  a  specimen  of  the  important  matters  of  disputation 
which  in  this  age  were  regarded  as  of  sufficient  importance  to 
divide  the  ignorant  priests  and  monks  into  opposite  and  contending 
parties,  may  be  mentioned,  the  famous  dispute  in  England,  relative 
to  what  was  called  the  ecclesiastical  tonsure.  In  plain  English,  the 
manner  in  which  the  priests  should  shave  their  heads  I  When  the 
missionaries  who  came  over  to  Britain  from  Rome,  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  seventh  century,  encountered  the  Scottish  and  Irish  priests, 
they  were  horrified  at  the  terrible  discovery  that  the  British  clergy, 
instead  of  a  circular  tonsure  on  the  occiput,  were  distinguished  by 
a  tonsure  on  the  forehead,  in  the  shape  of  a  crescent !  And  this  was 
the  momentous  cause  of  the  fierce  controversy  that  ensued  between 
the  two  parties.  "  The  grand  question  was,"  says  Bower,  "  whether 
the  hair  of  the  priests  and  monks  should  be  clipped  or  shaved  on 
the  fore  part  of  the  head,  from  ear  to  ear,  in  the  form  of  a  semicir- 
cle, or  on  the  top  of  the  head,  in  form  of  a  circle,  to  imitate  the 
crown  of  thorns  which  our  Saviour  wore,  and  of  which  it  was 
thought  to  be  an  emblem.  The  Scots  shaved  the  fore  part  of  their 
heads,  and  the  missionaries  from  Rome  the  top,  calling  that  the  ton- 
sure of  St.  Peter,  as  if  it  had  been  derived  from  that  apostle.  When, 
by  whom,  or  on  what  occasion,  the  ecclesiastical  tonsure,  that  is, 
the  clipping  or  shaving  the  hair  of  the  ecclesiastics,  was  first  intro- 
duced, is  not  well  known.  But  certain  it  is,  that  in  the  time  of  St. 
Jerome,  who  flourished  in  the  end  of  the  fourth,  and  beginning  of  the 
fifth  century,  a  Romish  priest,  with  his  shaven  crown,  would  have 
been  taken  for  a  priest  of  Isis  or  Serapis  ;  a  shaven  crown  being 
then,  as  that  father  informs  us,  the  characteristic  or  badge  of  those 
priests.  As  for  the  Christian  priests,  they  were  neither  to  shave  their 
heads,  as  we  learn  of  the  same  father,  lest  they  should  look  too  like  the 
priests  and  votaries  of  Isis  and  Serapis ;  nor  to  suffer  their  hair  to 
grow  long,  after  the  luxurious  manner  of  the  barbarians  and  soldiers, 
but  to  observe  a  decent  mean  between  the  two  extremes  ;  that  is,  as  he 
explains  it,  to  let  the  hair  grow  long  enough  to  cover  their  skin.  It 
was  therefore  probably  the  custom  to  cut  their  hair  to  a  moderate 
degree,  at  their  ordination,  not  by  way  of  a  religious  mystery,  but 
merely  for  the  sake  of  decency,  and  that  nothing  else  was  originally 
meant  by  the  ecclesiastical  tonsure.  However  that  be,  the  cutting 
of  the  hair  was,  in  process  of  time,  improved  into  a  mystery,  and  the 
heathenish  ceremony  of  shaving  the  head  not  only  adopted  by  the 
church,  but  looked  upon  as  important  enough  to  divide  it."  (See 
Engraving.) 

§  6. — A  curious  illustration  of  the  importance  attached  to  this 
foolish  custom  of  shaving  the  head  in  a  particular  manner,  is  con- 
nected with  the  ordination  of  Theodore  above  referred  to,  and  is 
related  upon  the  authority  of  the  venerable  Bcde.  In  the  year  667, 
Oswy  and  Egbert,  the  kings  of  Northumberland  and  Kent  in  Eng- 


Romish  Scottish.  Eastern. 

Different  Forms  of  Priestly  Tonsure,  or  Shaving  Heads. 


I  IIS,;iK 


Consecral of  an  Abbot  by  Imposition  of  Hands 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  ADVANCING.— A.  D.  606— 800.  139 

An  archbishop  waiting  to  have  his  head  shaved.  The  Pope  encourages  appeals  to  Rome. 

land,  despatched  Wighard,  a  newly  elected  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury to  receive  his  ordination  from  the  hands  of  the  Pope,  with  a 
present  to  St.  Peter,  of  several  valuable  articles  of  silver  and  gold. 
Wighard,  dying  of  the  plague,  which  then  raged  at  Rome,  the  Pope 
resolved  to  embrace  the  favorable  opportunity  of  advancing  his 
power,  by  choosing  an  archbishop  himself,  instead  of  sending  to  the 
two  kings,  to  request  them,  according  to  the  previous  custom,  to 
elect  a  successor  to  Wighard.  The  Pope  soon  after  nominated  an 
Eastern  monk,  named  Theodore,  and  informed  the  two  kings  that 
he  would  proceed  to  his  consecration,  and  despatch  him  to  England 
Notwithstanding  they  were  impatiently  expecting  his  arrival,  three 
months  were  permitted  to  elapse  before  his  consecration,  and  what 
does  the  reader  suppose  was  the  all-important  cause  of  this  delay. 
Risiim  teneatis,  amici !  The  historian  gravely  informs  us  that  he 
was  tarrying  at  Rome  till  his  hair  was  grown  !  Theodore  being 
an  Eastern  monk,  had  his  head  shaved  all  over,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  East,  and  this  was  called  the  tonsure  of  St.  Paul. 
The  Pope  deemed  it  necessary,  therefore,  to  delay  the  consecration 
till  his  hair  was  grown  all  over,  so  that  he  might  be  shaven  only  on 
the  top  of  his  head,  in  the  form  of  a  crown.  This  was  called  the 
Roman  tonsure,  or  the  tonsure  of  St.  Peter.  It  would  hardly  be 
deemed  credible  that  so  much  importance  should  be  attached  to 
such  puerile  trifles,  were  not  the  fact  confirmed  by  the  continuance 
of  this  absurd  and  senseless  heathen  practice  of  shaving  the  top  of 
the  head  among  the  priests  of  Rome,  down  to  the  present  day. 

§  7. — Another  most  effectual  way  which  the  popes  took  to  in- 
crease their  power  and  influence,  in  this  period,  was  to  encourage 
appeals  from  the  decisions  of  other  ecclesiastical  courts  to  the  apos- 
tolic See,  by  almost  invariably  deciding  in  favor  of  the  appellant, 
whatever  might  be  the  just  merits  of  the  case.  Thus  in  the  very 
next  year  after  the  appointment  of  Theodore  to  Canterbury,  the 
same  pope  Vitalianus  reversed  the  judgment  of  a  synod  consisting 
of  all  the  bishops  of  the  island  of  Crete,  against  one  John,  bishop  of 
Lappa  in  that  island,  who  had  been  found  guilty  of  certain  crimes, 
absolved  the  criminal,  and  imperiously  commanded  Paul,  the  pri- 
mate of  Crete,  to  restore  the  deposed  bishop  to  his  office. 

The  same  thing  happened  a  few  years  later,  in  the  case  of  Wil- 
frid, bishop  of  York,  who,  according  to  the  biographer  of  queen 
Etheldreda,  the  wife  of  Ecgfrid,  king  of  Northumberland,  had  en- 
couraged that  queen  in  a  resolution  she  had  formed,  to  refuse  to  the 
king  the  rights  of  a  husband,  and  to  take  a  vow  of  chastity,  and 
retire  into  a  monastery.  Persisting  in  this  resolution,  in  express 
opposition  to  the  wishes  of  her  husband,  the  king  requested  Wilfrid 
to  use  his  influence  with  the  queen,  to  bring  her  to  a  sense  of  her 
duty.  Instead  of  this,  however,  he  only  confirmed  her  in  her  reso- 
lution, and  the  queen  retired  to  a  monastery  in  Scotland,  where  she 
received  the  veil  at  the  hands  of  Wilfrid  himself.  The  king,  who 
loved  his  wife  with  the  greatest  tenderness,  took  a  journey  to  Scot- 
land, to  try  and  persuade  her  to  return,  but  failing  in  this,  he  vented 


140  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ra. 

Wilfrid,  an  English  bishop,  appeals  with  success  to  pope  Agalho.  First  form  of  a  bishop's  oath. 

his  indignation  against  Wilfrid,  caused  him  to  be  deposed  from  his 
bishopric,  by  Theodore,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  banished 
him  from  the  kingdom  of  Northumberland.  Wilfrid  appealed  to  the 
Pope,  and  was  received  by  Agatho  with  the  greatest  respect  and 
honor.  The  merit  of  appealing  to  the  apostolic  See,  especially  as 
he  was  the  first  British  ecclesiastic  who  had,  in  this  way,  acknow- 
ledged the  supremacy  of  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  was,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Pope,  sufficient  to  cover  a  multitude  of  sins.  Wilfrid  was 
declared  innocent  and  unjustly  deposed,  and  ordered  to  be  restored 
to  his  See,  and  the  clergy,  as  well  as  the  laity  of  England,  were 
required  to  pay  implicit  obedience  to  this  decision,  the  former,  on 
pain  of  being  deposed,  and  the  latter  of  being  for  ever  excluded  from 
the  Eucharist.* 

§  8. — During  the  pontificate  of  pope  Gregory  II.,  the  first 
instance  was  exhibited  of  a  Roman  pontiff  requiring  a  solemn  oath 
of  allegiance  and  submission  from  his  legates  and  bishops.  It  was 
in  the  case  of  the  celebrated  Winfrid  or  Boniface,  who  has  been  called, 
the  apostle  of  Germany.  Boniface  was  a  native  of  England,!  and 
in  the  year  716,  voluntarily  went  on  a  mission  among  the  pagans  of 
Germany,  and  after  laboring  with  zeal  and  success  for  several  years  ; 
repairing  to  Rome  at  the  command  of  the  Pope,  he  was  ordained  a 
bishop,  and  appointed  by  Gregory,  his  legate  to  all  the  inhabitants 
of  Germany.  Upon  this  occasion,  the  Pope  required  him  to  take 
the  following  oath  at  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter : 

"  In  the  name  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  sev- 
enth year  of  our  most  pious  emperor  Leo,  in  the  fourth  of  his  son 
Constantine,  and  in  the  seventh  indiction,  I,  Boniface,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  bishop,  promise  to  you,  blessed  Peter,  prince  of  the  apostles, 
to  blessed  Gregory  your  vicar,  and  to  his  successors,  by  the  undi- 
vided trinity,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  by  this  your  most 
sacred  body,  to  maintain  to  the  last,  with  the  help  of  God,  the 
purity  and  unity  of  the  holy  Catholic  faith ;  to  consent  to  nothing 
contrary  to  either ;  to  consult  in  all  things  the  interest  of  your 
church,  and  in  all  things  to  concur  with  you,  to  whom  power  has 
been  given  of  binding  and  loosing,  with  the  above-mentioned  vicar, 
and  with  his  successors.  If  I  shall  hear  of  any  bishops  acting 
contrary  to  the  canons,  I  shall  not  communicate,  nor  entertain  any 
commerce  writh  them,  but  reprove  and  retrieve  them,  if  I  can  ;  if  I 
cannot,  I  shall  acquaint  therewith  my  lord  the  Pope.  If  I  do  not 
faithfully  perform  what  I  now  promise,  may  I  be  found  guilty  at  the 
tribunal  of  the  eternal  Judge,  and  incur  the  punishment  inflicted  by 
you  on  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  who  presumed  to  deceive  and  de- 
fraud you." 

When  Boniface  had  taken  this  oath,  he  laid  it  written  with  his 
own  hand  on  the  pretended  body  of  St.  Peter,  and  said,  "  This  is 

*  Eddius'  Life  of  Wilfrid,  chap,  li.,  quoted  by  Bower,  vol.  iii.,  page  59. 
t  See  Fleury's  Ecclesiastical  History,  book  xli.,  35,  &c,  and  Dupin,  8th  cen- 
tury, Boniface. 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  ADVANCING.— A.  D.  606—800.  141 

Horrid  cruelties  of  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  on  the  refractory  bishop  of  Ravenna. 

the  oath  which  I  have  taken,  and  which  I  promise  to  keep."  How 
painful  to  think  that  so  holy  and  self-denying  a  man  as  Boniface, 
both  from  his  life  and  death,  appears  to  have  been,  should  have  been 
thus  blinded  by  superstitious  reverence  for  the  holy  See,  and  espe- 
cially for  the  artful,  unworthy,  and  ambitious  Gregory,  who  exacted 
from  him  this  oath  !  We  shall  perceive  that  in  future  ages  the 
popes  improved  upon  this  oath,  though  all  who  read  it  must  admit 
that  it  was  a  pretty  fair  specimen  for  a  beginning. 

§  9. — The  popes  of  this  age  also  strove  to  establish  and  confirm 
their  power,  by  punishing  to  the  utmost  of  their  ability,  all  who 
should  presume  to  rebel  against  the  authority  of  the  apostolic  See. 
An  instance  of  this  is  given  in  the  case  of  the  cruel  vengeance  in- 
flicted by  the  Emperor,  through  the  persuasions  of  pope  Constantine, 
upon  Felix  and  his  associates.  In  the  early  part  of  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, Felix,  archbishop  elect  of  Ravenna,  came  to  Rome  to  receive 
ordination  from  the  Pope,  having  first,  according  to  Anastasius, 
promised  obedience  and  subjection  to  the  Roman  See.  Upon  his 
return  to  Ravenna,  being  encouraged  by  the  people,  Felix  withdrew 
himself  from  all  subjection  to  Rome,  and  asserted  the  independence 
of  his  See.  Of  his  motives  for  this  step  we  are  not  informed.  Per- 
haps, like  Luther  in  after  times,  he  had  seen  during  his  visit  too 
much  of  the  pretended  successors  of  St.  Peter,  to  be  willing  longer 
to  acknowledge  their  lofty  assumptions.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the 
Pope  was  no  sooner  informed  of  the  conduct  of  Felix,  than  trans- 
ported with  rage,  he  immediately  wrote  to  the  Emperor  Justinian, 
entreating  him  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  prince  of  the  apostles, 
and  demanding  vengeance  on  the  rebels  against  St.  Peter.  The 
Emperor,  who  at  this  time  was  desirous  to  oblige  the  Pope,  imme- 
diately ordered  one  of  his  generals  to  repair  to  Ravenna,  to  seize  on 
the  archbishop,  and  the  other  rebels  against  St.  Peter,  and  send 
them  in  chains  to  Constantinople,  where  all  except  the  archbishop 
were  soon  after  put  to  death,  and  the  latter,  after  having  his  eyes 
cruelly  dug  out  of  their  sockets,  was  banished  to  Pontus.  The 
popish  historian,  Anastasius,  has  the  audacity  to  ascribe  those 
horrid  cruelties  of  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  to  God  and  St.  Peter. 
"  And  thus,"  says  he,  "  by  a  just  judgment  of  God,  and  by  the  sen- 
tence of  St.  Peter,  all  were,  in  the  end,  deservedly  cut  off,  who  re- 
fused to  pay  the  obedience  that  was  due  to  the  apostolic  See." 

§  10. — In  addition  to  these  various  ways  adopted  by  the  popes  of 
extending  their  power  and  influence,  and  of  inspiring  with  terror 
of  their  authority,  all  who  should  presume  to  oppose  them,  they 
made  the  most  extravagant  claims  to  the  reverence  and  homage  of 
the  people.  About  the  commencement  of  the  eighth  century,  the 
debasing  custom  originated,  which  has  continued  ever  since,  of 
kissing  the  pope's  foot.  The  emperor  Justinian  is  thought  thus  to 
have  degraded  himself  upon  the  occasion  of  a  visit  of  pope  Con- 
stantine, to  the  East,  the  very  next  year  after  he  had  been  guilty  of 
the  cruelties  just  named,  to  the  unfortunate  bishop  of  Ravenna.  As 
this  visit  of  Constantine  well  illustrates  the  extravagant  honors  paid 


142  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  hi. 

The  emperor  Justinian  kisses  the  Pope's  foot.  Character  of  this  tyrant. 

to  the  popes  of  this  age,  it  may  be  well  to  give  a  brief  account  of  it. 
In  the  year  710,  the  Pope  received  an  order  from  Justinian  to 
repair  to  Constantinople  as  soon  as  convenient,  and  embarked  on 
the  5th  of  October,  for  that  city,  accompanied  by  two  bishops  and  a 
large  number  of  the  inferior  clergy.  The  Emperor  addressed  an 
order  to  all  governors,  judges,  and  magistrates  of  the  places  through 
which  he  should  pass,  to  pay  to  him  precisely  the  same  honors  as 
they  would  if  he  were  the  Emperor  himself.  At  every  place  he 
touched  at,  he  was  received  in  a  kind  of  triumph,  amidst  the  joyful 
acclamations  and  homage  of  the  people.  On  approaching  Constan- 
tinople, he  was  met  seven  miles  from  the  city,  by  Tiberius,  the 
Emperor's  son,  the  senate,  the  nobility,  the  chief  citizens,  and  the 
patriarch  Cyrus  at  the  head  of  his  clergy.  Thus  attended,  and 
mounted,  together  with  the  chief  persons  of  his  retinue,  on  the  Em- 
peror's own  horses,  richly  caparisoned,  he  arrived  at  the  palace 
assigned  for  his  habitation.  The  Emperor,  who  was  absent  at  the 
time  of  his  arrival,  as  soon  as  he  received  the  intelligence,  appointed 
to  meet  the  Pope  at  Nicomedia,  and  it  was  there  that  Anastasius 
informs  us,  "  the  most  Christian  Emperor"  prostrated  himself  on 
the  ground,  with  the  crown  on  his  head,  kissed  his  feet,  and  then 
cordially  embraced  him.  On  the  following  Sunday  Justinian  re- 
ceived the  sacrament  at  the  hands  of  the  Pope,  begged  his  Holiness 
to  intez-cede  for  him  that  God  might  forgive  his  sins,  and  renewed 
and  confirmed  all  the  privileges  that  had  ever  been  granted  to  the 
Roman  See.* 

§  11. — It  is  unfortunate  for  the  credit  of  the  Romish  church,  that 
this  "  most  Christian  Emperor,"  as  the  popish  historian  calls  him, 
like  the  other  two  sovereigns  to  whom  that  apostate  church  was 
indebted  for  her  most  valuable  favors,  Phocas  and  Irene,  was  one 
of  the  most  bloodthirsty  of  tyrants,  and  the  most  abandoned  of  the 
human  family.  He  delighted  in  nothing  so  much  as  in  cruelty  and 
revenge,  in  bloodshed  and  slaughter.  After  returning  from  Cher- 
sonesus,  where,  in  consequence  of  his  tyranny,  he  had  been  driven 
into  banishment ;  in  consequence  of  supposing  his  dignity  insulted  by 
the  inhabitants  of  Chersonesus,  he  despatched  a  fleet  and  army 
against  them,  with  express  orders  to  spare  neither  man,  woman,  nor 
child  alive,  whether  guilty  or  innocent,  and  in  consequence  of  this 
inhuman  command,  multitudes  of  people  miserably  perished  by  the 
flames,  the  rack,  or  the  sea.  On  his  return  from  banishment,  when 
sailing  on  the  Euxine,  says  Gibbon,  "  his  vessel  was  assaulted  by  a 
violent  tempest,  and  one  of  his  companions  advised  him  to  deserve 
the  mercy  of  God,  by  a  vow  of  eternal  forgiveness,  if  he  should  be 
restored  to  the  throne.  '  Of  forgiveness  !  (replied  the  intrepid  tyrant), 
may  I  perish  this  instant — may  the  Almighty  whelm  me  in  the 
waves — if  I  consent  to  spare  a  single  head  of  my  enemies  !'  But 
never  was  vow  more  religiously  performed  than  the  sacred  oath 
of  revenge  that  he  had  sworn  amidst  the  storm  of  the  Euxine.    The 

*  Anastasius,  in  vita  Constantin. 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  ADVANCING.— A.  D.  606—800.  143 

Gibbon's  account  of  the  cruelty  and  tyranny  of  this  worshipper  of  the  Pope. 

two  usurpers,  who  had  in  turn  occupied  his  throne  during  his  ban- 
ishment, were  dragged  into  the  hippodrome,  the  one  from  his  prison, 
the  other  from  the  palace.  Before  their  execution,  Leontius  and 
Apsimar  were  cast  prostrate  in  chains  beneath  the  throne  of  the 
Emperor,  and  Justinian,  planting  a  foot  on  each  of  their  necks,  con- 
templated above  an  hour  the  chariot  race,  while  the  innocent  people 
shouted,  in  the  words  of  the  psalmist, '  Thou  shalt  trample  on  the 
asp  and  basilisk,  and  on  the  lion  and  dragon  shalt  thou  set  thy  foot !' 
The  universal  defection  which  he  had  once  experienced  might  pro- 
voke him  to  repeat  the  wish  of  Caligula,  that  the  Roman  people  had 
but  one  head.  Yet  I  shall  presume  to  observe,  that  such  a  wish 
is  unworthy  of  an  ingenious  tyrant,  since  his  revenge  and  cruelty 
would  have  been  extinguished  by  a  single  blow,  instead  of  the  slow 
variety  of  tortures  which  Justinian  inflicted  on  the  victims  of  his 
anger.  His  pleasures  were  inexhaustible :  neither  private  virtue 
nor  public  service  could  expiate  the  guilt  of  active,  or  even  passive 
obedience  to  an  established  government ;  and,  during  the  six  years 
of  his  new  reign,  he  considered  the  axe,  the  cord,  and  the  rack,  as 
the  only  instruments  of  royalty."*  Such  was  the  man  whom  Ro- 
mish historians  do  not  blush  to  call  "  the  most  Christian  and  ortho- 
dox Emperor"  merely  because  he  cruelly  tortured,  blinded,  and 
murdered  those  who  would  not  succumb  to  the  papal  anti-Christ, 
bowed  down  and  kissed  the  feet  of  the  haughty  pontiff,  and  loaded 
with  his  imperial  favors,  the  apostate  church  of  which  he  was  the 
head. 

§  12. — It  might  be  expected  that  an  age  which  could  yield  itself  so 
far  to  the  extravagant  claims  of  the  newly  created  spiritual  monarch 
of  the  world  must  be  one  of  the  grossest  ignorance  and  darkness. 
Such,  we  find,  was  the  fact.  "  Nothing,"  says  Mosheim,  speaking 
of  the  century  in  which  the  Pope  established  his  supremacy,  M  can 
equal  the  ignorance  and  darkness  that  reigned  in  this  century  ;  the 
most  impartial  and  accurate  account  of  which  will  appear  incredi- 
ble to  those  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  productions  of  this  bar- 
barous period.  The  greatest  part  of  those  who  were  looked  upon 
as  learned  men,  threw  away  their  time  in  reading  the  marvellous 
lives  of  a  parcel  of  fanatical  saints,  instead  of  employing  it  in  the 
perusal  of  well  chosen  and  excellent  authors.  The  bishops  in 
general  were  so  illiterate,  that  few  of  that  body  were  capable  of 
composing  the  discourses  which  they  delivered  to  the  people.  Such 
of  them  as  were  not  totally  destitute  of  genius,  composed  out  of 
the  writings  of  Augustine  and  Gregory  a  certain  number  of  insipid 
homilies,  which  they  divided  between  themselves  and  their  stupid 
colleagues,  that  they  might  not  be  obliged,  through  incapacity,  to 
discontinue  preaching  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  to  their  people." 
The  want  even  of  an  acquaintance  with  the  first  rudiments  of 
literature  was  so  general  among  the  higher  ecclesiastics  of  those 
times,  that  it  was  scarcely  deemed  disgraceful  to  acknowledge  it 

*  Decline  and  Fall,  vol.  iii.,  page  242. 


144  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  hi. 

_ 

Gross  ignorance  of  the  bishops  of  this  period.  Specimens  of  their  reasoning  and  doctrine. 

In  the  acts  of  the  councils  of  Ephesus  and  Chalcedon,  many  ex- 
amples occur  where  subscriptions  are  to  be  found  in  this  form  : 
u  I,  N,  have  subscribed  by  the  hand  of  M,  because  I  cannot  write." 
And  "  such  a  bishop  having  said  that  he  could  not  write,  I  whose 
name  is  underwritten  have  subscribed  for  him."* 

§  13. — As  a  specimen  of  the  reasoning  of  this  dark  age,  I  would 
refer  to  a  writing  which  Holstenius,  the  librarian  of  the  Vatican, 
where  it  was  found,  ascribed  to  pope  Boniface  IV.  It  is  an  attempt 
to  show  that  monks  are  suitable  for  ministers,  in  opposition  to  some 
who  maintained  that  they  should  be  incapable  of  the  sacerdotal 
office.  Monks  are  there  declared  to  be  angels,  and  consequently 
proper  ministers  of  the  word.  This  is  proved  in  the  following 
way : — The  cherubim  had  each  six  wings.  Monks  have  also  six 
wings ;  the  arms  of  their  cassock  two,  its  extremities  two  more, 
and  the  cowl  forming  the  other  two.  Therefore  monks  are  cheru- 
bim or  angels,  and  suitable  for  ministers  of  the  word  !  Whether 
this  curious  specimen  of  reasoning  proceeded,  as  the  learned  Roman 
Catholic  Holstenius  supposes,  from  the  infallible  pope  Boniface,  or 
whether,  as  others  believe,  it  was  the  production  of  some  monk  of 
that  age,  it  may  be  equally  appropriate  as  a  specimen  of  early 
popish  logic. f  As  one  instance  and  proof  of  the  superstition  of 
the  age  may  be  mentioned  the  object  (according  to  the  opinion  of 
the  learned  popish  annalist  Baronius),  of  a  visit  to  Rome  paid  by 
Mellitus,  first  bishop  of  London,  in  610,  to  the  Pope.  Bede  informs 
us  that  he  went  to  settle  with  the  Pope  some  particular  affairs  of 
the  English  church.  Baronius  conjectures  that  he  came  to  Rome 
to  inquire  of  Boniface  whether  the  consecration  of  the  church  ol 
Westminster,  performed  by  St.  Peter  in  person,  was  to  be  regarded 
as  valid.  For  St.  Peter  was  said  to  have  come  down  from  heaven 
for  that  very  purpose,  and  who  will  dare  dispute  with  Cardinal 
Baronius  the  truth  of  the  wonderful  prodigy,  since  it  is  actually 
attested  by  the  very  waterman  who  conveyed  the  apostle  over  the 
river  Thames  on  his  way  from  heaven  to  Westminster  1  and  upon 
his  testimony  was  believed  by  the  abbot  Ealrcd,  whom  the  Cardinal 
calls  "  a  very  credible  historian  !  !  "J 

§  14. — As  a  specimen  of  the  doctrine  of  this  age,  we  may  refer  to  a 
description  of  a  good  Christian  from  the  pen  of  St.  Eligius,  as  he 
is  called,  bishop  of  Noyon,  in  which,  though  there  are  some  good 
exhortations,  there  is  not  the  slightest  mention  of  repentance  for 
sin  or  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  the  principal  stress  is 
laid  upon  the  lighting  of  candles  in  consecrated  places,  praying  to 
the  saints,  and  saying  the  creed  and  Lord's  prayer.  Let  a  man 
only  abound  in  these  services,  and  he  could  come  to  God,  accord- 
ing to  this  saint,  not  as  a  suppliant  to  beg,  but  as  a  creditor  to  de- 
mand.     "  Da,  domine,   quia   dedi."      Give,   Lord,  because  I  have 

*  White's  Barnpton  Lectures,  sermon  ii.  and  notes,  p.  6. 

■(•  Holstein  Collect  Rom.,  p.  42,  quoted  and  referred  to  by  Bower — Vita  Boniface 
IV. 

\  Baronius,  ad  annum  610. 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606— 800.  145 

Kelic-hunting.  Unkennelling  dead  bodies.  Mahomet,  the  false  prophet  of  Mecca. 

given  !*  Such  was  Popery  then  ;  such  is  Popery  still.  We  are 
not  surprised  to  learn  from  his  biographer,  that  this  saint  was  a 
most  zealous  and  persevering  hunter  for  relics,  and  that  "  many 
bodies  of  holy  martyrs,  concealed  from  human  knowledge  for  ages, 
were  discovered  by  him  and  brought  to  light !"     '  Sanctorum  mar- 

tyrum  corpora,  quse  per  tot  sascula  abdita patefacta  proderen- 

tur.'  This  zealous,  relic-hunting  merit-monger  was  successful,  if 
we  may  credit  his  biographer,  in  smelling  out  and  unkennelling, 
among  other  bodies,  the  carcasses  of  St.  Quintin,  St.  Crispin,  St. 
Lucian,  &c.  In  those  days  of  darkness  and  superstition  it  was  an 
easy  way,  and  one  of  which  the  bishops  often  availed  themselves 
of  rilling  their  coffers  by  providing  a  supply  of  relics  for  sale,  by 
pretending  to  a  miraculous  power  in  discovering  the  bodies  of  saints 
and  martyrs. 

§  15. — It  was  in  the  seventh  century  that  the  false  prophet  of 
Mecca  commenced  his  career  of  conquest.  Fired  by  the  spectacle 
which  everywhere  met  his  observation  of  the  worship  of  idols  in 
a  thousand  forms,  not  only  on  heathen  but  Christian  ground,  he 
avowed  himself  as  the  enemy  of  idolatry,  and  the  champion  of  the 
divine  unity.  The  limits  as  well  as  the  design  of  this  work  will 
not  permit  a  sketch  of  his  remarkable  history.  After  perusing  the 
recital  we  have  already  given  of  the  superstition,  ignorance,  and 
idolatry  of  popish  Christianity  at   the  era  of   the  Popedom,  the 

*  The  extract,  or  rather  collection  of  sentences,  from  this  discourse  of  St.  Eligius, 
quoted  by  Mosheim,  Jortin,  Robertson,  Jones,  &c,  is  as  follows : — 

"  Bonus  Christianus  est,  qui  ad  eccle-  "  He  is  a  good  Christian  who  goes 
siam  frequenter  venit,  et  oblationem,  qua  frequently  to  cburch,  and  makes  his  ob- 
in  altari  Deo  offeratur,  exhibit ;  qui  de  lations  at  God's  altar  ;  who  never  tastes 
fructibus  suis  non  gustat,  nisi  prius  of  his  own  fruit  until  he  has  presented 
Deo  aliquid  offerat ;  qui,  quoties  sancta?  some  to  God  ;  who,  for  many  days  be- 
solemnitates  adveniunt,  ante  dies  plures  fore  the  solemn  festivals  observes  strict 
castitatem  etiam  cum  propria  uxore  chastity,  though  he  be  married,  that  he 
custodit,  ut  secura  conscientia  Domini  may  approach  the  altar  with  a  safe  con- 
altare  accedere  possit ;  qui  postremo  science ;  lastly,  who  can  repeat  the 
symbolum  vel  orationem  Dominicam  me-  Creed  and  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Redeem 
moriter  tenet.  Redimite  animas  vestras  your  souls  from  punishment  whilst  you 
de  poena,  dum  habetis  in  potestate  reme-  have  it  in  your  power ;  offer  your  free 
dia ;  oblationes  et  decimas  ecclesiis  of-  gifts  and  tithes  ;  contribute  towards  the 
ferte,  luminaria  Sanctis  locis,  juxta  quod  luminaries  in  holy  places  ;  repair  fre- 
habetis,  exhibite ;  ad  ecclesiam  quoque  quently  to  church,  and  humbly  implore 
frequentius  convenite,  sanctorum  patro-  the  protection  of  the  saints.  If  you  ob- 
cinia  humiliter  expetite  ;  quod  si  obser-  serve  these  things,  you  may  appear 
vaveritis,  securi  in  die  judicii  ante  tri-  boldly  at  God's  tribunal  in  the  day  of 
bunal  ajterni  judicis  venientes  dicetis  ;  judgment,  and  say — Give,  Lord,  accord- 
Da,  Domine,  quia  dedimus.  ing  as  we  have  given.'" 

By  quoting,  at  large,  from  the  discourse  of  Eligius,  from  various  parts  of  which 
these  sentences  are  extracted,  I  think  that  Waddington  has  shown  (though  all 
these  sentences  are  found  in  the  discourse),  that  Eligius  has  hardly  been  treated 
with  fairness.  Still,  the  flagrant  contradiction  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace 
and  not  of  debt,  with  which  the  extract  closes,  is  sufficient  to  show  that,  in  that 
dark  age,  the  doctrines  of  grace  were  most  sadly  perverted  or  obscured.  See 
Waddington's  Church  History,  p.  251,  Mosheim,  ii.,  173,  &c.  The  original  of 
the  discourse  is  found  in  Dacherii  Spicilegium  veter.  Scriptor.,  Tom.  v. 
10 


14G  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  in. 

Origin  of  the  Monothelite,  or  one-will  controversy. 

reader  will  be  prepared  to  admit  the  truth  of  the  following  state- 
ment of  Mr.  Taylor  in  his  Ancient  Christianity  (page  305).  "What 
Mahomet  and  his  caliphs  found  in  all  directions,  whither  their  ciine- 
ters  cut  a  path  for  them,  was  a  superstition  so  abject,  an  idolatry  so 
gross  and  shameless,  church  doctrines  so  arrogant,  church  practices 
so  dissolute  and  so  puerile,  that  the  strong-minded  Arabians  felt 
themselves  inspired  anew  as  God's  messengers  to  reprove  the 
errors  of  the  world,  and  authorized  as  God's  avengers  to  punish 
apostate  Christendom." 


CHAPTER  II. 

HISTORY     OF     THE    MONOTHELITE    CONTROVERSY POPE    HONORIUS    CON- 
DEMNED   AS    A    HERETIC    BY    THE    SIXTH    GENERAL    COUNCIL,   A.D.   680. 

§  16. — The  early  part  of  the  seventh  century  was  signalized  by 
the  commencement  of  a  remarkable  controversy  between  those 
who  maintained  with  the  emperor  Heraclius,  and  Sergius,  patri- 
arch of  Constantinople,  the  doctrine  of  one  will  and  one  operation 
in  the  nature  of  Christ ;  and  those  who  believed  in  two  wills,  the 
human  and  the  divine,  and  two  operations  or  distinct  kinds  of  voli- 
tion, the  one  proceeding  from  his  human,  and  the  other  from  his 
divine  will.  This  was  called  the  Monothelite  controversy,  from  two 
Greek  words  signifying  one  will.  Upon  this  abstruse  metaphysical 
point  did  this  famous  dispute  arise,  which  threatened  to  rend  into 
fragments  the  whole  Christian  world,  and  that  notwithstanding 
both  parties  were  confessedly  orthodox  in  relation  to  their  belief 
both  of  the  proper  deity  and  humanity  of  the  second  person  in  the 
glorious  Trinity.  Our  reason  for  introducing  the  history  of  this  con- 
troversy in  the  present  work  is  not  because  we  attach  any  great 
importance  to  the  opinion  of  either  party,  so  long  as  both  believed 
that  Jesus  Christ  was  properly  divine,  coequal  and  coeternal  with 
the  Father ;  but  on  account  of  the  part  that  was  taken  in  it  by  the 
popes  of  Rome,  and  the  light  which  is  thus  thrown  upon  the  history 
of  Romanism,  and  especially  upon  the  infallibility  (so  much  vaunted 
by  Baronius,  Bellarmine  and  other  popish  writers)  of  the  boasted 
successors  of  St.  Peter. 

§  17. — In  the  year  034,  Sergius,  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
addressed  a  letter  to  pope  Honorius  at  Rome,  informing  him  of  the 
opposition  which  the  doctrine  of  one  will,  which  he  styled  "  the 
doctrine  of  the  fathers,"  had  received  from  one  Sophronius,  at  that 
time  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  and  others  ;  and  requesting  the  opinion 
of  the  Pope  on  the  subject  of  the  doctrine  in  dispute,  and  also  his 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606—800.  147 

The  decree  called  the  F.c/Uhesis.         Pope  Honorius  approves  the  doctrine.  Pope  John  condemns  it. 

advice  as  to  the  most  effectual  means  of  maintaining  the  peace  and 
tranquillity  of  the  church.  In  the  reply  of  Honorius,  he  stated  that 
he  entirely  agreed  with  Sergius  in  opinion,  that  he  acknowledged 
but  one  will  in  Christ,  and  that  none  of  the  fathers  had  ever  openly 
taught  the  doctrine  of  two  wills. 

About  the  time  of  the  death  of  pope  Honorius,  which  took  place 
A.  D.  638,  Sergius  published  and  affixed  to  the  doors  of  the  church 
at  Constantinople,  in  the  name  of  the  emperor  Heraclius,  the  cele- 
brated edict  upon  the  subject  of  the  controversy  called  the  Echthe- 
sis, or  exposition.  This  edict  began  with  an  orthodox  profession 
of  belief  in  the  sacred  Trinity.  It  acknowledged  two  distinct  na- 
tures in  one  person  of  Christ ;  but  in  reference  to  the  will,  and  the 
operations  of  the  will,  it  used  the  following  language  : — "  We  ascribe 
all  the  operations  in  Christ,  the  human  as  well  as  the  divine,  to  the 
word  incarnate.  But  whether  they  should  be  called  two,  or  should 
be  called  one,  we  will  suffer  none  to  dispute."  Notwithstanding, 
however,  this  apparent  profession  of  neutrality,  the  authors  of  the 
edict  say  towards  the  conclusion — "  We  therefore  confess,  agreea- 
bly to  the  doctrine  of  the  apostles,  of  the  councils  and  of  the  fathers, 
but  one  will  in  Christ" — and  it  concludes  by  thundering  anathemas 
against  heretics,  and  requiring  all  to  hold  and  profess  the  doctrine - 
thus  declared  and  explained. 

§  18. — Sergius  died  soon  after  publishing  this  edict,  and  was,  in 
639,  succeeded  in  the  See  of  Constantinople  by  Pyrrhus,  who  as 
sembled  a  council,  and  confirmed  the  doctrine  of  the  Echthesis  as 
the  genuine  doctrine  of  the  apostles  and  fathers.  On  the  other 
hand,  pope  John  IV.,  who  differed  entirely  in  opinion  from  his  pre- 
decessor Honorius,  assembled  a  council  of  the  bishops  of  the  West, 
in  which  the  Echthesis  was  solemnly  condemned  and  the  doctrine 
of  one  will  was  anathematized  as  entirely  repugnant  to  the  Catholic 
faith,  and  to  the  doctrine  of  the  fathers.  The  Pope  also  caused  a 
copy  of  the  acts  and  decrees  of  this  council  to  be  immediately 
transmitted  to  Pyrrhus,  signed  by  himself  and  the  bishops  who 
were  present,  hoping  thereby  to  check  the  progress  which  the 
Monothelite  doctrine  was  making  in  the  East. 

Instead  of  paying  any  regard  to  the  authority  of  the  Pope  or 
his  council,  Pyrrhus  immediately  caused  transcripts  to  be  made  of 
the  two  letters  of  pope  Honorius  to  Sergius,  in  which  Honorius 
expressed  his  belief  of  the  doctrine  of  one  will,  and  sent  them  to 
all  the  principal  bishops  in  the  East ;  at  the  same  time  appealing 
to  them  whether  pope  Honorius  had  not  approved  by  the  authority 
of  the  apostolic  See  of  the  very  doctrine  which  his  successor 
John  had  condemned  by  the  same  authority.  He  wrote  also  a  let- 
ter to  the  Pope,  in  which  he  expressed  his  astonishment  that  he 
should  condemn  a  doctrine  which  his  predecessor,  Honorius,  had 
received,  taught,  and  approved.  Pope  John,  perceiving  that  this 
disagreement  in  opinion  between  two  of  the  boasted  successors  of 
St.  Peter  was  calculated  to  sap  the  very  foundation  of  the  papal 
authority,  made  an  artful  but  lame  attempt  to  explain  away  the 


148  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  in. 


Pope  Theodore's  modest  proposal  10  the  patriarch  Paul.  The  fugitive  patriarch  Pyrrhus. 

Opinions  of  Honorius,  but  the  fallacy  of  his  sophistical  reasoning  is 
apparent,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  from  the  fact  that  in  the  sixth 
general  council,  held  a  few  years  later,  these  letters  of  Honorius 
were  unanimously  condemned  as  acknowledging  and  inculcating 
the  Monothelite  doctrine. 

§  19. — Pope  John  was  succeeded  in  the  year  642  by  Theodore, 
and  about  the  same  time  Paul  succeeded  to  the  See  of  Constanti- 
nople, in  the  room  of  Pyrrhus,  the  Monothelite  patriarch,  who  had 
abandoned  his  See  and  sought  safety  in  flight,  in  consequence  of  the 
general  suspicion  that  was  entertained  that  he  had  been  privy  to 
the  poisoning  of  the  late  emperor,  Constantine  III.  In  a  letter 
which  Theodore  wrote  to  Paul,  soon  after  his  accession  to  the 
Popedom,  he  censures  him  for  accepting  the  patriarchate  till  Pyr- 
rhus had  been  lawfully  deposed,  charges  the  latter  with  heresy  in 
receiving  the  Monothelite  doctrine  and  publishing  the  Echthesis 
(evidently,  in  the  estimation  of  the  Pope,  a  much  greater  crime  than 
assassinating  the  Emperor)  :  advises  that  a  council  should  be  im- 
mediately assembled,  in  which  Pyrrhus  might  be  judged,  condemn- 
ed, and  regularly  deposed  ;  and  closes  his  letter  with  the  very  modest 
proposal,  that  if  there  was  likely  to  be  any  difficulty  in  the  trial 
of  Pyrrhus  at  Constantinople,  he  should  be  despatched  to  Rome, 
that  he  might  there  be  judged,  deposed  and  condemned  by  the  Pope 
and  his  council  !  The  new  patriarch  Paul,  as  we  may  easily  con- 
ceive, treated  this  proposal  with  the  contempt  it  deserved.  He 
took  not  the  slightest  notice  of  it,  continued  to  exercise  his  office, 
and  instead  of  condemning  the  doctrine  of  Pyrrhus,  he  confirmed 
it  in  a  council  assembled  for  the  purpose,  and  caused  the  Echthesis 
to  be  continued  on  the  gates  of  the  church,  that  all  might  know  the 
doctrine  that  he  inculcated  and  believed. 

§  20. — The  patriarchs  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  and  many  other 
bishops,  took  sides  with  Paul,  and  maintained  the  doctrine  of  one 
will.  Others,  however,  as  strongly  opposed  both  the  doctrine  and 
the  Echthesis.  In  the  island  of  Cyprus,  both  were  unanimously 
condemned  in  a  council  of  the  bishops  assembled  for  that  purpose, 
and  a  long  epistle  was  despatched  to  pope  Theodore,  bitterly  com- 
plaining  of  Paul  of  Constantinople,  for  holding  and  promoting,  to  the 
utmost  of  his  power,  a  doctrine,  as  they  said,  so  plainly  repugnant 
to  the  repeated  "  decrees  of  St.  Peter  and  his  See."  In  the  West, 
the  Echthesis  was  universally  condemned,  and  three  of  the  principal 
bishops  of  Africa  first  anathematized  Paul  in  their  councils,  and  then 
wrote  to  the  Pope,  earnestly  entreating  him  to  cut  off  from  the 
communion  of  the  church,  not  only  Paul  of  Constantinople,  but  all 
who  maintained  that  "  impious  doctrine,"  unless,  by  a  speedy  re- 
pentance, they  should  repair  the  scandal  they  had  caused.  It  was 
chiefly  through  the  labors  of  a  celebrated  monk  named  Maximus, 
and  the  result  of  a  public  disputation  that  he  held  with  Pyrrhus, 
that  the  African  bishops  were  thus  brought  to  array  themselves, 
with  so  much  unanimity  and  so  much  earnestness,  against  the  Mo- 
nothelite opinions.     Maximus,  who  was  a  man  of  learning,  for  that 


CHAP.n.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606— 800.  149 

His  disputation  with  the  monk  Maximus.  Pyrrhus  solemnly  excommunicated  by  Pope  Theodore. 

age,  had,  previous  to  withdrawing  to  a  monastery,  been  private 
secretary  to  the  emperor  Heraclius,  at  Constantinople,  while  Pyr- 
rhus  was  patriarch.  Soon  after  commencing  his  labors  in  Africa, 
the  former  secretary  fell  in  with  the  fugitive  patriarch,  and  both  of 
them  bringing  to  their  aid  talents  and  learning  of  no  mean  order, 
each  succeeded  in  drawing  around  himself  a  party  attached  to  his 
own  views.  In  consequence  of  the  disturbance  occasioned  by  these 
two  opposite  parties,  the  Monothelites,  headed  by  Pyrrhus,  and  the 
Duothelites,  headed  by  Maximus,  the  bishops  proposed  that  the  diffi- 
culty should  be  settled  by  a  public  dispute,  before  Gregory,  the 
governor  of  the  province.  This  proposal  having  been  agreed  to  by 
the  governor  and  the  two  disputants,  the  debate  was  holden  in  the 
presence  of  a  large  number  of  the  bishops,  nobility,  and  others,  who 
had  congregated  from  various  parts  to  listen  to  them.  Manuscript 
copies  of  the  debate  in  the  original  Greek,  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the 
Vatican  library,  at  Rome,  under  the  following  lengthy,  but  one- 
sided title :  "  The  question  concerning  an  ecclesiastical  dogma,  that 
was  disputed  before  the  most  pious  patrician  Gregory,  in  an  assem- 
bly of  the  most  holy  bishops,  and  the  nobility,  by  Pyrrhus,  patriarch 
of  Constantinople,  and  the  most  reverend  monk  Maximus,  in  the 
month  of  July,  the  third  indiction  ;  Pyrrhus  defending  the  new  dog- 
ma of  one  will  in  Christ,  wickedly  introduced  by  himself  and  his 
predecessor  Sergius,  and  Maximus  maintaining  the  doctrine  of  the 
apostles  and  the  fathers,  as  delivered  to  us  from  the  beginning."* 

§21. — At  the  close  of  the  disputation,  Pyrrhus,  who  had  been 
compelled  to  wander  as  an  exile  from  his  See  at  Constantinople, 
wishing  probably  to  recommend  himself  to  the  favor  of  the  Pope, 
and  the  other  Western  bishops,  professed  himself  a  convert  to  the 
doctrine  of  Maximus,  proceeded  in  company  with  him  to  Rome, 
and  upon  there  solemnly  abjuring  his  heresy  in  the  presence  of  the 
Pope,  the  clergy,  and  a  vast  multitude  of  the  people,  was  received, 
with  great  pomp  and  "ceremony,  to  the  communion  of  the  Roman 
church,  and  publicly  honored  by  the  Pope,  as  the  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople. The  joy  and  exultation  of  the  Pope  was,  however,  of 
short  duration ;  it  was  soon  changed  into  disappointment  and  chagrin, 
upon  hearing  that  Pyrrhus  had  proceeded  to  Ravenna,  and  through 
the  persuasions  of  the  exarch  Plato,  who  had  the  power,  if  he 
chose,  of  advancing  his  interests  at  the  court  of  the  Emperor,  had 
publicly  renounced  his  recent  recantation,  and  placed  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  Monothelite  party  in  that  city. 

Upon  hearing  this,  the  rage  and  exasperation  of  pope  Theodore 
was  extreme.  He  immediately  convened  an  assembly  of  the 
clergy  in  the  old  church  of  St.  Peter's  ;  thundered  forth  the  sentence 
of  excommunication  against  this  new  Judas,  accompanied  with  the 
most  fearful  anathemas,  and  calling,  in  the  transport  of  his  indigna- 

*  The  curious  in  such  matters,  may  examine  a  Greek  copy  of  the  report  of  this 
very  ancient  dispute,  with  the  Latin  translation  in  the  opposite  column,  occupying 
28  pages  folio,  at  the  end  of  the  eighth  volume  of  Baronius'  Annals,  of  which  there 
is  a  copy  in  the  Society  Library,  New  York. 


15o  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  hi. 


Pope  Theodore's  impotent  spiritual  thunders. The  decree  called  the  Type. 

tion,  for  the  consecrated  wine  of  the  sacrament,  mingled  a  portion 
of  it  with  the  ink,  and  with  the  mixture,  signed  the  sentence  of 
excommunication,  which  was  to  consign  the  apostate  Pyrrhus  to 
the  agonies  of  despair,  and  to  the  torments  of  the  damned. 

§  22. In  the  mean  time,  with  the  hope  of  appeasing,  in  some 

measure,  the  wrath  of  the  Pope,  and  the  displeasure  of  the  Western 
bishops,  the  patriarch  Paul  had  caused  the  obnoxious  decree,  called 
the  Echthesis,  to  be  removed  from  the  gates  of  the  church  at  Con- 
stantinople, and  prevailed  upon  the  Emperor  to  supply  its  place  by 
another  called  the  Type  or  formulary,  the  object  of  which,  while  it 
expressed  no  bias  to  either  side  of  the  disputed  question,  was  strictly 
to  forbid,  under  severe  penalties,  all  disputes  whatever,  relative 
to  the  will  or  wills  of  Christ,  and  the  mode  of  its  or  their  operation. 
The  Emperor,  with  reason,  had  become  weary  of  these  endless 
disputes  and  quarrels  ;  his  object  was  peace,  and  for  that  reason  he 
flattered  himself  that  those  who  professed  to  be  servants  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace,  would  readily  comply  with  this  edict. 

Before  the  suppression  of  the  Echthesis  was  known  at  Rome, 
however,  the  Pope,  in  compliance  with  the  advice  of  the  African 
bishops,  previously  mentioned,  had  excommunicated  Paul  with  great 
solemnity  as  an  incorrigible  heretic,  and  had  declared  him,  by  the 
authority  of  St.  Peter,  divested  of  all  ecclesiastical  power  and 
dignities.  When  the  news  of  this  rash  and  hasty  step  came  to 
Constantinople,  instead  of  submitting  to  the  Pope's  authority,  the 
patriarch  was  so  enraged,  that  he  wreaked  his  vengeance  upon  the 
apocrisarii  or  ambassadors  of  the  Pope,  and  imprisoned,  and  even 
whipt  some  of  their  retinue.  The  excommunication  of  Paul  by  the 
Pope,  was  regarded  by  the  Emperor,  and  with  a  few  exceptions, 
by  all  the  bishops  of  the  East,  as  of  no  authority,  and  he  continued 
to  enjoy  the  patriarchal  dignity  and  office  till  his  death,  and  after 
his  decease,  the  former  patriarch  Pyrrhus  became  reconciled  to  the 
Emperor,  and  though  excommunicated  and  cursed  by  the  Pope,  in 
the  terrific  manner  we  have  seen,  was,  notwithstanding,  reinstated 
by  the  Emperor  in  his  former  dignity,  and  received  and  acknow- 
ledged by  the  bishops  and  people  of  the  East  as  the  lawful  patri- 
arch of  Constantinople. 

§  23.— Upon  the  death  of  Theodore  (A.  D.  649),  pope  Martin  was 
chosen  as  his  successor  in  the  same  year,  and  upon  sending  to  the 
Emperor  to  confirm  his  election  (which  was  in  this  century  invari- 
ably done  upon  the  choice  of  a  new  pope),  Constantine  confirmed 
his  election  with  more  than  usual  promptitude,  hoping  thereby  to 
secure  his  co-operation  in  the  plan  he  had  formed  for  the  restoration 
of  peace,  by  enjoining  silence  on  the  vexed  question,  in  his  edict 
called  the  Type.  Instead  of  this,  however,  Martin  immediately 
assembled  a  council  at  Rome,  and  condemned  not  only  the  Mono- 
thelite  doctrine,  and  "  the  impious  Echthesis,"  but  also  "  the  most 
wicked  Type,  lately  published  against  the  Catholic  church,  by  the 
most  serene  emperor  Constantine,  at  the  instigation  of  Paul,  the 
pretended  bishop  of  Constantinople." 


chap.  ii.  1  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.D.  606—800.  151 

Sixth  general  council.  Pope  Honorius  condemned  therein  for  heresy. 

Such  an  insult  to  the  imperial  authority,  by  one  who,  notwith- 
standing his  high  ecclesiastical  dignity,  was  yet  a  subject  of  the 
Emperor,  could  not  be  suffered  with  impunity.  By  order  of  the 
emperor  Constantine,  Martin  was  taken  prisoner  and  conveyed  to 
Naxos,  a  small  island  in  the  Grecian  Archipelago  :  afterward  carried 
to  the  imperial  court,  and  after  a  mock  form  of  trial,  accompanied 
with  cruel  insult  and  abuse,  he  was  stripped  of  his  sacerdotal  gar- 
ments, condemned  and  degraded,  and  then  sent  into  exile,  on  the 
inhospitable  shores  of  Taurica  Chersonesus,  where  he  died  in  656. 

§  24. — These  resolute  proceedings  rendered  Eugenius  and  Vi- 
talianus,  the  succeeding  popes,  more  moderate  and  prudent  than 
their  predecessor  had  been  ;  especially  the  latter,  who  received 
Constans,  upon  his  arrival  at  Rome  in  the  year  663,  with  the  highest 
marks  of  distinction  and  respect,  and  used  the  wisest  precautions 
to  prevent  the  flame  of  that  unhappy  controversy  from  breaking 
out  a  second  time.  And  thus,  for  several  years,  it  appeared  to  be 
extinguished  ;  but  it  was  so  only  in  appearance ;  it  was  a  lurking 
flame,  which  spread  itself  secretly,  and  gave  reason  to  those  who 
examined  things  with  attention,  to  dread  new  combustions  both  in 
church  and  state. 

To  prevent  these,  Constantine  Pogonatus,  the  son  of  Constans, 
pursuant  to  the  advice  of  Agatho,  the  Roman  pontiff',  summoned,  in 
the  year  680,  the  sixth  general  or  cecumenical  council  in  which  he 
permitted  the  Monothelites  and  pope  Honorius  himself  to  be  so- 
lemnly condemned  in  presence  of  the  Roman  legates,  who  repre- 
sented Agatho  in  that  assembly,  and  confirmed  the  sentence  pro- 
nounced by  the  council,  by  the  sanction  of  penal  laws  enacted 
against  such  as  pretended  to  oppose  it. 

§  25. — The  condemnation  of  pope  Honorius  for  heresy  by  this  gene- 
ral council  is  an  event  of  so  much  importance,  in  the  controversy 
with  Rome,  that  we  deem  it  worthy  to  place  on  record  the  language 
in  which  the  decree  of  his  condemnation,  and  that  of  others  who 
also  maintained  the  same  doctrine,  was  couched.  The  writings  on 
this  subject  having  been  read  before  the  council  from  the  pens  of 
Sergius,  former  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  Cyrus  of  Phasis,  and 
Honorius,  former  pope  of  old  Rome,  they  solemnly  delivered  their 
unanimous  judgment  in  the  following  terms : — "  Having  examined 
the  dogmatic  letters  that  were  written  by  Sergius,  formerly  bishop 
of  this  royal  city,  to  Cyrus  once  of  Phasis,  and  to  Honorius,  bishop 
of  old  Rome,  and  likewise  the  answer  of  the  said  Honorius  to  the 
letter  of  Sergius,  we  have  found  them  quite  repugnant  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  apostles,  to  the  definitions  of  the  councils,  to  the  sense 
of  the  fathers,  and  entirely  agreeable  to  the  false  doctrines  of  the 
heretics  ;  therefore  we  reject  and  accurse  them  as  hurtful  to  the 
soul.  As  we  reject  and  accurse  such  impious  dogmas,  so  we  are 
all  of  opinion,  that  the  names  of  those  who  taught  and  professed 
them  ought  to  be  banished  from  the  church,  that  is,  struck  out  of 
the  Diptychs  ;  viz.,  the  names  of  Sergius,  formerly  bishop  of  this 
royal  city,  who  first  wrote  of  this  impious  tenet,  and  Cyrus  of 


152  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  hi. 

Pope  Honorius  anathematized  by  the  sixth  general  council,  and  his  writings  committed  to  the  flames. 

Alexandria,  of  Pyrrhus,  Paul,  and  Peter,  who  once  held  this  See, 
and  agreed  in  opinion  with  them,  and  likewise  of  Theodorus,  for- 
merly bishop  of  Pharan ;  who  have  all  been  mentioned  by  the 
thrice  blessed  Agatho,  in  his  letter  to  our  most  pious  Lord  and 
mighty  Emperor,  and  have  been  anathematized  by  him,  as  holding 
opinions  repugnant  to  the  true  faith.  All  these,  and  each  of  them, 
we  too  declare  anathematized  ;  and  with  them  we  anathematize, 
and  cast  out  of  the  holy  Catholic  Church,  Honorius,  pope  of  old 
Rome,  it  appearing  from  his  letter  to  Sergius,  that  he  entirely 
agreed  in  opinion  with  him,  and  confirmed  his  impious  doctrine." 

In  the  same  session  of  the  council,  the  second  letter  of  pope 
Honorius  to  Sergius  was  read,  examined,  and  by  a  decree  of  the 
council,  committed  to  the  flames,  with  the  other  Monothelite  writ- 
ings ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  this  decree  passed  unani- 
mously, without  the  slightest  opposition,  not  even  the  legates  of  the 
Pope  venturing  to  say  a  word  in  his  behalf,  so  overwhelming  and 
conclusive  was  the  proof  that  pope  Honorius  had  held  and  main- 
tained the  very  same  doctrine  as  was  now,  by  this  council,  acknow- 
ledged even  by  Romanists  as  the  sixth  general  council,  solemnly 
condemned  as  heresy.* 

§  2G. — From  the  above  account  of  this  famous  controversy,  much 
light  is  thrown  upon  the  condition,  the  character,  and  the  claims 
of  Popery  during  the  seventh  century. 

(1.)  We  learn  that  the  popes  of  Rome  were  careful  to  seize 
every  opportunity  of  advancing  their  authority,  and  practically 
asserting  that  supremacy,  as  the  spiritual  sovereigns  of  the  church, 
which  they  had  claimed  ever  since  the  decree  of  Phocas  in  GOG. 
We  hear  them  thundering  their  anathemas  at  the  heads  of  the 
other  bishops,  and  excommunicating  even  the  patriarchs  of  Constan- 
tinople, the  most  exalted  in  rank  of  all  the  dignitaries  of  the  church 
in  this  century,  if  we  except  the  Pope  himself.  In  the  decree  of 
pope  Martin  against  the  edict  called  the  Type,  we  have  seen  that 
Paul  is  called  "  the  pretended  bishop  of  Constantinople,"  because  he 
had  been  excommunicated  and  deposed  by  the  authority  of  pope 
Theodore,  the  predecessor  of  Martin.  In  the  letter  which  pope 
Agatho  sent  to  the  Emperor  by  the  hands  of  his  legates  to  the 
council,  we  discover  the  first  pretence  of  a  claim,  which  has  since 
been  frequently  asserted — the  claim  of  absolute  papal  infallibility. 
After  a  long  descant  in  praise  of  the  See  of  St.  Peter,  he  affirmed 
that  the  popes  never  had  erred,  and  intimated  that  they  never  could 
err,  and  that  their  decisions  ought  therefore  to  be  received  as  the 
divine  voice  of  St.  Peter  himself.  We  have  already  seen,  how- 
ever, that  the  council,  in  the  case  of  pope  Honorius,  very  soon 
came  to  an  entirely  different  decision. 

(2.)  We  learn,  also,  that  notwithstanding  these  lofty  assump- 

*  Those  who  desire  fuller  information  on  this  remarkahle  controversy,  may  find 
it  in  Hist.  Concil.  Cone,  vi.,  Sess.  12,  13  ;  Baronius's  Annals  ad  Ann.  681 ; 
Bower's  Lives  of  the  Popes,  Vit.  Theodore,  Martin,  Agatho. 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606—800.  153 

The  climax  of  papal  assumption  not  yet  arrived.        Papal  infallibility.        Opinion  of  Bellurmine,  &c. 

tions,  the  authority  of  the  Pope  was  as  yet  by  no  means  universally 
received,  nor  his  decrees  regarded  as  binding,  especially  in  the 
East.  In  proof  of  this,  we  need  only  recur  to  the  fact  that  Paul 
and  Pyrrhus  both  exercised  the  office  of  patriarch,  and  were  for 
years  acknowledged  and  regarded  as  such  by  the  Emperor,  the 
bishops,  and  people  of  the  East,  notwithstanding  each  of  them  had 
been  solemnly  excommunicated  by  the  Pope. 

(3.)  We  see  also  that  the  popes  had  not  yet  learned  to  hurl 
then  anathemas  at  the  heads  of  emperors  and  kings.  The  election 
of  a  pope,  at  this  time,  was  not  regarded  as  valid  till  confirmed  by 
a  decree  of  the  Emperor.  Hence  we  are  not  surprised  that  the 
popes  were  too  timid  or  too  prudent  to  include  "  the  most  serene 
emperor  "  Heraclius  or  Constans  in  the  same  sentence  of  excommu- 
nication which  they  pronounced  against  Paul  or  Pyrrhus  for  merely 
executing  the  orders  of  their  imperial  masters,  in  preparing  and 
publishing  the  obnoxious  heretical  decrees,  the  Echthesis,  or  the 
Type.  The  age  of  Theodore  and  of  Martin  was  not  the  age  of 
Gregory  VII.,  or  of  Innocent  III. 

(4).  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  ir*  the  unanimous  con- 
demnation of  pope  Honorius  by  the  sixth  general  council  for  heresy, 
we  have  a  complete  refutation  of  the  claim  so  frequently  urged  by  the 
Jesuits  and  other  advocates  of  Rome,  of  the  infallibility  of  the 
Pope*  Till  it  is  proved  that  two  contraries  can  be  exactly  alike, 
this  boasted  claim  of  infallibility  must  be  abandoned.  So  evident 
is  it  that  this  fact  is  fatal  to  the  papal  infallibility,  that  Baronius, 
the  Romish  annalist,  a  strong  advocate  of  the  same,  has  labored 
hard,  though  without  the  semblance  of  reason,  to  show  that  the 
name  of  Honorius  was  inserted  in  the  decrees  instead  of  that  of 
some  other  person ;  a  supposition  as  weak  and  ridiculous  as  it  is 
unfounded.  The  great  body  of  Romish  authors,  and  among  the 
rest  Dupin,  candidly  admit  the  heresy  and  condemnation  of  Ho- 
norius. The  latter  historian  remarks,  that  "  the  council  had  as  much 
reason  to  censure  him  as  Sergius,  Paulus,  Peter,  and  the  other  pa- 
triarchs of  Constantinople  ;"  and  adds,  in  language  yet  more  em- 
phatic,— "  This  will  stand  for  certain,  then,  that  Honorius  was  con- 
demned, and  justly  too,  as  a  heretic,  by  the  sixth  general 
council."! 

*  As  it  is  not  uncommon  in  the  present  day,  in  protestant  countries,  to  represent 
the  doctrine  of  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope,  as  a  protestant  calumny,  I  will  cite 
the  opinion  of  one  or  two  of  their  most  celebrated  advocates. 

1 .  Lewis  Capsensis  de  Fid.  Disput.  2,  sect.  6,  affirms :  "  We  can  believe  nothing, 
if  we  do  not  believe  with  a  divine  faith  that  the  Pope  is  the  successor  of  Peter, 
and  infallible  !" 

2.  I  shall  quote  the  words  of  Cardinal  Bellarmine,  as  they  are  very  remarka- 
ble, in  the  original  Latin  (de  Pont.  4,  5).  "Si  autem  Papa  erraret  praeficiendo 
vitia,  vel  prohibendo  virtutes,  teneretur  Ecclesia  credere  vitia  esse  bona  et  virtutes 
malas,  nisi  vellet  contra  conscientiam  peccare."  That  is,  "  But  if  the  Pope  should 
err,  by  enjoining  vices  or  prohibiting  virtues,  the  Church,  unless  she  would  sin 
against  conscience,  would  be  bound  to  eelieve  vices  to  be  good,  and  virtues 
evil." 

f  Dupin's  Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  16. 


154 


CHAPTER  III. 

IMAGE  WORSHIP. FROM  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  GREAT  CONTROVERSY 

ON  THIS  SUBJECT,  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  THE  EMPEROR  LEO,  AND  OF  POPE 
GREGORY  III.,  BOTH  IN  THE  SAME  YEAR,  A.  D.  741. 

§  27. — We  have  already  seen  (page  98  above),  that  in  the  fourth 
century,  the  worship  of  images  was  abominated  by  the  Christian 
church,  and  that  even  their  admission  into  places  of  worship,  for 
whatever  object,  was  regarded  by  the  most  eminent  bishops  with 
abhorrence.  "  In  opposition  to  the  authority  of  Scripture,  there 

WAS    A    HUMAN     IMAGE     IN     THE     CHURCH     OF  JESUS    ChRIST,"  Were    the 

words  of  Epiphanius,  already  quoted. 

"  It  is  an  injury  to  God,"  says  Justin  Martyr,  "  to  make  an  image 
of  him  in  base  wood  or  stone."* 

Augustine  says  that  "  God  ought  to  be  worshipped  without  an 
image  ;  images  ser\%ng  only  to  bring  the  Deity  into  contempt."f 
The  same  bishop  elsewhere  asserts  that  "  it  would  be  impious  in  a 
Christian  to  set  up  a  corporeal  image  of  God  in  a  church  ;  and  that 
he  would  be  thereby  guilty  of  the  sacrilege  condemned  by  St.  Paul, 
of  turning  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  into  an  image  made 
like  to  corruptible  man."J 

"  We  Christians,"  says  Origen,  when  writing  against  his  infidel 
antagonist,  "  have  nothing  to  do  with  images,  on  account  of  the 
second  commandment ;  the  first  thing  we  teach  those  who  come  to 
us  is,  to  despise  idols  and  all  images  ;  it  being  the  peculiar  charac- 
ter of  the  Christian  religion  to  raise  our  minds  above  images,  agree- 
ably to  the  law  which  God  himself  has  given  to  mankind."§  It 
would  be  easy  to  multiply  such  quotations  as  these,  but  it  is  unne- 
cessary. The  testimony  of  these  fathers  is  merely  cited  as  historical 
evidence,  as  to  the  state  of  opinion  on  this  subject  in  their  day,  not 
as  matter  of  authority,  because  were  their  testimony  in  favor  of  the 
practice  of  this  popish  idolatry,  as  it  is  of  some  other  popish  corrup- 
tions, still  their  authority  would  weigh  nothing  w ith  genuine  protest- 
ants,  in  favor  of  a  practice  so  plainly  opposed  to  the  letter  and  the 
spirit  of  the  Bible. 

§  28. — Some  of  the  fathers,  as  Tertullian,  Clemens  Alexandrinus, 
and  Origen,  carried  their  opposition  to  all  sorts  of  images  to  such  an 
extent,  as  to  teach  that  the  Scriptures  forbid  altogether  the  arts  of 
statuary  and  painting.||  Now,  while  it  is  admitted  that  they  were 
mistaken  in  this  construction  of  the  second  commandment,  for  we 

*  Justin's  Apology,  ii.,  page  44. 
f  Augustine  de  Civit.  Dei.,1.  vii.,  c.  5. 
I  Augustine,  de  fide,  et  symb.,  c.  vii. 
§  Origen  against  Celsus,  1.  v.,  7. 

||  See  Bower's  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  iii.,  page  214,  where  several  extracts 
are  given  from  Tertullian,  Clemens,  and  Origen,  on  this  point. 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606—800.  155 

Gibbon's  account  of  the  gradual  introduction  of  image-worship  into  the  Christian  church. 

are  only  forbidden  to  make  graven  images  for  the  purpose  of  bowing 
down  to  them  and  serving  them  (Exodus  xx.,  5),  yet  the  fact  itself, 
of  their  expressing  such  an  opinion,  is  the  most  conclusive  proof 
possible,  that  they  knew  nothing  whatever  of  the  popish  idolatry 
which  sprung  up  a  few  centuries  later,  and  which  continues  to 
characterize  the  church  of  Rome  down  to  the  present  time. 

"  The  primitive  Christians,"  remarks  Mr.  Gibbon  (who  is  more  to 
be  depended  on  in  his  facts,  than  his  reasonings),  "were  possessed 
with  an  unconquerable  repugnance  to  the  use  and  abuse  of  images, 
and  this  aversion  may  be  ascribed  to  their  descent  from  the  Jews, 
and  their  enmity  to  the  Greeks.  The  Mosaic  law  had  severely 
proscribed  all  representations  of  the  Deity,  and  that  precept  was 
firmly  established  in  the  principles  and  practice  of  the  chosen 
people.  The  wit  of  the  Christian  apologists  was  pointed  against 
the  foolish  idolators,  who  had  bowed  before  the  workmanship  of 
their  own  hands  ;  the  images  of  brass  and  marble,  which,  had  they 
been  endowed  with  sense  and  motion,  should  have  started  rather 
from  the  pedestal  to  adore  the  creative  powers  of  the  artist.  The 
public  religion  of  the  Christians  was  uniformly  simple  and  spiritual ; 
and  the  first  notice  of  the  use  of  pictures  is  in  the  censure  of  the 
council  of  Uliberis,  three  hundred  years  after  the  Christian  era. 
Under  the  successors  of  Constantino,  in  the  peace  and  luxury  of  the 
triumphant  church,  the  more  prudent  bishops  condescended  to 
indulge  a  visible  superstition,  for  the  benefit  of  the  multitude,  and, 
after  the  ruin  of  Paganism,  they  were  no  longer  restrained  by  the 
apprehension  of  an  odious  parallel.  The  first  introduction  of  a 
symbolic  worship  was  in  the  veneration  of  the  cross,  and  of  relics. 
The  saints  and  martyrs,  whose  intercession  was  implored,  were 
seated  on  the  right  hand  of  God  ;  but  the  gracious,  and  often  super- 
natural favors,  which,  in  the  popular  belief,  were  showered  round 
their  tombs,  conveyed  an  unquestionable  sanction  of  the  devout 
pilgrims,  who  visited,  and  touched,  and  kissed  these  lifeless  remains, 
the  memorials  of  their  merits  and  sufferings.  But  a  memorial,  more 
interesting  than  the  skull  or  the  scandals  of  a  departed  worthy,  is  a 
faithful  copy  of  his  person  and  features,  delineated  by  the  arts  of 
painting  or  sculpture.  At  first  the  experiment  was  made  with 
caution  and  scruple,  and  the  venerable  pictures  were  discreetly 
allowed  to  instruct  the  ignorant,  to  awaken  the  cold,  and  to  gratify 
the  prejudices  of  the  heathen  proselytes.  By  a  slow,  though  inevi- 
table progression,  the  honors  of  the  original  were  transferred  to  the 
copy,  the  devout  Christian  prayed  before  the  image  of  a  saint,  and 
the  pagan  rites  of  genuflexion,  luminaries,  and  incense,  again  stole 
into  the  Catholic  church."* 

§  29. — About  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  the  practice  of 
ornamenting  the  churches  with  pictures  had  become  very  general, 
and  thus  the  door  was  opened  for  that  torrent  of  idolatry  which 
flooded  the  churches,  and  in  three  or  four  centuries  carried  away 

*  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall,  chap.  xlix. 


156  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  hi. 

Paulinus  of  Nola  adorns  a  church  with  pictures,  &c.    The  permission  of  Gregory  a  dangerous  precedent. 

almost  every  vestige  of  spiritual  Christian  worship.  Among  others, 
Paulinus,  a  bishop  of  Nola,  in  Italy,  about  the  year  131,  erected  in 
that  city  a  magnificent  church  in  honor  of  St.  Felix,  nnd  as  he  him- 
self informs  us,  adorned  it  with  pictures  of  martyrs,  and  various 
Scripture  histories  painted  on  the  walls.  This  example,  at  that 
time  rare,  was  imitated  in  various  places,  though  not  without  con- 
siderable opposition,  till  in  the  sixth  century,  the  dangerous  practice 
of  using  not  only  paintings  but  images,  became  very  general,  both 
in  the  East  and  the  West. 

§  30. — Still  it  was  the  general  opinion,  even  to  the  time  of  Gre- 
gory, that  if  used  at  all,  they  were  to  be  used  only  as  helps  to  the 
memory,  or  as  books  to  instruct  those  who  could  not  read,  and  that 
no  sort  of  worship  was  to  be  paid  them.  That  this  was  his  opinion 
we  have  already  seen  from  his  epistle  to  Serenus,  bishop  of  Mar- 
seilles.* Thus  it  is  evident  that  so  late  as  the  beginning  of  the 
seventh  century,  images  were  altogether  forbidden  to  be  worship- 
ped in  any  way.  Of  course  the  distinction  invented  by  modern 
popish  idolators,  between  sovereign  or  subordinate,  absolute  or 
relative,  proper  or  improper  worship — the  worship  of  latria,  dulia, 
or  hyperdulia — of  course,  I  say,  these  scholastic  distinctions  were 
not  then  invented,  and  were  therefore  unknown  to  Gregory.  They 
never  would  have  been  thought  of,  but  for  the  necessity  which 
papists  found  of  inventing  some  way  of  warding  off  the  charge  of 
idolatry,  so  frequently  and  so  justly  alleged  against  them.  The 
words  of  Gregory  were,  "  adorari  vero  imagines  omnibus  modis 
devita,"  which  the  Roman  Catholic  historian,  Dupin,  has  translated, 
"  that  he  must  not  allow  images  to  be  worshipped  in  any  manner 
whatever."^ 

The  permission  given  by  Gregory  for  the  use  of  images  in 
churches  was  a  dangerous  precedent.  He  might  have  anticipated 
that  if  suffered  at  all  they  would  not  long  continue  to  be  regarded 
merely  as  books  for  the  ignorant ;  especially  when,  as  soon  after 
happened  in  this  dark  age,  the  most  ridiculous  stories  began  to  be 
circulated  relative  to  the  marvellous  prodigies  and  miraculous 
cures  effected  by  the  presence  or  the  contact  of  these  wondrous 
blocks  of  wood  and  of  stone.  The  result  that  might  naturally  have 
been  anticipated,  came  to  pass.  These  images  became  idols  ;  the 
ignorant  multitude  reverently  kissed  them,  and  "  bowed  themselves 
down"  before  them,  and,  by  the  commencement  of  the  eighth  century, 
a  system  of  idol  worship  had  sprung  up  almost  all  over  the  nomi- 
nally Christian  world,  scarcely  less  debasing  than  that  which  pre- 
vails at  the  present  day  in  Italy  and  other  popish  countries  of  Eu- 
rope. In  the  year  713,  pope  Constantine  issued  an  edict,  in  which 
ne  pronounced  those  accursed  who  "  deny  that  veneration  to  the 
holy  images,  which  is  appointed  by  the  church" — '  Sanctis  imagini- 
bus  venerationem  constitutam  ab  ecclesia,  qui  negarent  illam  ipsam. 

§  31. — In  the  year  726,  commenced  that  famous  controversy  be- 

*  See  above,  page  131.  f  Dupin,  vol.  v.,  p.  122. 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606—800.  157 

The  emperor  Leo,  in  7-26,  issues  his  first  decree  against  image-worship. 

tween  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope  upon  the  worship  of  images 
which  for  more  than  half  a  century  arrayed  against  each  other, 
Leo  and  Gregory,  and  their  successors  in  the  empire  and  the  pope- 
dom, and  which  was  only  quelled  by  the  full  establishment  of  this 
idolatrous  worship,  by  the  decree  of  the  second  council  of  Nice,  in 
787.  "  In  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century,"  says  Gibbon,  "  the 
Greeks  were  awakened  by  an  apprehension  that,  under  the  mask 
of  Christianity,  they  had  restored  the  religion  of  their  fathers : 
they  heard,  with  grief  and  impatience,  the  name  of  idolators  ;  the 
incessant  charge  of  the  Jews  and  Mahometans,  who  derived  from 
the  law  and  the  Koran  an  immortal  hatred  to  graven  images  and 
all  the  relative  worship."  (Vol.  hi.,  p.  273.) 

Leo,  the  emperor,  observing  from  his  palace  in  Constantinople 
the  extensive  prevalence  of  this  idolatry,  resolved  to  put  a  stop  to 
the  growing  superstition,  and  make  an  attempt  to  restore  the  Chris- 
tian worship  to  its  primitive  purity.  With  this  view  he  issued  an 
edict  forbidding  in  future  any  worship  to  be  paid  to  images,  but 
without  ordering  them  to  be  demolished  or  removed.  The  date  of 
this  edict  was  A.  D.  726,  a  year,  as  Bower  has  well  remarked, 
"ever  memorable  in  the  ecclesiastical  annals,  for  the  dispute  to 
which  it  gave  occasion,  and  the  unheard  of  disturbances  which 
that  dispute  raised,  both  in  the  Church  and  the  State.*"  Anxious 
to  preserve  his  subjects  from  idolatry,  the  Emperor,  with  all  that 
frankness  and  sincerity  which  marked  his  character,  publicly  avow- 
ed his  conviction  of  the  idolatrous  nature  of  the  prevailing  practice, 
and  protested  against  the  erection  of  images.  Hitherto  no  coun- 
cils had  sanctioned  the  evil,  and  precedents  of  antiquity  were 
against  it.  But  the  scriptures,  which  ought  to  have  had  infinitely 
more  weight  upon  the  minds  of  men  than  either  councils  or  pre- 
cedents, had  expressly  and  pointedly  condemned  it ;  yet,  such  deep 
root  had  the  error  at  this  time  taken ;  so  pleasing  was  it  with  men 
to  commute  for  the  indulgence  of  their  crimes  by  a  routine  of 
idolatrous  ceremonies ;  and,  above  all,  so  little  ear  had  they  to  be- 
stow on  what  the  word  of  God  taught,  that  the  subjects  of  Leo 
murmured  against  him  as  a  tyrant  and  a  persecutor.  And  in  this 
they  were  encouraged  by  Germanus,  the  bishop  of  Constantinople, 
who,  with  equal  zeal  and  ignorance,  asserted  that  images  had  al- 
ways been  used  in  the  church,  and  declared  his  determination  to 
oppose  the  Emperor :  which,  the  more  effectually  to  do,  he  wrote 
to  Gregory  II.,  then  bishop  of  Rome,  respecting  the  subject,  who, 
by  similar  reasonings,  warmly  supported  the  same  cause. 

§  32. — The  first  steps  of  the  emperor  Leo  in  the  reformation, 
were  moderate  and  cautious ;  he  assembled  a  great  council  of 
senators  and  bishops,  and  enacted,  with  their  consent,  that  all  the 
images  should  be  removed  from  the  sanctuary  and  altar  to  a  proper 
height  in  the  churches,  where  they  might  be  visible  to  the  eyes, 
and  inaccessible  to  the  superstition  of  the  people.     But  it  was  im- 

*  History  of  the  Popes,  v.  iii.,  p.  199. 


158  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ra. 

Tumult  and  murder  by  the  women  of  Constantinople  at  the  removal  of  an  image. 

possible  on  cither  side  to  check  the  rapid  though  adverse  impulse 
of  veneration  and  abhorrence :  in  their  lofty  position,  the  sacred 
images  still  edified  their  votaries  and  reproached  the  tyrant.  He 
was  himself  provoked  by  resistance  and  invective ;  and  his  own 
party  accused  him  of  an  imperfect  discharge  of  his  duty,  and 
urged,  for  his  imitation,  the  example  of  the  Jewish  king,  who  had 
broken  without  scruple  the  brazen  serpent  of  the  temple. 

In  the  year  730,  he  issued  an  edict,  enjoining  the  removal  or  de- 
struction of  images,  and  having  in  vain  labored  to  bring  over  Ger- 
manus,  the  bishop  of  Constantinople,  to  his  views,  he  deposed  him 
from  his  See,  and  put  in  his  place  Anastasius,  who  took  part  with 
the  Emperor.  There  was,  in  the  palace  of  Constantinople,  a  porch, 
which  contained  an  image  of  the  Saviour  on  the  cross.  Leo  sent 
an  officer  to  remove  it.  Some  females,  who  were  then  present,  en- 
treated that  it  might  remain,  but  without  effect.  The  officer  mount- 
ed a  ladder,  and  with  an  axe  struck  three  blows  on  the  face  of  the 
figure,  when  the  women  threw  him  down,  by  pulling  away  the  lad- 
der, and  murdered  him  on  the  spot.  The  image,  however,  was  re- 
moved, and  burnt,  and  a  plain  cross  set  up  in  its  room.  The  women 
then  proceeded  to  insult  Anastasius  for  encouraging  the  profanation 
of  holy  things.  An  insurrection  ensued — and,  in  order  to  quell  it, 
the  Emperor  was  obliged  to  put  several  persons  to  death. 

§  33. — Pope  Gregory,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  appointment  of 
Anastasius,  an  avowed  enemy  to  the  worship  of  images,  as  bishop 
of  Constantinople,  immediately  declared  him  deposed  from  his  dig- 
nity, unless  he  should  at  once  renounce  his  heresy,  and  favor  images 
as  his  predecessor,  Germanus,  had  done.*  Both  the  letter  and  the 
edict  of  the  Pope  were,  however,  treated  with  silent  contempt,  and 
the  new  patriarch  continued  to  exercise  his  office,  and,  by  the  di- 
rection of  his  master,  Leo,  to  employ  all  his  zeal  in  rooting  out  the 
idolatry. 

The  imperious  pontiff  was  no  more  civil  to  the  emperor  Leo 
than  to  the  patriarch.  The  Emperor  had  written  him  a  letter,  en- 
treating him  not  to  oppose  so  commendable  a  work  as  the  extirpa- 
tion of  idolatry,  and  threatening  him  with  the  fate  of  pope  Martin, 
who  died  in  banishment,  if  he  should  continue  obstinate  and  rebel- 
lious. The  reply  of  Gregory  is  worthy  of  record  as  an  illustration 
of  the  spirit  of  the  man,  and  of  the  spirit  of  the  times.  "  During 
ten  pure  and  fortunate  years,"  says  he,  "  we  have  tasted  the  annual 
coin  fort  of  your  royal  letters,  subscribed  in  purple  ink,  with  your 
own  hand,  the  sacred  pledges  of  your  attachment  to  the  orthodox 
creed  of  our  fathers.  How  deplorable  is  the  change  !  How  tre- 
mendous the  scandal !  You  now  accuse  the  Catholics  of  idolatry  : 
and,  by  the  accusation,  you  betray  your  own  impiety  and  ignorance. 
To  this  ignorance  we  are  compelled  to  adapt  the  grossness  of  our 
style  and  arguments  :  the  first  elements  of  holy  letters  arc  sufficient 
for  your  confusion ;  and  were  you  to  enter  a  grammar-school,  and 

*  Fleury's  Eccles.  Hist,  book  xlii.,  7. 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606—800.  I59 

Pope  Gregory's  insulting  letter  to  the  emperor  Leo.  The  Pope  "  revered  as  a  God  upon  earth." 

avow  yourself  the  enemy  of  our  worship,  the  simple  and  pious 
children  would  be  provoked  to  cast  their  horn-books  at  your  head." 

After  this  curious  salutation,  ihe  Pope  explains  to  him  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  idols  of  antiquity  and  the  Christian  images. 
The  former  were  the  fanciful  representations  of  phantoms  or 
demons,  at  a  time  when  the  true  God  had  not  manifested  his  per- 
son in  any  visible  likeness — the  latter  are  the  genuine  forms  of 
Christ,  his  mother,  and  his  saints.  To  the  impudent  and  inhuman 
Leo,  more  guilty  than  a  heretic,  he  recommends  peace,  silence,  and 
implicit  obedience  to  his  spiritual  guides  of  Constantinople  and 
Rome.  "  You  assault  us,  O  tyrant,"  thus  he  proceeds,  "  with  a 
carnal  and  military  hand  ;  unarmed  and  naked  we  can  only  im- 
plore the  Christ,  the  prince  of  the  heavenly  host,  that  he  will  send 
unto  you  a  devil,  for  the  destruction  of  your  body  and  the  salva- 
tion of  your  soul.  You  declare,  with  foolish  arrogance,  '  I  will 
dispatch  my  orders  to  Rome  ;  I  will  break  in  pieces  the  images  of 
St.  Peter  ;  and  Gregory,  like  his  predecessor  Martin,  shall  be  trans- 
ported in  chains  and  in  exile  to  the  foot  of  the  imperial  throne.' 
Would  to  God,  that  I  might  be  permitted  to  tread  in  the  footsteps 
of  the  holy  Martin  ;  but  may  the  fate  of  Constans  serve  as  a 
warning  to  the  persecutors  of  the  church.  After  his  just  con- 
demnation by  the  bishops  of  Sicily,  the  tyrant  was  cut  off,  in  the 
fulness  of  his  sins,  by  a  domestic  servant ;  the  saint  is  still  adored 
by  the  nations  of  Scythia,  among  whom  he  ended  his  banishment 
and  his  life. 

"  But  it  is  our  duty  to  live  for  the  edification  and  support  of  the 
faithful  people,  nor  are  we  reduced  to  risk  our  safety  on  the  event 
of  a  combat.  Incapable  as  you  are  of  defending  your  Roman  sub- 
jects, the  maritime  situation  of  the  city  may  perhaps  expose  it  to 
your  depredation  ;  but  we  can  remove  to  the  distance  of  four-and- 

twenty  stadia,  to  the  first  fortress  of  the  Lombards,  and  then 

you  may  pursue  the  winds.  Arc  you  ignorant  that  the  popes  are 
the  bond  of  union  between  the  East  and  the  West  ?  The  eyes  of 
the  nations  are  fixed  on  our  humility  ;  and  they  revere  as  a  God 
upon  earth  the  apostle  Saint  Peter,  whose  image  you  threaten  to 
destroy.  The  remote  and  interior  kingdoms  of  the  West  present 
their  homage  to  Christ  and  his  vicegerent,  and  we  now  prepare  to 
visit  one  of  the  most  powerful  monarchs,  who  desires  to  receive 
from  our  hands  the  sacrament  of  baptism.  The  Barbarians  have 
submitted  to  the  yoke  of  the  gospel,  while  you  alone  are  deaf  to 
the  voice  of  the  shepherd.  These  pious  Barbarians  are  kindled 
into  rage  ;  they  thirst  to  avenge  the  persecution  of  the  east. 
Abandon  your  rash  and  fatal  enterprise  ;  reflect,  tremble,  and  repent. 
If  you  persist,  we  are  innocent  of  the  blood  that  will  be  spilt  in  the 
contest ;  may  it  fall  on  your  own  head  !"* 

§  34.— Upon  the  news  of  Leo's  decree  reaching  Rome,  where 
the  people  were  as  mad  upon  their  idols  as  they  were  at  the  East, 

*  Act  Cone.  Nic,  torn,  viii.,  p.  651,  &c. 


160  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  hi. 

Tumults  ill  Koine.  Humble  epistle  to  the  Emperor  of  another  successor  of  Peter  the  fisherman. 

such  was  the  indignation  excited  by  it,  that  the  Emperor's  statues 
were  immediately  pulled  down,  and  trodden  under  foot.  All  Italy 
was  thrown  into  contusion  ;  attempts  were  made  to  elect  another 
emperor,  in  the  room  of  Leo,  and  the  Pope  encouraged  these  at- 
tempts. The  Greek  writers  affirm  that  he  prohibited  the  Italians 
from  paying  tribute  any  longer  to  Leo;  but,  in  the  midst  of  these 
broils,  while  defending  idolatry  and  exciting  rebellion  with  all  his 
might,  Gregory  was  stopped  short  in  his  wicked  career.  "  He  was 
extremely  insolent,"  says  an  impartial  writer,  "  though  he  died  with 
the  character  of  a  saint."* 

§  35.— He  was  succeeded  in  his  office,  A.  D.  731,  by  Gregory  III., 
who  entered  with  great  spirit  and  energy  into  the  measures  of  his 
predecessors.  The  reader  cannot  but  be  amused  with  the  follow- 
ing extract  of  a  letter  which  he  addressed  to  the  Emperor,  imme- 
diately on  his  elevation  : — "  Because  you  are  unlearned  and  igno- 
rant, we  are  obliged  to  write  to  you  rude  discourses,  but  full  of  sense 
and  the  word  of  God.  We  conjure  you  to  quit  your  pride,  and 
hear  us  with  humility.  You  say  that  we  adore  stones,  walls,  and 
boards.  It  is  not  so,  my  lord  ;  but  these  symbols  make  us  recollect 
the  persons  whose  names  they  bear,  and  exalt  our  grovelling  minds. 
We  do  not  look  upon  them  as  gods  ;  but,  if  it  be  the  image  of  Jesus, 
we  say,  '  Lord,  help  us.'  If  it  be  the  image  of  his  mother,  we 
say, '  Pray  to  your  Son  to  save  us.'  If  it  be  of  a  martyr,  we  say, 
'  St.  Stephen,  pray  for  us.'  We  might,  as  having  the  power  of 
Saint  Peter,  pronounce  punishments  against  you  ;  but,  as  you  have 
pronounced  the  curse  upon  yourself,  let  it  stick  to  you.  You  write 
to  us  to  assemble  a  general  council,  of  which  there  is  no  need.  Do 
you  cease  to  persecute  images,  and  all  will  be  quiet ;  we  fear  not 
your  threats." 

Few  readers  will  think  the  style  of  this  letter  much  calculated  to 
conciliate  the  Emperor  ;  and  though  it  certainly  does  not  equal 
the  arrogance  and  blasphemy  which  are  to  be  found  among  the 
pretensions  of  this  wretched  race  of  mortals  in  the  subsequent 
period  of  their  history,  it  may  strike  some  as  exhibiting  a  tolerable 
advance  towards  them.  It  seems  to  have  shut  the  door  against  all 
further  intercourse  between  the  parties  ;  for,  in  732,  Gregory,  in  a 
council,  excommunicated  all  who  should  remove  or  speak  con- 
temptuously of  images ;  and,  Italy  being  now  in  a  state  of  rebel- 
lion, Leo  fitted  out  a  fleet  with  a  view  of  quashing  the  refractory 
conduct  of  his  subjects,  but  it  was  wrecked  in  the  Adriatic,  the  ob- 
ject of  the  expedition  frustrated,  and  the  design  of  vengeance  on 
the  Pope  and  the  Romans  for  the  present  abandoned.!  • 

§  36. — Pope  Gregory,  in  order  to  revenge  himself  on  the  Em- 
peror for  his  continued  and  persevering  opposition  to  images,  ex- 
pended, in  defiance  of  the  royal  edict,  the  whole  wealth  of  the 
church  on  pictures  and  statues  to  adorn  the  churches  at  Rome.    As 

*  Walch's  Compend.  Hist,  of  the  Popes,  p.  101. 

f  See  Lect.  on  Eccles.  Hist.,  by  Jones.     London,  1834. — Lect.  xxvii. 


chap,  iv.l  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.D.  606—800.  161 


Gregory's  expensive  zeal  for  image-worship.      Death  of  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor.      Their  successors. 

Leo  was  as  much  opposed  to  the  worship  of  saints  and  relics  as  he 
was  to  images,  the  Pope,  according  to  the  account  of  the  Romish 
historian,  Anastasius,  caused  relics  to  be  everywhere  sought  for, 
and  conveyed  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  Rome,  built  a  mag- 
nificent oratory  for  their  reception  and  worship,  and  appointed  a 
religious  service  to  be  performed  to  them,  and  monks  to  con- 
duct the  service,  maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  See.  In  these 
pious  works  the  Pope  is  said  to  have  expended  73  pounds  weight 
of  gold,  and  376  pounds  of  silver,  at  that  time  a  most  enormous 
sum.*  But  these  hatreds  and  animosities  were  soon  quieted  in  the 
stillness  of  the  grave  ;  for  in  the  year  741,  both  the  emperor  Leo 
and  the  pope  Gregory  were  nearly  at  the  same  time  called  away 
from  earth,  to  render  up  their  account  to  a  higher  tribunal,  leaving 
their  strifes  and  contentions  to  be  continued  by  their  successors. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CONTINUATION    OF    THE    CONTROVERSY  ON    IMAGE-WORSHIP. FROM    THE 

DEATH    OF    LEO    AND    GREGORY,  A.D.  741,  TO    THE    FINAL    ESTABLISH- 
MENT OF  THIS  IDOLATRY,  BY  THE  SECOND  COUNCIL  OF  NICE,  A.  D.    787. 

§  37. — The  emperor  Leo  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Constantine 
V.,  surnamed  Copronymus,  and  pope  Gregory,  by  Zachary,  a 
native  of  Greece.  The  new  Emperor  followed  in  the  steps  of  his 
father,  in  endeavoring  to  extirpate  the  idolatrous  worship  of  images, 
but  the  new  Pope  was  too  busily  engaged,  as  we  shall  see  in  the 
next  chapter,  in  his  ambitious  attempts  to  exalt  the  temporal  gran- 
deur of  the  Roman  See,  and  to  elevate  the  popes  of  Rome  to  a  rank 
among  the  princes  of  the  earth,  to  concern  himself  much  about  any- 
thing connected  with  the  ceremonies  of  religious  worship.  During 
his  pontificate,  therefore,  of  about  eleven  years,  the  emperor  Constan- 
tine suffered  but  little  molestation  in  his  commendable  attempts  to 
root  out  idolatry,  except  from  a  domestic  usurper,  Artabasdus,  who, 
in  his  absence  on  an  expedition  against  the  Saracens,  seized  upon 
his  throne,  and  endeavored  to  conciliate  the  superstitious  populace, 
by  reversing  the  edicts  of  Leo  against  images,  ordering  the  idols  to 
be  restored  to  the  churches,  and  forbidding  any  one  in  future  to 
question  the  lawfulness  of  that  idolatry  upon  pain  of  exile  or 
death.  The  dominion  of  Artabasdus,  was,  however,  but  short- 
lived. At  the  end  of  a  few  months,  he  was  defeated  and  taken  by 
Constantine,  who  spared  the  life  of  the  usurper,  but  caused  the 
images  he  had  set  up  to  be  immediately  destroyed,  and  renewed  the 

*  Bower's  Hist.  Popes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  299. 
11 


102  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  m. 

Council  at  Constantinople  condemns  image-worship — A.D.  754. 

former  edicts  against  their  worship  and  use,  at  the  same  time 
promising  the  people,  at  an  early  period,  to  refer  the  whole  question 
of  image-worship  to  the  decision  of  a  general  council. 

§  38. — In  754,  during  the  pontificate  of  Stephen  II.,  the  Emperor 
proceeded  to  redeem  this  pledge  by  convening  a  council  at  Hiera, 
opposite  to  Constantinople,  consisting  of  338  bishops,  the  largest 
number  that  had  ever  yet  assembled  in  one  general  council.  This 
numerous  council,  after  continuing  their  sessions  from  the  10th  of 
February  to  the  17th  August,  with  one  voice  condemned  the  use 
and  the  worship  of  images,  as  a  custom  borrowed  of  idolatrous 
nations,  and  entirely  contrary  to  the  practice  of  the  purer  ages  of 
the  church.  On  the  nature  of  the  heresy  they  express  themselves 
in  the  following  language.  "  Jesus  Christ  hath  delivered  us  from 
idolatry,  and  hath  taught  us  to  adore  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 
But  the  devil,  not  being  able  to  endure  the  beauty  of  the  church, 
hath  insensibly  brought  back  idolatry,  under  the  appearance  of 
Christianity,  persuading  men  to  worship  the  creature,  and  to  take 
for  God  a  work  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ."* 

The  decree  of  faith  issued  by  this  celebrated  council  was  as 
follows  :  "  The  holy  and  oecumenical  council,  which  it  hath  pleased 
our  most  orthodox  emperors,  Constantino  and  Leo,  to  assemble  in 
the  church  of  St.  Mary  ad  Blachernas  in  the  imperial  city,  adhering 
to  the  word  of  God,  to  the  definitions  of  the  six  preceding  councils, 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  approved  fathers,  and  the  practice  of  the 
church  in  the  earliest  times,  pronounce  and  declare,  in  the  name  of 
the  Trinity,  and  with  one  heart  and  mind,  that  \o  images  are  to  be 
worshipped;  that  to  worship  them  or  any  other  creature,  is  robbing 
God  of  the  honor  that  is  due  to  him  alone,  and  relapsing  into  idola- 
try. Whoever,  therefore,  shall  henceforth  presume  to  worship 
images,  to  set  them  up  in  the  churches,  or  in  private  houses,  or  to 
conceal  them  ;  if  a  bishop,  priest,  or  deacon,  shall  be  degraded,  and 
if  a  monk  or  layman,  excommunicated  and  punished  as  guilty  of  a 
breach  of  God's  express  command,  and  of  the  imperial  laws,  that  is, 
of  the  very  severe  laws  issued  by  the  Christian  emperors  against 
the  worshippers  of  idols." 

This  council  is  reckoned  by  the  Greeks  as  the  seventh  general 
council,  but  by  the  papists,  on  account  of  their  decree  against  the 
worship  of  images,  this  claim  is,  of  course,  disallowed.  Encouraged 
by  the  countenance  and  decrees  of  so  numerous  a  council,  Constan- 
tine  proceeded  to  burn  the  images,  and  demolish  the  walls  of  the 
churches  which  were  painted  with  the  figures  of  Christ,  of  the 
Virgin,  and  the  saints,  with  a  promptness  and  resolution  which 
showed  that  he  was  determined,  if  possible,  to  extirpate  the  last 
vestige  of  idolatry. 

§  39. — Upon  the  death  of  Constantino  V.,  in  the  year  775,  he  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Leo  IV.,  who  adopted  the  sentiments  of  his 
father  and  grandfather,  and  imitated  their  zeal  in  the  extirpation  of 

*  Fleury,  book  xliii.,  chapter  7. 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606—800.  163 


The  empress  Irene.  Her  unnatural  cruelties.  Justified  by  popish  writers. 

idolatry  out  of  the  Christian  church.  The  wife  of  Leo  was  named 
Irene,  a  woman  who  has  rendered  her  name  infamous  in  the  annals 
of  crime.  In  the  year  780,  her  husband,  who  had  opposed  her 
attempts  to  introduce  the  worship  of  images  into  the  very  palace, 
suddenly  died,  as  is  supposed  by  many,  in  consequence  of  poison, 
administered  by  the  direction  of  his  faithless  and  perfidious  queen. 
Bower  expresses  his  own  opinion,  that  this  woman,  "  so  abandonedly 
wicked"  (as  he  describes  her),  caused  poison  to  be  administered  to 
Leo,  and  Mosheim  directly  asserts  that  such  was  the  fact.  For  my 
own  part,  I  think  it  very  probable  that  this  was  the  cause  of  the 
death  of  her  husband,  though  I  am  not  aware  that  it  is  directly 
asserted  by  any  ancient  author.  There  is  no  uncertainty,  however, 
relative  to  her  unnatural  and  bloody  treatment  of  her  son,  the 
youthful  emperor  Constantine  VI. 

Inspired  by  a  desire  to  occupy  the  throne  now  possessed  by  him, 
she  caused  him  to  be  seized,  and  his  eyes  to  be  put  out,  to  render 
him  incapable  of  reigning,  which,  according  to  the  testimony  of 
Theophanes,  was  done  "  with  so  much  cruelty,  that  he  immediately 
expired."  Gibbon  doubts  whether  immediate  death  was  the  conse- 
quence, but  describes  in  vivid  language,  the  horrid  cruelty  of  the 
unnatural  mother.  "  In  the  mind  of  Irene,  ambition  had  stifled  every 
sentiment  of  humanity  and  nature,  and  it  was  decreed  in  her  bloody 
council,  that  Constantine  should  be  rendered  incapable  of  the  throne, 
her  emissaries  assaulted  the  sleeping  prince,  and  stabbed  their  dag- 
gers with  such  violence  and  precipitation  into  his  eyes,  as  if  they 
meant  to  execute  a  mortal  sentence.  The  most  bigoted  ortho- 
doxy has  justly  execrated  the  unnatural  mother,  who  may  not 
easily  be  paralleled  in  the  history  of  crimes.  On  earth,  the  crime 
of  Irene  was  left  five  years  unpunished,  and  if  she  could  silence  the 
voice  of  conscience,  she  neither  heard  nor  regarded  the  reproaches 
of  mankind."* 

§  40. — Such  was  the  flagitious  character  of  the  wretched  woman, 
who  was  eventually  the  means  of  establishing  the  worship  of  images 
throughout  the  empire,  and  yet  in  consequence  of  this  service  which 
she  rendered  to  the  cause  of  idolatry,  will  it  be  credited  that  popish 
writers  represent  her  as  a  pattern  of  piety,  and  even  justify  the 
horrid  torture,  or  the  murder  of  her  son  ?  The  following  are  the 
words  of  Cardinal  Baronius,  justifying  this  cruel  and  unnatural 
crime  :  "  Snares,"  says  he,  "  were  laid  this  year  for  the  emperor 
Constantine,  by  his  mother  Irene,  which  he  fell  into  the  year  follow- 
ing, and  was  deprived  at  the  same  time  of  his  eyes  and  his  life.  An 
execrable  crime  indeed,  had  she  not  been  prompted  to  it  by  zeal  for 
justice.  On  that  consideration  she  even  deserved  to  be  commend- 
ed for  what  she  did  (!  !)  In  more  ancient  times,  the  hands  of 
parents  were  armed  by  God's  command,  against  their  children 
worshipping  strange  gods,  and  they  who  killed  them  were  com- 
mended by  Moses."    Again  says  Baronius, "  As  Irene  was  supposed 

*  Decline  and  Fall,  vol.  iii.,  page  246. 


164  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  hi. 


The  wicked  Irene  convenes  a  counci1,  which  establishes  idolatry,  A.  D.  787. 


to  have  done  what  she  did  (that  is,  to  have  deposed  and  murdered 
her  son),  for  the  sake  of  religion  (!)  and  love  of  justice  (! !)  she  was 
still  thought  by  men  of  great  sanctity  worthy  of  praise  and  com- 
mendation."* This  extract  from  a  popish  Cardinal,  and  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  writers  of  that  communion,  needs  no  comment. 
Well  might  Popery  be  called  in  the  language  of  inspiration, "  the 
mother  of  harlots,  and  abominations  of  the  earth."  (Rev.  xvii.,  5.) 

§  41. — In  the  year  784,  this  wicked  woman  wrote  to  pope  Adrian, 
desiring  his  presence,  or  at  least  the  presence  of  his  legates,  to  a 
general  council  to  be  held  at  Nice,  in  support  of  the  worship  of 
images ;  and  Adrian  in  his  reply  testified  his  joy  at  the  prospect  of 
the  restoration  of  the  holy  images  to  their  place  in  the  churches 
from  which  they  had  so  long  been  banished. 

In  the  year  787,  this  famous  council  was  convened,  which  papists 
reckon  the  seventh  general  council,  though  it  has  no  more  right  to  be 
regarded  as  a  general  council,  than  the  council  convened  by  the 
Emperor  in  754,  which  condemned  the  use  of  images.  The  num- 
ber of  bishops  who  attended  on  this  occasion,  was  350,  and  the 
result  of  their  deliberation  was,  as  might  be  expected,  in  favor  of 
images.  It  was  decreed  "  That  holy  images  of  the  cross  should  be 
consecrated,  and  put  on  the  sacred  vessels  and  vestments,  and  upon 
walls  and  boards,  in  private  houses  and  in  public  ways.  And  espe- 
cially that  there  should  be  erected  imnges  of  the  Lord  God,  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  of  our  blessed  Lady,  the  mother  of  God,  of 
the  venerable  angels,  and  of  all  the  saints.  And  that  whosoever 
should  presume  to  think  or  teach  otherwise,  or  to  throw  away  any 
painted  books,  or  the  figure  of  the  cross,  or  any  image  or  picture,  or 
any  genuine  relics  of  the  martyrs,  they  should,  if  bishops  or  clergy- 
men, be  deposed,  or  if  monks  or  laymen,  be  excommunicated.  They 
then  pronounced  anathemas  upon  all  who  should  not  receive  images, 
or  who  should  apply  what  the  Scriptures  say  against  idols  to  the 
holy  images,  or  call  them  idols,  or  wilfully  communicate  with  those 
who  rejected  and  despised  them,  adding,  according  to  custom, 
1  Long  live  Constantine,  and  Irene,  his  mother — damnation  to  all 
heretics — damnation  on  the  council  that  roared  against  venerable 
images — the  holy  Trinity  hath  deposed  them.'  "f 

§  42. — Thus  was  the  system  of  popish  idolatry  established  by  law, 
confirmed  by  a  boasted  general  council,  in  direct  opposition  to  both 
the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  sacred  Scriptures.  In  spite  of  all  the 
fine-spun  distinctions,  and  papistical  apologies,  to  diminish  the  guilt 
of  this  idol  worship,  from  that  time  to  the  present,  idolatry  has 
been  stamped  upon  the  forehead  of  the  papal  anti-Christ.  The  church 
of  Rome,  let  her  say  what  she  will,  is  a  church  defiled  and  polluted 
by  idolatry,  and  in  "this  spiritual  adultery,  her  members  have  almost 
universally  participated.  "  Tell  us  not,"  says  Isaac  Taylor,  "  how 
the  few  may  possibly  steer  clear  of  the  fatal  errors,  and  avoid  a 

*  Baronius'  Annals,  ann.  796. 

f  Platina's  Lives  of  the  Popes,  vita  Adrian  I. 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606— 800.  165 

From  the  tumults  about  images  in  730,  the  Emperor  had  no  power  in  Italy. 

gross  idolatry,  while  admitting  such  practices.  What  will  be  their 
effect  with  the  multitude  ?  The  actual  condition  of  the  mass  of  the 
people  in  all  countries  where  Popery  has  been  unchecked,  gives  us 
a  sufficient  answer  to  this  question  ;  nor  do  we  scruple  to  condemn 
these  practices  as  abominable  idolatries.  Tell  us  not  how  Fenelon 
or  Pascal  might  extricate  themselves  from  this  impiety:  what  are 
the  frequenters  of  churches  in  Naples  and  Madrid  ?  nothing  better 
than  the  grossest  polytheists,  and  far  less  rationally  religious  than 
were  their  ancestors  of  the  times  of  Numa  and  Pythagoras."* 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    POPE    FINALLY    BECOMES    A    TEMPORAL    SOVEREIGN,    A.  D.    756. 

§  43. — The  popes,  although  seizing  every  opportunity  to  exalt 
their  own  authority,  had  not,  up  to  the  commencement  of  the  eighth 
century,  ventured  the  attempt  to  excite  rebellion  against  the  ancient 
emperors,  or  to  wield  in  their  own  hands,  the  sceptre  of  temporal 
sovereignty.  In  the  present  chapter  we  are  to  follow  them,  in  their 
career  of  ambition,  till  they  united  the  regal  crown  to  the  episcopal 
mitre,  and  took  rank  among  the  kings  of  the  earth. 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  rebellious  tumults,  excited  at 
Rome,  and  encouraged  by  pope  Gregory  II.,  when  in  730,  the  edict 
of  Leo  was  promulgated,  enjoining  the  destruction  of  images.  From 
that  time  forward,  till  the  coronation  of  Charlemagne  in  800,  the 
government  of  the  city  of  Rome,  and  the  surrounding  territory,  was 
administered  only  nominally,  in  the  name  of  the  emperors  of  the 
East,  while  the  real  power  was  vested  in  the  popes,  sustained  as 
they  were  by  the  ignorant  and  superstitious  multitudes.  "  After  the 
prohibition  of  picture  worship,"  says  Gieseler,  "  the  city  of  Rome 
was  in  a  state  of  rebellion  against  the  emperors,  though  without  an 
absolute  separation  from  the  empire.  From  this  they  were  with- 
held by  fear  of  the  Lombards,  who,  under  Liutprand,  were  waiting 
only  for  a  favorable  opportunity  to  extend  their  sway  over  Rome, 
as  well  as  the  Exarchate,  and  whose  purpose  it  was  the  great  object 
of  the  popes  to  defeat. "f 

In  the  year  734,  the  Emperor  sent  an  army  and  a  fleet  to  reduce 
to  submission  the  Pope  and  the  refractory  Romans,  and  to  enforce 
the  execution  of  his  decree  against  images,  but  as  nearly  all  his 
vessels  were  lost  at  sea,  the  attempt  was  abandoned,  and  from  this 

*  Taylor's  Ancient  Christianity,  page  328. 

f  Gieseler's  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.,  page  14. 


160  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  in. 


Pope  (iri'Rory  III.  applies  to  Charles  Martel  for  help  against  the  Lombards. 


time  forward,  says  Bower,  "  the  Emperor  concerned  himself  no 
more  with  the  affairs  of  the  West,  than  the  Pope  with  those  of  the 
East."  The  Exarch,  or  emperor's  Viceroy,  continued  still  to  reside 
at  Ravenna,  but  was  not  in  a  condition  to  cause  the  imperial  edict 
against  images  to  be  observed  even  in  that  city,  much  less  to  under- 
take anything  against  the  Pope  or  the  people  of  Rome,  who  had 
now  withdrawn  themselves  from  subjection  to  the  Emperor,  and 
were  governed  by  magistrates  of  their  own  election,  "  forming  a 
kind  of  republic  under  the  Pope,  not  yet  as  their  prince,  but  only  as 
their  head."* 

§  44. — In  the  year  740,  in  consequence  of  the  Pope  refusing  to 
deliver  up  two  rebellious  dukes,  the  subjects  of  Luitprand,  king  of 
the  Lombards,  that  warlike  monarch  invaded  and  laid  waste  the 
territories  of  Rome.  In  their  distress,  their  fear  of  the  resentment  of 
the  Emperor  forbidding  them  to  apply  to  him  for  the  assistance  they 
urgently  needed,  they  resolved  to  apply  to  the  celebrated  Charles 
Martel,  the  great  hero  of  that  age,  who"  had  received  that  surname, 
which  signifies  hammer,  in  consequence  of  a  celebrated  victory 
gained  over  the  Saracen  forces,  near  Poictiers,  in  732,  by  which 
he  had  probably  saved  his  native  country,  France,  from  being  sub- 
jected under  the  Mahometan  rule.  Charles  was  at  this  time  mayor 
of  the  palace  to  the  king  of  France,  but  wielded  in  his  own  person 
all  the  power  of  the  kingdom.  To  him,  therefore,  pope  Gregory  III. 
despatched  the  most  urgent  and  pressing  entreaties  to  hasten  to  his 
aid.  "  Shut  not  your  ears,  my  most  Christian  son,"  writes  Gregory, 
"  shut  not  your  ears  to  our  prayers,  iest  the  prince  of  the  apostles 
should  shut  the  gates  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  you  !"  The 
Pope  had  sent  him  his  usual  royal  present  of  the  keys  of  the  tomb  of 
St.  Peter,  with  some  filings  of  Peter's  chain  inserted,  and  appealing 
to  these,  he  adds,  in  his  letters,  "  I  conjure  you,  by  the  sacred  keys 
of  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter,  which  I  send  you,  prefer  not  the  friendship 
of  the  Lombard  kings,  to  that  regard  you  owe  to  the  prince  of 
the  apostles  !"f 

§  45. — Whether  it  was,  however,  that  the  stern  warrior  did  not  at- 
tach much  value  to  these  wonder-working  keys  and  filings,  or  whether 
he  was  unwilling  to  offend  the  king  of  the  Lombards,  it  is  certain 
that  he  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  these  pathetic  appeals  of  the  Pope ; 
till  the  latter,  despairing  of  gaining  his  help  by  appealing  to  his 
piety  or  superstition,  attacked  him  in  %  more  vulnerable  part,  by 
appealing  to  his  ambition.  This  Gregory  did  by  proposing  to 
Charles,  that  he  and  the  Romans  would  renounce  all  allegiance  to 
the  Emperor,  as  an  avowed  heretic,  and  acknowledging  him  for 
their  protector,  confer  upon  him  the  consular  dignity  of  Rome,  upon 
condition  that  he  should  protect  the  Pope,  the  church,  and  the 
Roman  people  against  the  Lombards  ;  and,  if  necessity  should 
arise,  against  the  vengeance  of  their  ancient  master,  the  Emperor. 

*  Bower's  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  iii.,  page  300. 
f  Gregory  III.,  Epist.  in  Baronius,  ann.  740. 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606—800.  167 

Leo  III.,  Gregory  III.,  and  Charles  Martel  die  in  the  same  year.  Pepin  of  France. 

These  proposals  were  more  suited  to  the  warlike  and  ambitious  dis- 
position ot"  Martel,  and  he  immediately  despatched  his  ambassadors 
to  Rome  to  take  the  Pope  under  his  protection,  intending,  doubtless, 
at  an  early  period,  to  consummate  the  agreement. 

Pope  Gregory,  however,  did  not  live  to  carry  into  effect  his 
treasonable  purpose,  Charles  Martel  to  profit  by  it,  or  the  emperor 
Leo  to  hear  of  it.  They  all  three  died  in  that  year,  741,  within  a  few 
weeks  of  each  other.  Before  the  death  of  Martel,  his  timely  inter- 
ference had  procured  the  Romans  a  brief  respite  from  their  in- 
vaders, for  soon  after  the  arrival  of  his  messengers  at  Rome,  the 
Lombard  king  retired  with  his  troops  to  his  own  dominions,  though 
he  still  retained  the  four  cities  he  had  taken  belonging  to  the  Roman 
dukedom.  Upon  the  almost  simultaneous  death  of  these  three 
noted  individuals,  the  Emperor  was  succeeded  by  Constantine,  the 
Pope  by  Zachary,  and  the  mayor  of  the  palace  by  his  son  Pepin, 
as  the  nominal  mayor,  but  the  real  sovereign  of  France. 

§  46. — Pope  Zachary  was  immediately  ordained,  without  waiting 
for  his  election  to  be  confirmed,  either  by  the  Emperor  or  his  Italian 
representative,  the  Exarch  ;  the  imperial  power  in  Italy  being  at 
this  time  reduced  to  so  low  an  ebb,  that  the  Emperor  had  no  power 
to  resist  this  encroachment  upon  his  right  of  confirming  the  Uni- 
versal Bishops — a  right  which  his  predecessors  had  claimed  and 
enjoyed  without  interruption  ever  since  the  decree  of  Phocas  had 
created  that  dignity.  Soon  after  his  ordination,  pope  Zachary 
visited  in  person  the  camp  of  Luitprand,  the  Lombard  king,  who. 
upon  the  death  of  Charles  Martel,  was  preparing  again  to  invade 
the  territories  of  Rome,  and  had  influence  sufficient,  by  threaten- 
ing him  with  eternal  damnation  if  he  refused^  and  the  favor  of  St. 
Peter  if  he  complied,  to  prevail  on  him  to  deliver  up  the  four  cities 
he  had  taken ;  which  he  accordingly  did,  declaring  in  the  presence 
of  all,  that  they  no  longer  belonged  to  him,  but  to  the  Apostle  St. 
Peter,  without  saying  a  word  of  the  Emperor,  who,  if  any  one, 
was,  without  doubt,  their  rightful  master  and  sovereign. 

§47. — A  few  years  later,  A.  D.  751,  Pepin,  son  of  Martel,  con- 
ceived the  design  of  dethroning  the  feeble  monarch,  Childeric  III., 
under  whom  he  was  acting  as  prime  minister  and  viceroy.  Though 
he  possessed  the  power-  of  the  sovereign,  yet  he  was  still  a  subject, 
and  determined,  if  possible,  to  obtain  the  title  of  king  as  well  as  the 
authority.  Not  deeming  it  prudent  to  depose  the  legitimate  sove- 
reign without  providing  to  satisfy  the  scruples  of  the  timid  or  the 
superstitious,  Pepin  resolved  to  submit  the  case  of  conscience  to 
pope  Zachary ;  viz.,  who  best  deserved  to  be  called  king ;  he  who 
was  possessed  of  the  title  without  the  power,  or  he  who  possessed 
the  power  without  the  title.  The  situation  of  Zachary,  exposed  as 
he  was,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  indignation  of  the  Emperor,  and  on 
the  other,  to  the  attacks  of  the  warlike  Lombards,  was  such  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  that  he  would  give  such  an  answer  as  would  secure 
the  favor  and  protection  of  the  powerful  Pepin.     Accordingly  he 


1G8  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  m. 

Pepin,  advised  by  ihe  Pope,  usurps  the  throne  of  king  Cliilderic.  Lombards  conquer  Ravenna 

gave,  without  hesitation,  such  an  answer  as  the  usurper  desired  ; 
viz.,  that  he  ought  to  be  called  king  who  possessed  the  power,  rather 
then  he  who,  without  regal  power,  possessed  only  the  title*  The 
feeble  Ch.ldcric  was  immediately  deposed  and  confined  to  a 
monastery,  and  Pepin  proclaimed  king  in  his  stead.  He  was 
crowned  and  anointed  by  Boniface,  the  Pope's  legate,  and  two 
years  alter,  in  order  to  render  his  title  as  sacred  as  possible,  the 
ceremony  was  performed  again  by  pope  Stephen,  the  successor  of 
Zachary,  on  the  occasion  of  a  journey  into  France  to  obtain  his 
succor  against  the  Lombards.  Upon  the  arrival  of  Stephen  into 
Pepin's  dominions  on  this  occasion,  he  was  received  with  the  most 
extravagant  honors.  The  king  and  queen,  with  their  two  sons, 
Charles  and  Carloman,  the  chief  lords  of  the  court,  and  most  of  the 
French  nobility,  went  out  three  miles  to  meet  him.  Upon  his  ap- 
proach, Pepin  dismounted  from  his  horse  and  fell  prostrate  on  the 
ground  ;  and,  not  suffering  the  Pope  to  dismount,  he  attended  him 
part  of  the  way  on  foot,  performing,  according  to  the  Romish  his- 
torian, Anastasius,  "  the  office  of  his  groom  or  equerry."f 

§  48. — In  the  year  753,  Aistulphus,  king  of  the  Lombards,  in- 
vaded the  exarchate,  and  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Ravenna.  The 
city  was  bravely  defended  by  Eutychius,  the  last  of  the  exarchs, 
till  his  affairs  were  desperate,  when  he  embarked  on  board  a  vessel 
with  the  remnant  of  his  soldiers,  and  fled  to  his  master,  the  Em- 
peror, to  Constantinople.  Thus  ended  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna, 
and  with  it  the  splendor  of  that  ancient  city,  in  wrhich  for  nearly 
two  centuries  the  exarchs,  as  the  viceroys  of  the  emperors,  had 
maintained  the  imperial  pow7er  in  the  West. 

Elated  by  his  conquest,  Aistulphus  despatched  a  messenger  to 
Rome,  demanding  the  submission  of  the  inhabitants,  asserting  that 
as  the  exarchate  was  his  by  right  of  conquest,  so  also  were  all 
the  cities  and  other  places  that  had  heretofore  been  subject  to  the 
exarchs  in  Italy  ;  that  is,  all  Italian  dominions  of  the  Emperor.  At 
the  same  time  he  threatened  to  march  with  his  army  to  Rome,  and 
to  put  all  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword,  unless  they  acknowledged 
his  government,  and  paid  him  a  yearly  tribute  of  a  piece  of  gold 
for  each  person. 

§  49. — In  these  perilous  circumstances,  Stephen  ventured  to  in- 
form the  Emperor,  who  was  still  nominally  the  sovereign  of  Rome, 
and  solicit  his  succor.  Constantino,  however,  was  too  busy  in  pur- 
suing his  victories  over  the  Saracens  in  the  East  to  do  more  than 
send  an  ambassador  to  make  the  best  terms  he  could  with  Aistul- 
phus.    The  ambassador  John  bore  with  him  commands  to  the  Pope 

*  The  oldest  account  of  this  is  in  Annalibus  Loiselianus  ad  ann.  749  (751). 
See  a  quotation  from  this  ancient  writing  in  Gieseler,  iii.,  14,  note  5.  "  Zacharias 
Papa,  mandavit  Pipino  ut  melius  esset  ilium  regem  vocari  qui  potestatem  haberet, 
quam  ilium  qui  sine  regali  potestate  manebat.  Per  auctoritatem  ergo  apostolicam 
jussit  Pipinum  regem  fieri." 

t  Anastasius  de  vilis  Pontificum,  in  Stephen  II. 


chap,  m.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606— 800.  169 

Aistulphus,  the  Lombard  king,  threatens  Rome.  Pope  Stephen  applies  for  succor  to  king  Pepin 

to  unite  his  persuasions  with  his  own,  to  induce  the  Lombard  king 
to  send  a  minister  to  Constantinople  to  treat  of  an  accommodation, 
and  in  the  mean  time  to  forbear  hostilities.  This  Aistulphus  abso- 
lutely refused,  and  John  was  soon  despatched  to  his  master  at  Con- 
stantinople, to  inform  him  that  nothing  but  a  powerful  army  sent 
immediately  into  Italy,  could  save  the  remnant  of  the  ancient 
Roman  empire  in  that  country.  As  another  expedient,  two  abbots 
were  sent  to  the  camp  of  the  conqueror,  to  plead  with  him  the 
cause  of  St.  Peter.  The  King  admitted  them  to  his  presence,  but 
only  to  reproach  them  for  meddling  in  worldly  affairs,  and  com- 
manded them  to  return  immediately  to  their  monasteries.  Failing 
in  this,  the  Pope  tried  processions,  in  which  were  solemnly  carried 
the  images  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  of  St.  Peter,  and  St.  Paul,  and  a 
host  of  other  saints  ;  but  these  saints  too,  or  their  images,  appeared 
deaf  to  their  entreaties,  and  their  condition  was  daily  becoming 
more  critical. 

§  50. — In  this  extremity,  pope  Stephen  resolved  to  apply  in  per- 
son for  succor  to  Pepin,  king  of  France,  whom  we  have  already 
seen  encouraged  by  the  Pope  in  usurping  the  throne  of  his  master, 
Childeric.  Stephen,  upon  his  arrival  in  France,  was  received 
with  the  highest  honor,  and  "  entertained  as  the  visible  successor  of 
the  apostles."  After  a  short  delay,  he  recrossed  the  Alps,  at  the 
head  of  a  victorious  army,  which  was  led  by  the  King  in  person. 
The  ambitious  Pope,  while  an  honored  guest  at  the  court  of  Pepin, 
anxious  to  see  himself  elevated  to  the  rank  of  an  earthly  monarch, 
had  been  cunning  enough  to  obtain  from  him  a  promise  that  he 
would  restore  the  places  that  might  be  captured  from  Aistulphus 
(not  to  the  Emperor,  but)  to  be  freely  possessed  by  St.  Peter  and  his 
successors.  After  a  feeble  resistance  to  the  arms  of  Pepin,  the 
Lombards  were  compelled  to  submit,  their  King  was  besieged  in 
his  metropolis,  Pavia,  and  as  the  price  of  peace  was  compelled  to 
sign  a  treaty  to  deliver  up  to  the  Pope  the  exarchate,  "  with  all  the 
cities,  castles,  and  territories  thereto  belonging,  to  be  for  ever  held 
and  possessed,  by  the  most  holy  pope  Stephen  and  his  successors 
in  the  Apostolic  See  of  St.  Peter." 

§  51. — No  sooner  had  Pepin  returned  into  France,  than  Aistul- 
phus, who  had  signed  this  treaty,  resolved  not  to  fulfil  it.  The 
Pope  had  frequently  reminded  the  Lombard  king  of  the  dishonesty 
and  injustice  of  keeping  those  territories  which  belonged,  of  right, 
to  the  Emperor  ;  and  it  was  very  natural  for  him  to  conclude,  that 
if  he  had  no  right  to  keep  what  belonged  to  another,  neither  had 
king  Pepin  any  right  to  bestow  it,  or  pope  Stephen  to  receive  it ; 
and  that  of  the  three,  he  himself  had  as  much  right  to  it  as  any  one 
of  them.  Aistulphus  accordingly  laid  siege  to  Rome,  burning  with 
rage  against  the  Pope  ;  first,  for  bringing  the  French  to  invade  his 
dominions  ;  and  second,  for  claiming  the  exarchate  for  himself, 
after  having  so  frequently  threatened  him  with  the  vengeance  of 
heaven  for  his  injustice  in  not  restoring  that  territory  to  his  "  most 


170  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ni. 


Bage  of  king  Aistulphua  against  (he  Pope.  The  Pope's  urgent  letter  to  Pepin. 

religious  son,  the  Emperor,"  who  alone  had  a  right  to  it.  He  there- 
fore declared  to  the  people  that  he  came  not  as  an  enemy  to  them, 
but  to  the  Pope,  and  that  if  they  would  deliver  him  up  they  should 
be  treated  with  the  greatest  kindness,  but  if  they  refused  to  do  this, 
that  he  would  level  the  walls  of  the  city  with  the  ground,  and 
leave  none  of  them  alive  to  tell  the  tale. 

§  52. — The  Pope  immediately  wrote  an  urgent  letter,  and  sent  it 
by  an  abbot  named  Fulrad,  to  his  former  protector,  Pepin,  in  which 
he  says,  "  To  defend  the  church,  is,  of  all  works,  the  most  meritori- 
ous ;  and  that,  to  which  is  reserved  the  greatest  reward  in  the 
world  to  come.  God  might  himself  have  defended  his  church,  Or 
raised  up  others  to  ascertain  and  defend  the  just  rights  of  his  apos- 
tle St  Peter.  But  it  pleased  him  to  choose  you,  my  most  excellent 
son,  out  of  the  whole  human  race,  for  that  holy  purpose.  For  it 
was  in  compliance  with  his  divine  inspiration  and  command  that  I 
applied  to  you,  that  I  came  into  your  kingdom,  that  I  exhorted  you 
to  espouse'  the  cause  of  his  beloved  apostle,  and  your  great  pro- 
tector, St.  Peter.  You  espoused  his  cause  accordingly  ;  and  your 
zeal  for  his  honor  was  quickly  rewarded  with  a  signal  and  miracu- 
lous victory.  But,  my  most  excellent  son,  St.  Peter  has  not  yet 
reaped  the  least  advantage  from  so  glorious  a  victory,  though  owing 
entirely  to  him.  The  perfidious  and  wicked  Aistulphus  has  not  yet 
yielded  to  him  one  foot  of  ground  ;  nay,  unmindful  of  his  oath,  and 
actuated  by  the  devil,  he  has  begun  hostilities  anew,  and,  bidding 
defiance  both  to  you  and  St.  Peter,  threatens  us,  and  the  whole 
Roman  people,  with  death  and  destruction,  as  the  abbot  Fulrad  and 
his  companions  will  inform  you."  The  rest  of  the  Pope's  letter 
consists  chiefly  of  repeated  invectives  against  Aistulphus  as  a  sworn 
enemy  to  St.  Peter,  and  repeated  commendations  of  Pepin,  his  two 
sons,  "and  the  whole  French  nation,  as  the  chief  friends  and  favorites 
of  that  apostle.  In  the  end  he  puts  Pepin,  and  likewise  his  two 
sons,  in  mind  of  the  promise  they  had  made  to  the  door-keeper  of 
heaven ;  tells  them,  that  the  prince  of  the  apostles  himself  kept  the 
instrument  of  their  donation ;  that  it  had  been  delivered  into  the 
apostle's  own  hands  ;  and  that  he  held  it  tight  to  produce  it,  at  the 
last  day,  for  their  punishment,  if  it  was  not  executed ;  and  for  their 
reward  if  it  was;  and  therefore  conjures  them  by  the  living  God, 
by  the  Virgin  Mary,  by  all  the  angels  of  heaven,  by  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul,  and  the  tremendous  day  of  judgment,  to  cause  St.  Peter  to 
be  put  in  possession  of  all  the  places  named  in  the  donation  ;  and 
that  without  further  delay,  lest  by  excusing  others  they  should  them- 
selves become  inexcusable  ;  and  be,  in  the  end,  eternally  damned.* 

*  Codex  Carolinus,  Epist.  7.  This  is  a  collection  of  the  epistles  of  the  popes 
to  Charles  Martel  (whom  they  style  Subregulus),  Pepin,  and  Charlemagne,  as  far 
as  the  year  791,  when  it  was  formed  by  the  last  of  these  princes.  His  original 
and  authentic  MS.  (Bibliothecae  Cubicularis)  is  now  in  the  imperial  library  of 
Vienna,  and  has  been  published  by  Lambecius  and  Muratori  (Script.  Rerum.  Ital. 
com.  hi.,  pars.  2,  p.  75,  &c).    See  Gibbon,  vol.  iii.,  p.  281,  note  2. 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.D.  606— 800.  171 

A  letter  from  St.  Peter  in  heaven  to  Pepin,  sent  through  the  infallible  postmaster,  pope  Stephen. 


§  53. — As  some  time  elapsed,  and  the  Pope  had  received  no  in- 
telligence of  the  march  of  Pepin,  Stephen  began  to  fear  that  the  im- 
pression produced  by  his  letter  on  the  mind  of  the  King  had  not 
been  sufficiently  powerful  to  induce  him  to  cross  the  Alps  a  second 
time,  and  as  the  city,  unless  relieved,  could  not  sustain  the  siege 
much  longer,  he  adopted  the  extraordinary  expedient  of  pretending, 
by  one  of  those  pious  frauds  which  papists  have  always  regarded 
as  lawful  and  commendable,  to  have  received  a  letter  from  St. 
Peter  in  heaven,  beseeching  the  immediate  interposition  of  the 
French  on  behalf  of  his  successor  and  his  See.  This  most  singular 
document,  as  well  as  the  last  quoted  letter  of  pope  Stephen,  has 
been  preserved  in  the  Codex  Carolinus.  The  superscription  is  as 
follows  : — "  Simon  Peter,  a  servant  and  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ, 
to  the  three  most  excellent  kings,  Pepin,  Charles,  and  Carloman ; 
to  all  the  holy  bishops,  abbots,  presbyters,  and  monks ;  to  all  the 
dukes,  counts,  commanders  of  the  French  army,  and  to  the  whole 
people  of  France  :  Grace  unto  you,  and  peace  be  multiplied."  The 
letter  then  proceeds  thus :  "  I  am  the  apostle  Peter,  to  whom  it 
was  said,  Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock,  &c,  Feed  my  sheep, 
&c,  And  to  thee  will  I  give  the  keys,  &c.  As  this  was  all  said  to  me 
in  particular,  all,  who  hearken  to  me  and  obey  my  exhortations,  may 
persuade  themselves,  and  firmly  believe  that  their  sins  are  forgiven 
them  ;  and  that  they  will  be  admitted,  cleansed  from  all  guilt,  into 
life  everlasting.  Hearken,  therefore,  to  me,  to  me  Peter  the  apos- 
tle and  servant  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  since  I  have  preferred  you  to 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  hasten,  I  beseech  and  conjure  you,  if 
you  care  to  be  cleansed  from  your  sins,  and  to  earn  an  eternal  reward, 
hasten  to  the  relief  of  my  city,  of  my  church,  of  the  people  com- 
mitted to  my  care,  ready  to  fall  "into  the  hands  of  the  wicked  Lom- 
bards, their  merciless  enemies.  It  has  pleased  the  Almighty  that 
my  body  should  rest  in  this  city  ;  the  body  that  has  suffered  for  the 
sake  of  Christ  such  exquisite  torments  :  and  can  you,  my  most 
Christian  sons,  stand  by  unconcerned,  and  see  it  insulted  by  the 
most  wicked  of  nations  ?  No,  let  it  never  be  said,  and  it  will,  I 
hope,  never  be  said,  that  I,  the  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  my 
apostolic  church,  the  foundation  of  the  faith,  that  my  flock,  recom- 
mended to  you  by  me  and  my  vicar,  have  trusted  in  you,  but  trusted 
in  vain.  Our  Lady,  the  Virgin  Mary,  mother  of  God,  joins  in 
earnestly  entreating,  nay,  commands  you  to  hasten,  to  run,  to  fly,  to 
the  relief  of  my  favorite  people,  reduced  almost  to  the  last  gasp, 
and  calling  in  that  extremity  night  and  day  upon  her  and  upon  me. 
The  thrones  and  dominions,  the  principalities  and  the  powers,  and 
the  whole  multitude  of  heavenly  hosts,  entreat  you,  together  with 
us,  not  to  delay,  but  to  come  with  all  possible  speed,  and  rescue  my 
chosen  flock  from  the  jaws  of  the  ravening  wolves  ready  to  devour 
them.  My  vicar  might,  in  this  extremity,  have  recurred,  and  not 
in  vain,  to  other  nations ;  but  with  me  the  French  are,  and  ever 
have  been,  the  first,  the  best,  the  most  deserving  of  all  nations  ;  and 


172  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  m. 

Pepin  again  conquers  Aistulphus.  The  Pope  at  length  becomes  a  temporal  sovereign. 

I  would  not  suffer  the  reward,  the  exceeding  great  reward,  that  is 
reserved,  in  this  and  the  other  world,  for  those,  who  shall  deliver 
my  people,  to  be  earned  by  any  other."  In  the  rest  of  the  letter 
St.  Peter  is  made  to  repeat  all  the  Pope  had  said  in  his  letters  ;  to 
court  the  favor  and  protection  of  the  French  with  the  most  abject 
flattery  ;  to  inveigh  with  as  much  unchristian  resentment  and  ran- 
cor, as  the  Pope  had  inveighed,  against  "  the  most  wicked  nation  of 
the  Lombards  ;"  and  to  entreat  his  most  Christian  sons  over  and 
over  again  to  come,  and  with  all  possible  speed,  to  the  relief  of  his 
vicar  and  people,  lest  they  should  in  the  mean  time  all  into  the 
hands  of  their  implacable  enemies ;  and  those,  from  whom  they 
expected  relief,  incur  the  displeasure  of  the  Almighty,  and  his ; 
and  be  thereby  excluded,  notwithstanding  all  their  other  good 
works,  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

§  54. — With  this  letter  from  Saint  Peter  in  heaven,  pope 
Stephen,  the  infallible  postmaster,  despatched  a  messenger,  in  all. 
haste,  to  Pepin ;  but  he  had,  upon  the  receipt  of  his  first  letter,  as- 
sembled all  his  forces  anew  ;  and  was,  when  he  received  this, 
within  a  day's  march  of  the  Alps.  He  pursued  his  march  without 
delay ;  and,  having  forced  the  passes  of  those  mountains,  advanced, 
never  once  halting  till  he  reached  Pavia,  and  laid,  a  second  time,  a 
close  siege  to  that  city,  not  doubting  but  he  should  thus  oblige 
Aistulphus  to  retire  from  the  siege  of  Rome.*  Pepin  was  not  mis- 
taken in  his  calculations.  Fearing  that  the  French  would  make 
themselves  masters  of  his  metropolis  and  his  kingdom,  the  Lombard 
king  was  compelled,  before  it  was  too  late,  once  more  to  sue  for 
peace,  which  was  granted  by  the  French  king,  upon  the  humiliating 
conditions  that  Aistulphus  should  execute  literally  the  treaty  of  the 
former  year,  and  convey  at  once  the  exarchate  to  the  Pope,  that  he 
should  deliver  up  also  the  city  of  Commachio,  defray  all  the  ex- 
penses of  the  war,  and  pay  besides  an  annual  tribute  to  France  of 
twelve  thousand  solidi  of  gold. 

These  terms  being  agreed  and  sworn  to  by  Aistulphus,  Pepin 
caused  a  new  instrument  to  be  drawn  up,  whereby  he  yielded 
all  the  places  mentioned  in  the  treaty,  to  be  for  ever  held  and  pos- 
sessed by  St.  Peter  and  his  lawful  successors  in  the  See  of  Rome. 
This  instrument,  signed  by  himself,  by  his  two  sons,  and  by  the 
chief  barons  of  the  kingdom,  he  delivered  to  the  abbot  Fulrad,  ap- 
pointing him  his  commissary  to  receive,  in  the  Pope's  name,  all  the 
places  mentioned  in  it.  With  this  character  the  Abbot,  attended  by 
the  commissaries  of  Aistulphus,  repaired  immediately  to  Ravenna, 
and  from  thence  to  every  city  named  in  the  instrument  of  donation, 
and  having  taken  possession  of  them  all  in  St.  Peter's  name  and  the 
Pope's,  and  everywhere  received  a  sufficient  number  of  hostages, 
he  went,  with  all  his  hostages,  immediately  to  Rome  ;  and  there, 
laying  the  instrument  of  donation,  and  the  keys  of  each  city,  on 
the  tomb  of  St.  Peter,  put  the  Pope  thereby  at  last  in  possession  of 

*  Anastasius  de  viiis  Pont,  in  Stephen  II.    See  also  Baronius  ad  Ann.  755. 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606—800.  173 

The  popes'  temporal  and  spiritual  power  both  owing  to  usurpers.  Bower's  History  of  the  Popes. 

the  so  long  wished-for  principality,  and  thus  was  the  pope  of  Rome 
finally  raised  to  the  station  of  an  earthly  sovereign,  and  took  rank 
among  the  kings  of  the  earth. 

"  And  now,"  says  Bower,  to  whose  learned  labors  we  have  been 
indebted  for  many  of  the  facts  mentioned  in  this  chapter,  "  that  we 
have  seen  the  temporal  power  united  in  the  popes  to  the  spiritual, 
the  crown  to  the  mitre,  and  the  sword  to  the  keys,  I  shall  leave 
them  for  a  while,  with  two  short  observations.  First.  That  as 
their  spiritual  power  so  also  their  temporal  power  was  owing  to 
a  usurper ;  the  one  to  Phocas,  and  the  other  to  Pepin.  Second. 
That  as  they  most  bitterly  inveighed  against  the  patriarchs  of  Con- 
stantinople as  the  forerunners  of  the  anti-Christ  for  assuming  the 
title  of  Universal  Bishop,  and  yet  laid  hold  of  the  first  opportunity 
that  offered  to  assume  that  very  title  themselves  ;  so  did  they  in- 
veigh against  the  Lombards  as  the  most  wicked  of  men,  for  usurp- 
ing the  dominions  of  their  '  most  religious  sons,'  the  Emperors  ;  and 
yet  they  themselves  usurped  the  dominions  of  their  '  most  religious 
sons '  just  as  soon  as  they  had  it  in  their  power."* 

*  Bower's  Lives  of  the  Popes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  381.  The  edition  of  Bower  to  which 
we  refer  in  the  present  work,  is  the  original  edition,  in  seven  volumes  quarto, 
"printed  for  the  author,"  London,  1754.  Since  the  present  work  has  been  in  pro- 
gress, the  author  has  learned  with  pleasure  that  an  American  edition  of  Bower's 
great  work  is  in  course  of  publication,  in  twenty-four  numbers,  under  the  editorial 
supervision  of  his  learned  and  gifted  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cox,  of  Brooklyn,  which, 
by  the  economising  improvements  in  modern  printing,  will  be  afforded  in  numbers 
complete  for  six  dollars — a  sum  far  less  than  the  cost  of  a  single  volume  of  the 
original  edition.  The  History  of  the  Popes  was  the  great  work  of  the  author's 
life,  and  is  a  stupendous  monument  of  learning,  industry,  and  historical  research. 
Unable  to  controvert  or  to  disprove  his  facts,  which  are  related  upon  the  most  un- 
questionable authority  of  standard,  and  generally  contemporary  historians,  the 
papists  have  striven  to  blacken  the  character  of  Mr.  Bower,  just  as  Tertullus,  the 
orator  of  the  Jews,  when  unable  to  meet  the  argwnenls  of  the  apostle  Paul,  called 
him  "  a  pestilent  fellow."*  The  only  effect  of  these  attacks,  however,  has  been  to 
establish  the  character  of  the  work  as  one  of  unquestionable  veracity  and  author- 
ity. The  present  author  cannot  but  indulge  the  hope  that  the  enterprise  of  the 
publishers  of  this  cheap  edition  of  Bower  (Messrs.  Griffith  and  Simon,  of  Phila- 
delphia) will  be  rewarded  with  a  sale  commensurate  with  the  sterling  merits  of 
the  work. 

*  Acts  xxiv.  5. 


174 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE    CONFIRMATION    AND    INCREASE    OF    THE    POPe's    TEMPORAL    POWER. 
TO    THE    CORONATION    OF    CHARLEMAGNE,    A.  D.    800. 

§  55. — We  are  henceforth  to  contemplate  the  Pope,  not  simply  as 
a  professed  Christian  bishop,  but  as  an  earthly  prince,  exercising  a 
temporal  sovereignty  over  a  rich  and  fertile  country.  In  reference 
to  the  extent  of  these  first  fruits  of  the  conquests  of  Pepin,  now  pos- 
sessed by  the  Pope,  says  Gibbon,  "  The  ample  measure  of  the  exar- 
chate might  comprise  all  the  provinces  of  Italy,  which  had  obeyed 
the  Emperor  and  his  vicegerent ;  but  its  strict  and  proper  limits 
were  included  in  the  territories  of  Ravenna,  Bologna,  and  Ferrara, 
its  inseparable  dependency  was  the  Pentapolis,  which  stretched  along 
the  Adriatic  from  Rimini  to  Ancona,  and  advanced  into  the  midland 
country,  as  far  as  the  ridges  of  the  Appenine.  The  splendid  dona- 
tion was  granted  in  supreme  and  absolute  dominion,  and  the  world 
beheld,  for  the  first  time,  a  Christian  bishop  invested  with  the 
prerogatives  of  a  temporal  prince  ;  the  choice  of  magistrates,  the 
exercise  of  justice,  the  imposition  of  taxes,  and  the  wealth  of  the 
palace  of  Ravenna."* 

§  56. — These  limits  were  subsequently  much  enlarged  by  succes- 
sive donations  from  the  celebrated  son  and  successor  of  Pepin.  In 
the  year  774,  Charlemagne,  in  compliance  with  the  entreaties  of 
pope  Adrian,  advanced  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army  into  Italy, 
with  the  professed  design  of  protecting  the  holy  See,  from  the  at- 
tacks of  Desiderius,  at  that  time  the  king  of  the  Lombards.  Upon 
the  approach  of  the  French  king  to  Rome,  he  was  received  by  the 
Pope,  as  might  be  expected,  with  the  highest  marks  of  distinction. 
On  the  morning  after  his  arrival,  Adrian,  with  the  whole  body  of 
his  clergy,  proceeded  to  the  ancient  church  of  St.  Peter's,  early  in 
the  morning,  to  await  the  arrival  of  Charlemagne,  and  conduct  him 
in  person,  to  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter.  Arrived  at  the  steps  of  the 
church,  the  king  kneeled  down  and  kissed  each  step  of  the  sacred 
edifice,  as  he  ascended.  At  the  entry  he  was  received  by  the  Pope, 
in  all  the  gorgeous  attire  of  his  pontifical  robes,  and  led  by  him  into 
the  church,  amidst  the  songs  of  the  clergy  and  the  people,  who  im- 
piously applied  to  this  stern  warrior  that  song  which  was  originally 
applied  to  HIM  who  is  the  "  Prince  of  peace,"  "  Blessed  is  he  that 
cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

Charlemagne  then  solemnly  confirmed  the  donation  of  the  exar- 
chate, made  by  his  father  Pepin,  to  the  Pope  and  his  successors, 
ordered  a  new  instrument  to  be  drawn  up,  which  he  first  signed 
himself,  and  then  ordered  to  be  signed  by  all  the  bishops,  abbots, 

*  Decline  and  Fall,  vol.  iii.,  page  284. 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606— 800.  175 

Charlemagne  confirms  and  enlarges  the  donation  of  Pepin.  Crowns  his  son  king  of  Lombardy 

and  other  distinguished  men  who  had  accompanied  him  to  Rome  ; 
then  kissing  it  with  great  respect  and  devotion,  as  we  are  informed 
by  Anastasius,  "  he  laid  it  with  his  own  hand  on  the  body  of  St. 
Peter."*  That  the  king  of  France,  by  this  new  donation,  not  only 
promised  to  defend  the  Pope's  rights  to  all  the  places  mentioned  in 
Pepin's  donation,  but  also  added  several  other  places,  is  generally 
agreed  by  the  ancient  writers,  though  there  is  much  diversity  of 
opinion,  as  to  what  these  new  territories  were.  Returning  from 
Rome  to  Pavia,  the  capital  of  the  Lombard  kingdom,  Charlemagne 
besieged  and  reduced  that  city,  and  captured  and  deposed  from  his 
kingdom,  the  last  of  the  race  of  the  Lombard  kings,  Desiderius, 
and  confined  the  unfortunate  prince  for  the  rest  of  his  life  to  a  mon- 
astery. After  thus  conquering  the  Lombard  kingdom,  Charlemagne 
immediately  took  measures  to  put  the  Pope  in  actual  possession, 
which  he  had  never  yet  fully  enjoyed,  of  all  the  places  named  in  the 
donation  of  Pepin.  On  a  second  visit  of  the  king  to  Rome,  in  781, 
he  caused  his  son  Carloman  to  be  crowned  and  anointed  by  the 
Pope,  king  of  Lombardy,  and  his  son  Lewis  king  of  Aquitaine. 

§  57. — In  787,  Charlemagne  again  visited  Italy  for  the  purpose  of 
defeating  the  plans  of  the  powerful  duke  of  Benevento,  who  had 
conspired  with  some  of  the  Lombard  princes  to  drive  the  French 
out  of  Italy.  Upon  the  approach  of  the  King,  the  duke  proffered 
submission  and  implored  forgiveness.  Charlemagne  was  disposed 
to  accept  his  submission,  and  cease  further  hostilities,  but  pope 
Adrian,  concluding  no  doubt,  that  if  any  cities  should  be  taken 
from  the  duke,  St.  Peter  would  doubtless  reap  the  benefit,  dissuaded 
the  King  from  his  purpose  of  forgiveness  ;  and  to  gratify  his  holi- 
ness, he  entered  the  dominions  of  the  duke,  captured  several  of  his 
cities,  and  laid  waste  the  country  with  fire  and  sword.  The  Pope 
was  not  disappointed.  Charlemagne,  before  he  returned  to  France, 
added  to  the  dominions  of  the  church,  the  five  cities  he  had  taken 
during  this  expedition,  beside  several  of  the  places  which  had 
formerly  belonged  to  the  Lombards.  The  Pope,  instead  of  an 
humble  minister  of  Christ,  had  already  become  an  intriguing  worldly 
politician,  and  like  most  other  sovereigns  of  that  age,  anxious  chiefly 
for  the  enlargement  of  his  dominions,  and  his  own  personal  aggran- 
disement, and  so  that  these  objects  might  be  accomplished,  caring 
but  very  little  about  the  humanity  or  the  justice  of  the  .means  em- 
ployed. 

§  58. — In  the  year  800,  king  Charlemagne  having  reduced  under 
his  sway  nearly  the  whole  of  Europe,  paid  another  visit  to  Rome,  for 
the  purpose  of  vindicating  the  cause  of  pope  Leo  III.,  who  had  been 
assailed,  waylaid,  and  wounded  by  Pascal  and  Campule,  two  nephews 
of  the  late  pope  Adrian,  who  were  loth  to  part  with  that  almost 
unbounded  power  which  they  had  enjoyed  during  the  pontificate  of 
their  uncle.     They  had  not  only  offered  themselves  as  his  accusers, 

*  Anastasius,  de  vitis  Pont.,  in  Adrian. 


176  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  m. 

The  Pope  judgrs  all,  and  is  judged  hy  none.  Charlemagne  crowned  Emperor,  A.  D.  300. 


but  attacked  him  to  the  public  streets,  and  dragged  him  half  dead 
into  the  church  of  St.  Mark.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  king  at  Rome  in 
the  month  of  November,  he  called  together  the  whole  body  of  the 
clergy  and  nobility  of  the  city  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and  after 
seating  himself  on  the  same  throne  with  the  Pope,  informed  the 
assembly  of  his  horror  at  the  late  cruel  attempt  upon  the  life  of  his 
holiness,  that  he  had  come  there  for  the  purpose  of  informing  him- 
self of  the  particulars  of  this  horrid  and  unprecedented  crime,  and 
as  the  conspirators,  with  the  design  of  diminishing  their  own  guilt, 
had  charged  the  Pope  with  various  crimes,  he  had  called  them 
together  to  judge  of  the  justice  or  injustice  of  these  accusations. 

Upon  the  King's  pronouncing  these  words,  says  Anastasius,  the 
archbishops,  bishops,  and  abbots  exclaimed  with  one  voice,  "  We 
dare  not  judge  the  apostolic  See,  the  head  of  all  churches.  By  that 
Sec  and  its  vicar,  we  are  all  judged,  aw  they  by  none!"*  The 
Pope,  however,  declared  himself  willing  to  justify  himself  by  a 
solemn  oath,  and  upon  his  doing  so,  Charlemagne  and  the  assembly 
declared  themselves  satisfied  ;  the  Pope  was  pronounced  innocent, 
and  upon  the  two  conspirators  was  pronounced  the  sentence  of 
death,  which,  at  the  intercession  of  Leo,  was  commuted  to  that  of 
perpetual  banishment  from  Italy. 

§  59. — A  few  weeks  after  this  event,  viz. :  on  Christmas  day,  800, 
Charlemagne  was  solemnly  crowned  and  proclaimed  Emperor,  by 
the  Pope,  with  the  title  of  Carolus  I.,  Caesar  Augustu.-;.  The  king 
was  assisting  at  the  celebration  of  mass  in  St.  Peter's  church,  when 
in  the  midst  of  the  ecclesiastical  ceremonies,  and  while  he  was  yet 
on  his  knees,  pope  Leo  advanced  and  placed  an  imperial  crown  on 
his  head,  amidst  the  shouts  of  the  people,  who  immediately  exclaim- 
ed, "  Long  life  and  victory  to  Charles  Augustus,  crowned  by  the 
hand  of  God  ! — long  live  the  great  and  pious  Emperor  of  the  Ro- 
mans."! The  Emperor  was  then  conducted  by  the  Pope  to  a  mag- 
nificent throne,  presented  with  the  imperial  mantle,  and  saluted 
with  the  title  of  Augustus.  From  this  time  forward,  the  nominal 
sovereignty  of  the  Eastern  emperor  in  Rome,  which  had  been 
merely  a  dead  letter  from  the  time  of  the  dispute  concerning  images, 
in  T.'JO,  was  formally  transferred  to  the  new  emperor  of  the  Romans, 
although  the  principal  power  of  administering  the  government  of 
that  city,  was  left  by  him  where  it  had  long  been,  in  the  hands  of 
the  Pope. 

§  60. — Widely  different  opinions  have  existed  among  historians  of 
learning  and  research,  as  to  the  nature  of  the  temporal  power  exer- 
cised in  the  city  of  Rome  by  the  popes,  after  the  coronation  of  the 
emperor  Charlemagne,  whether  it  was  an  independent  or  delegated 
power,  and  if  the  latter,  in  what  sense,  and  how  far  the  popes,  in  the 

*  Anastasius,  in  vita  Leo  III. 

f  Eginhard  in  Annal. — Efjinhard,  the  celebrated  biographer  of  Charlemagne, 
was  a  contemporary  and  favorite  of  that  monarch. 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606— 800.  177 

The  Pope's  temporal  power.  Daniel's  little  horn,  and  the  three  plucked  up  by  the  roots. 

exercise  of  their  temporal  government,  were  dependent  upon  Charle- 
magne and  the  emperors  who  succeeded  him.  Instead  of  adding 
another  to  these  various  opinions,  I  shall  only  quote  the  following 
opinion  of  the  learned  Mosheim,  "  That  Charlemagne,  in  effect, 
preserved  entire  his  supreme  authority  over  the  city  of  Rome  and 
its  adjacent  territory,  has  been  demonstrated  by  several  of  the 
learned  in  the  most  ample  and  satisfactory  manner,  and  confirmed 
by  the  most  unexceptionable  testimonies.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  must  acknowledge,  ingenuously,  that  the  power  of  the  pontiff, 
both  in  the  city  of  Rome  and  its  annexed  territory,  was  very  great, 
and  that  he  seemed  to  act  with  a  princely  authority.  But  the  extent 
and  the  foundations  of  that  authority  are  matters  hid  in  the  deepest 
obscurity,  and  have  thereby  given  occasion  to  endless  disputes. 
After  a  careful  examination  of  all  the  circumstances  that  can  con- 
tribute toward  the  solution  of  this  perplexed  question,  the  most 
probable  account  of  the  matter  seems  to  be  this :  that  the  Roman 
pontiff  possessed  the  city  of  Rome  and  its  territory  as  a  feudal  ten- 
ure, though  charged  with  less  marks  of  dependance  than  other  fiefs 
generally  are,  on  account  of  the  lustre  and  dignity  of  a  city  which 
had  been  so  long  the  capital  of  the  empire."* 

§  60. — In  the  seventh  chapter  of  Daniel,  verses  8,  &c,  the  papal 
power  is  represented  as  a  "  little  horn,"  or  kingdom,  coming  up 
among  the  other  ten  horns  or  kingdoms  into  which  the  Roman  empire 
was  divided.  Before  this  little  horn,  coming  up  after  the  other  ten, 
and  "  diverse  from  the  first,"  three  of  the  others  are  plucked  up  by 
the  roots,  which  signifies  that  the  papal  government  should  eventu- 
ally triumph  over  three  of  the  states  or  governments  out  of  the  ten 
into  which  the  ancient  Roman  empire  was  divided.  Bishop  Newton, 
in  his  learned  work  on  the  prophecies,  supposes  that  these  were  the 
state  of  Rome,  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  and  the  kingdom  of  the 
Lombards.  Perhaps  it  may  be  doubted  whether  his  assertion  is 
quite  consistent  with  historical  accuracy,  that  "  in  the  year  774,  the 
Pope,  by  the  assistance  of  Charles  the  Great,  became  possessed  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Lombards."!  It  is  true  that  Charlemagne,  upon  his 
conquest  of  Lombardy,  enlarged  the  donation  of  Pepin,  with  some 
of  the  cities  formerly  belonging  to  the  Lombards,  but  he  caused  his 
own  son  Carloman,  to  be  crowned  king  of  Lombardy,  by  the  Pope, 
in  the  year  781,  as  we  have  already  seen.     (See  above,  page  175.) 

Indeed,  while  there  is  no  uncertainty  as  to  the  fact,  there  is  much 
uncertainty  as  to  the  time  when  the  papal  government  thus  succes- 
sively triumphed  over  these  three  horns  or  governments.  Whoever 
will  examine  a  map  of  the  papal  states  in  Italy  at  the  present  day, 
will  see  that  the  Pope  is  now  possessed  of  all  the  territory  occupied 
by  two  of  these  governments,  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries, 
and  at  least  of  a  large  part  of  that  occupied  by  the  third ;  but  it  is 

*  Mosheim,  vol.  ii.,  page  229. 

f  Newton's  Dissertations  on  the  Prophecies,  page  617. 

12 


178  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  in. 

Circumstances  of  the  full  establishment  of  the  Papal  State  as  independent  and  sovereign. 

more  difficult  to  tell  the  precise  time  when  these  territories  became 
all  united  under  him  as  a  sovereign  and  independent  monarch. 

§  61. — The  origin  and  foundation  of  the  sovereign  state,  called  the 
Papal  State,  which  is  annexed  to  the  See  of  Rome,  says  a  late  accurate 
writer,  "  is  one  of  the  most  obscure  and  intricate  subjects  in  the 
history  of  modern  Europe."  This  writer  then  proceeds  to  show  in 
a  minute  and  careful  sketch  of  the  papal  power  for  more  than  four 
centuries  after  Charlemagne,  that  the  popes,  during  all  that  time, 
though  acknowledged  as  sovereigns,  and  exercising  the  rights  of 
sovereignty,  and  at  some  periods  even  claiming  a  sovereign  power 
over  all  earthly  kings  and  emperors,  were  yet,  in  the  government 
of  their  own  territories,  nominally  at  least,  dependent  upon  the  em- 
perors of  the  West,  till  the  time  of  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  the  ances- 
tor of  the  present  reigning  house  of  Austria.  His  account  of  the  act 
of  the  Emperor,  by  which  this  nominal  dependency  was  given  up,  is 
as  follows  :  "  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  being  elected  emperor  after  a 
long  interregnum  (A.  D.  1273),  was  entirely  engrossed  by  German 
affairs,  and  had  little  time  to  bestow  upon  the  kingdom  of  Italy, 
which  had  ever  proved  a  troublesome  appendage  of  the  German 
crown,  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  ignorant  of  the  geography  of  that 
country.  Charles  of  Anjou,  king  of  Sicily  and  Naples,  was  then 
the  most  powerful  sovereign  of  Italy,  and  had  extended  his  authority 
by  various  means  over  the  North  of  Italy,  where  he  had  assumed  the 
title  of  Imperial  Vicar.  Rudolph  resented  this  usurpation,  and  pope 
Nicholas  III.,  interfering  between  the  two  sovereigns,  induced 
Charles  to  give  up  Tuscany  and  Bologna,  as  well  as  the  senatorship 
of  Rome,  which  he  had  also  obtained. 

"At  the  same  time  the  Pope  urged  Rudolph  to  define  by  a  charter 
the  dominions  of  the  holy  See,  and  to  separate  them  for  ever  from 
those  dependent  on  the  empire,  and  he  sent  to  Rudolph  copies  of  the 
donations  or  charters  of  the  former  emperors.  Rudolph,  by  letters 
patent,  dated  May,  1278,  recognized  the  states  of  the  church,  as 
extending  from  Radicofani  to  Ceperano,  near  the  Liris,  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  Naples,  and  as  including  the  duchy  of  Spoleto,  the  march  of 
Ancona,  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  the  county  of  Bertinoro,  Bo- 
logna, and  some  other  places.  At  the  same  time,  Rudolph  released 
the  people  of  all  those  places  from  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
empire,  giving  up  all  rights  over  them,  which  might  still  remain  in 
the  imperial  crown,  and  acknowledging  the  sovereignty  of  the  same 
to  belong  to  the  See  of  Rome.  This  charter  was  confirmed  by  the 
electors  and  princes  of  the  empire.  Rudolph's  letter  and  charter  are 
found  in  Raynaldus's  '  Annales'  for  the  year  1278.  This  charter, 
important  as  a  title,  had  little  effect  at  the  time.  Rudolph  gave  up 
to  the  Pope  a  sovereignty,  which  was  more  nominal  than  real."* 

*  See  a  learned  article  on  the  "  Papal  States,"  in  the  valuable  Cyclopedia, 
lately  published  in  London,  by  the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge,  of 
which  the  celebrated  Lord  Brougham  is  president. 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  ADVANCING— A.  D.  606—800.  179 

Rudolph's  charter,  establishing  the  independence  and  defining  the  limits  of  the  Papal  State. 

The  learned  historian  of  the  Italian  republics,  remarking  on  the 
same  event,  adds,  "  from  that  period,  1278,  the  republics  as  well  as 
the  principalities,  situated  in  the  whole  extent  of  what  is  now  called 
the  states  of  the  church,  held  of  the  holy  See,  and  not  of  the  Em- 
peror."* 

Thus  have  we  endeavored  to  trace  the  history  of  the  papal 
power,  till  its  full  establishment  as  an  independent  temporal  sove- 
reignty. If,  in  so  doing,  we  have  related  some  events  belonging  to 
an  age  yet  to  pass  under  review,  we  shall  readily  be  excused  by 
the  reader  for  placing  in  a  connected  view  the  successive  occur- 
rences relating  to  the  same  subject. 

*  Sismondi's  Italian  Republics,  page  96.  See  also  Raynald's  Annals  ad  Ann. 
1299,  and  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.,  page  235,  note  10,  where  the  following  extract  is  given 
from  the  original  Latin  of  Rudolph's  charter,  establishing  the  independence  of  the 
Papal  State,  and  defining  its  boundaries.  "  Ad  has  pertinet  tota  terra,  quae  est  a 
Radicofano  usque  Ceperanum,  Marchia  Anconitana,  ducatus  Spoletanus,  terra 
comitissje  Mathildis,  civitas  Ravennae  et  ^Emilia,  Bobium,  Caesena,  Forumpopuli, 
Forumlivii,  Faventia,  Imola,  Bononia,  Ferraria,  Comaculum,  Adriam,  atque  Gabel- 
lum,  Arminum,  Urbinurn,  Monsfeltri,  territorium  Balnese,  Comitatus  Bricenorii, 
Exarchatus  Ravennae,  Pentapolis,  Massa  Trabaria  cum  adjacentibus  terris  et  om- 
nibus aliis  ad  Romanum  Ecclesiam  pertinentibus." 


181 


BOOK    IV. 


POPERY  IN   ITS    GLORY.-THE  WORLD'S 
MIDNIGHT.-A.D.    800-1073. 


FROM   THE   CORONATION   OF   CHARLEMAGNE,    A.  D.    800,   TO   THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE 
PONTIFICATE   OF   POPE   HILDEBRAND   OR   GREGORY   VH.,   A.  D.    1073. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PROOFS    OF  THE    DARKNESS  OF  THIS    PERIOD. FORGED    DECRETALS. RE- 
VERENCE FOR  MONKS,  SAINTS,  AND  RELICS. WORSHIP  OF  THE  VIRGIN. 

PURGATORY. 

§  1. — The  period  upon  which  we  are  now  to  enter,  comprising 
the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  with  the  greater  part  of  the  eleventh, 
is  the  darkest  in  the  annals  of  Christianity.  It  was  a  long  night 
of  almost  universal  darkness,  ignorance,  and  superstition,  with 
scarcely  a  ray  of  light  to  illuminate  the  gloom.  This  period  has 
been  appropriately  designated  by  various  historians  as  the  "  dark 
ages,"  the  "  iron  age,"  the  "  leaden  age,"  and  the  "  midnight  of 
the  world."  The  darkness  was  the  most  intense  during  the  middle 
of  this  period,  that  is,  during  the  whole  of  the  tenth  century ;  yet  the 
difference  between  the  gloom  of  that  and  of  the  ninth  and  eleventh 
centuries,  is  no  greater  than  the  difference  between  the  darkness  of 
the  hour  of  midnight,  and  that  of  the  hour  or  two  which  precedes  or 
follows  it.  During  these  centuries,  it  was  rare  for  a  layman  of 
whatever  rank  to  know  how  to  sign  his  name.  Still  more  extraor- 
dinary was  it  to  find  one  who  had  any  tincture  of  learning.  Even 
the  clergy  were  for  a  long  period  not  very  superior  as  a  body  to 
the  uninstructed  laity.  An  inconceivable  cloud  of  ignorance  over- 
spread the  whole  face  of  the  church,  hardly  broken  by  a  few  glim- 
mering lights,  who  owe  almost  the  whole  of  their  distinction  to  the 
surrounding  darkness.  In  almost  every  council,  the  ignorance  of  the 
clergy  forms  a  subject  for  reproach,  and  by  one  council  held  in 
992,  it  is  asserted  that  scarcely  a  single  person  was  to  be  found  in 
Rome  itself,  who  knew  the  first  elements  of  letters.* 

In  the  age  of  Charlemagne,  it  is  related  upon  the  authority  of 

*  Tiraboschi,  Storia  della  Leteratura,  Tom.  iii.,  page  198.     Hallam,  page  460. 


182  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  rv. 

Midnight  darkness  of  thia  period.  The  forged  Decretals. 

Mabillon,  that  not  one  priest  in  a  thousand  in  Spain,  could  address 
a  common  letter  of  salutation  to  another.  A  few  years  later,  king 
Alfred  the  Great,  king  of  England,  declared  that  he  could  not  recol- 
lect a  single  priest  South  of  the  Thames,  who  understood  the  ordi- 
nary prayers,  or  could  translate  Latin  into  his  mother  tongue.* 
"  Nothing,"  says  Mosheim,  "  could  be  more  melancholy  and  deplor- 
able than  the  darkness  that  reigned  in  the  Western  world,  during 
the  tenth  century,  which,  with  respect  to  learning  and  philosophy 
at  least,  may  be  called  the  iron  age  of  the  Latins."  The  corrup- 
tions of  the  clergy,  according  to  the  same  historian,  had  reached  the 
most  enormous  height  in  that  dismal  period  of  the  church.  For  the 
most  part,  they  were  composed  of  a  most  worthless  set  of  men, 
shamefully  illiterate  and  stupid,  ignorant  more  especially  in  reli- 
gious matters,  equally  enslaved  to  sensuality  and  superstition,  and 
capable  of  the  most  abominable  and  flagitious  deeds.  This  dismal 
degeneracy  of  the  sacred  order  was,  according  to  the  most  credi- 
ble accounts,  principally  owing  to  the  pretended  chiefs  and  rulers 
of  the  universal  church,  who  indulged  themselves  in  the  commission 
of  the  most  odious  crimes,  and  abandoned  themselves  to  the  lawless 
impulse  of  the  most  licentious  passions,  without  reluctance  or  re- 
morse, who  confounded,  in  short,  all  difference  between  just  and 
unjust,  to  satisfy  their  imperious  ambition,  and  whose  spiritual  em- 
pire was  such  a  diversified  scene  of  iniquity  and  violence,  as  never 
was  exhibited  under  any  of  those  temporal  tyrants,  who  have  been 
the  scourges  of  mankind,  f 

§  2. — As  a  proof  of  the  priestly  wickedness  and  knavery  which 
could  invent  such  an  imposture,  and  the  ignorance  and  imbecility 
which  could  be  duped  by  it,  may  be  mentioned  the  forgery  of  the 
celebrated  False  Decretals,  and  the  Donation  of  Constantine,  which 
appeared  about  the  close  of  the  eighth  century,  and  by  which, 
during  the  whole  of  the  three  centuries  of  this  midnight  of  the  world, 
the  arrogant  pretensions  of  the  pontiffs  were  established  and  main- 
tained. The  object  of  these  decretals,  as  they  were  called,  was  to 
persuade  the  multitude  that,  in  the  first  ages  of  the  church,  the  bish- 
ops of  Rome  were  possessed  of  the  same  spiritual  majesty  and 
authority  as  they  now  assumed.  They  consisted  of  a  pretended 
collection  of  rescripts  and  decrees  of  various  bishops  of  Rome, 
from  the  second  to  the  fifth  centuries,  and  other  forged  acts,  pub- 
lished with  great  ostentation  and  parade,  in  the  ninth  century,  with 
the  name  prefixed,  of  Isidore,  bishop  of  Seville,  to  make  the  world 
believe  they  had  been  collected  by  that  learned  prelate,  some  two 
or  three  centuries  before. 

The  most  important  of  these  forged  documents,  by  which  the 
enormous  power  and  assumption  of  the  popes,  for  so  many  ages 
was  justified  and  sustained,  was  the  pretended  donation  from  the 

*  See  Hallam's  Middle  Ages?,  page  460. 
•j-  See  Mosheim,  cent,  x.,  part  2. 


chap,  i.]    POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  183 

Pretended  donation  of  Constantine  the  Great,  to  pope  Sylvester  of  Rome  nnd  Italy. 

emperor  Constantine  the  Great,  in  the  year  324,  of  the  city  of  Rome 
and  all  Italy,  with  the  crown,  the  mitre,  &c,  to  Sylvester,  then 
bishop  of  Rome.  The  following  extract  from  this  pretended  deed 
of  donation  will  be  sufficient  to  show  the  character  of  this  bungling 
imposture.  "  We  attribute  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  all  the  impe- 
rial dignity,  glory,  and  power.  *  *  Moreover,  we  give  to 
Sylvester,  and  to  his  successors,  our  palace  of  Lateran,  incontestably 
one  of  the  finest  palaces  on  earth ;  we  give  him  our  crown,  our 
mitre,  our  diadem,  and  all  our  imperial  vestments ;  we  resign  to 
him  the  imperial  dignity.  *  *  *  We  give  as  a  free  gift  to 
the  holy  pontiff  the  city  of  rome,  and  all  the  Western  cities  of 
Italy,  as  well  as  the  Western  cities  of  the  other  countries.  To  make 
room  for  him,  we  abdicate  our  sovereignty  over  all  these  provin- 
ces ;  and  we  withdraw  from  Rome,  transferring  the  seat  of  our 
empire  to  Byzantium,  since  it  is  not  just  that  a  terrestrial  em- 
peror SHALL  RETAIN  ANY  POWER  WHERE  GoD  HAS  PLACED  THE  HEAD 
OF  RELIGION." 

§  3. — This  memorable  donation  was,  near  the  close  of  the  eighth 
century,  introduced  to  the  world,  says  the  eloquent  Gibbon,  "  by 
an  epistle  of  pope  Adrian  I.  to  the  emperor  Charlemagne,  in  which 
he  exhorts  him  to  imitate  the  liberality  of  the  great  Constantine. 
According  to  the  legend,  the  first  of  the  Christian  emperors  was 
healed  of  the  leprosy,  and  purified  in  the  waters  of  baptism,  by  St. 
Sylvester,  the  Roman  bishop ;  and  never  was  physician  more  glo- 
riously recompensed.  His  royal  proselyte  withdrew  from  his  seat 
and  patrimony  of  St.  Peter ;  declared  his  resolution  of  founding  a 
new  capital  in  the  east;  and  resigned  to  the  popes  the  free  and  per- 
petual sovereignty  of  Rome,  Italy,  and  the  provinces  of  the  West. 
This  fiction  was  productive  of  the  most  beneficial  effects.  The 
Greek  princes  were  convicted  of  the  guilt  of  usurpation  ;  and  the 
revolt  of  pope  Gregory  was  the  claim  of  his  lawful  inheritance. 
The  popes  were  delivered  from  their  debt  of  gratitude :  and  the 
nominal  gifts  of  the  Carlovingians  were  no  more  than  the  just  and 
irrevocable  restitution  of  a  scanty  portion  of  the  ecclesiastical  state. 
The  sovereignty  of  Rome  no  longer  depended  on  the  choice  of  a 
fickle  people ;  and  the  successors  of  St.  Peter  and  Constantine 
were  invested  with  the  purple  and  prerogatives  of  the  Caesars.  So 
deep  was  the  ignorance  and  credulity  of  the  times,  that  this  most 
absurd  of  fables  was  received  with  equal  reverence,  in  Greece  and 
in  France,  and  is  still  enrolled  among  the  decrees  of  the  canon 
law.*  The  emperors  and  the  Romans  were  incapable  of  discern- 
ing a  forgery  that^subverted  their  rights  and  freedom  ;  and  the  only 
opposition  proceeded  from  a  Sabine  monastery,  which,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  twelfth  century,  disputed  the  truth  and  validity  of 
the  donation  of  Constantine.     In  the  revival  of  letters  and  liberty 

*  In  the  year  1059,  it  was  believed,  or  at  least  professed  to  be  believed,  by  Pope 
Leo  IX.,  Cardinal  Peter  Damianus,  &c. 


184  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 

The  world  deceived  for  ages  by  these  forgeries  of  the  popes  and  their  tools. 

this  fictitious  deed  was  transpierced  by  the  pen  of  Laurentius  Valla, 
an  eloquent  critic  and  a  Roman  patriot.  His  contemporaries  of  the 
fifteenth  century  were  astonished  at  his  sacrilegious  boldness  ;  yet 
such  is  the  silent  and  irresistible  progress  of  reason,  that  before  the 
end  of  the  next  age,  the  fable  was  rejected  by  the  contempt  of  his- 
torians ;  though  by  the  same  fortune  which  has  attended  the  decre- 
tals and  the  Sibylline  oracles,  the  edifice  has  subsisted  alter  the 
foundations  have  been  undermined." 

§  4. — The  fact  is  most  astonishing  that  upon  the  strength  of 
these  documents,  acknowledged  now  by  Fleury,*  and  even  by  Baro- 
nius,  as  well  as  the  great  body  of  Roman  Catholics,  to  be  forgeries, 
the  world  should  have  quietly  submitted  for  centuries  of  gloom  and 
darkness,  to  the  tyrannical  usurpations  of  the  haughty  and  aban- 
doned prelates  of  Rome.  The  fabric  erected  upon  these  forged 
documents  "  has  stood,"  in  the  words  of  Hallam,  "  after  the  founda- 
tion upon  which  it  rested  has  crumbled  beneath  it ;  for  no  one  has 
pretended  to  deny  for  the  last  two  centuries  that  the  imposture  is 
too  palpable  for  any  but  the  most  ignorant  ages  to  credit."f 

It  cannot  be  doubted  by  any  one  who  is  not  blinded  by  pre- 
judice, that  whoever  was  the  immediate  author  of  these  spurious 
documents,  they  were  forged  with  the  knowledge  and  consent  of 
the  Roman  pontiffs,  since  it  is  utterly  incredible  that  these  pontiffs 
should,  for  many  ages,  have  constantly  appealed,  in  support  of  their 
pretended  rights  and  privileges,  to  acts  and  records  that  were  only 
the  fictions  of  private  persons,  and  should,  with  such  weak  arms, 
have  stood  out  against  monarchs  and  councils,  who  were  unwilling 
to  receive  their  yoke.  "  Acts  of  a  private  nature,"  says  Moshcim, 
"  would  have  been  useless  here,  and  public  deeds  were  necessary  to 
accomplish  the  views  of  papal  ambition.  Such  forgeries  were  then 
esteemed  lawful,  on  account  of  their  supposed  tendency  to  promote 
the  glory  of  God,  and  to  advance  the  prosperity  of  the  church ;  and 
therefore  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  good  pontiffs  should  feel  no 
remorse  in  imposing  upon  the  world  frauds  and  forgeries,  that  were 
designed  to  enrich  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  and  to  aggrandize 
his  successors  in  the  apostolic  See." %  Nor  will  the  reader  be  dis- 
posed to  regard  as  uncharitable  this  opinion,  who  has  perused  the 
pretended  letter  of  St.  Peter,  written  in  heaven,  and  sent  to  king 
Pepin  on  earth,  through  the  hands  of  the  infallible  postmaster,  pope 
Stephen.     (See  above,  page  171.) 

It  is  well  remarked  by  Dr.  Campbell  of  these  forgeries  of 
( "mistantine's  donation  and  the  decretal  epistles  of  early  bishops  of 
Rome,  that  "  they  are  such  barefaced  impostures^and  so  bunglingly 
executed,  that  nothing  less  than  the  most  profound  darkness  of  those 
ages  could  account  for  their  success.  They  are  manifestly  written 
in  the   barbarous  dialect  which  obtained  in  the  eighth  and  ninth 

*  See  a  dissertation  of  Fleury,  prefixed  to  the  sixteenth  volume  of  his  Eccles. 
History. 

f  .Middle  Ages,  p.  274. 

\  See  Mosheim,  vol.  ii.,  p.  297,  note. 


chap,  i.]     POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  185 


Extravagant  veneration  for  monks.  The  great  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  gospel  forgotten. 

centuries,  and  exhibit  those  poor  meek  and  humble  teachers,  who 
came  immediately  alter  the  apostles,  as  blustering,  swaggering,  and 
dictating  to  the  world  in  the  authoritative  tone  of  a  Zachary  or  a 
Stephen."* 

§  5. — Another  proof  of  the  ignorance  and  grovelling  superstition 
of  this  dark  period  is  found  in  the  increasing  reverence  for  the 
monastic  life,  and  the  extravagant  veneration  paid  to  those  who 
embraced  it.  In  this  age  even  kings,  dukes,  and  other  noblemen,  in 
many  instances,  abandoned  their  thrones,  honors  or  treasures,  and 
shut  themselves  up  in  monasteries  ;  and  in  other  instances,  where  the 
attractions  of  wealth  and  grandeur  were  too  strong  to  permit  this 
sacrifice  during  life,  the  victims  of  superstition,  upon  the  approach 
of  death,  imagining  that  the  holy  frock  of  a  monk  would  be  a  pass- 
port to  heaven,  caused  themselves,  upon  their  death-beds,  to  be 
arrayed  in  the  monastic  habit,  vainly  hoping  in  this  way  to  atone 
for  the  sins  of  an  ungodly  life. 

The  cardinal  and  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  gospel  seemed 
to  be  almost  entirely  forgotten  or  unknown.  The  doctrines  of 
native  depravity,  salvation  by  grace,  through  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  holy  obedience  springing  from  that  faith  which  works 
by  love,  constituted  no  part  of  the  theology  of  this  age.  The 
essence  of  religion  was  then  made  to  consist  in  the  worship  of  images 
and  saints,  in  searching  for  the  mouldering  bones  of  reputed  holy 
men  and  women,  and  bestowing  due  reverence  upon  these  sacred 
relics,  and  in  loading  with  riches  a  set  of  ignorant  and  lazy  monks. 
It  was  not  enough  to  reverence  departed  saints,  and  to  confide 
in  their  intercession  and  succors  ;  it  was  not  enough  to  clothe 
them  with  an  imaginary  power  of  healing  diseases,  working  mira- 
cles, and  delivering  from  all  sorts  of  calamities  and  dangers  ;  their 
bones,  their  clothes,  the  apparel  and  furniture  they  had  possessed 
during  their  lives,  the  very  ground  which  they  had  touched,  or  in 
which  their  putrified  carcasses  were  laid,  were  treated  with  a  stu- 
pid veneration,  and  supposed  to  retain  the  marvellous  virtue  of 
healing  all  disorders  both  of  body  and  mind,  and  of  defending  such 
as  possessed  them  against  all  the  assaults  and  devices  of  Satan. 
The  consequence  of  this  wretched  notion  was,  that  every  one- was 
eager  to  provide  himself  with  these  salutary  remedies,  for  which 
purpose  great  numbers  undertook  fatiguing  and  perilous  voyages, 
and  subjected  themselves  to  all  sorts  of  hardships ;  while  others 
made  use  of  this  delusion  to  accumulate  their  riches,  and  to  impose 
upon  the  miserable  multitude  by  the  most  impious  and  shockin  re- 
inventions. 

§  6. — As  the  demand  for  relics  was  prodigious  and  universal, 
the  clergy  employed  all  their  dexterity  to  satisfy  these  demands, 
and  were  far  from  being  nice  in  the  methods  they  used  for  that 
end.  The  bodies  of  the  saints  were  sought  by  fasting  and  prayer, 
instituted  by  the  priest  in  order  to  obtain  a  divine  answer,  and  an 

*  Campbell's  Lect.  on  Eccles.  Hist.,  p.  269. 


|8G  HISTORY  OF  ROxVIANISM.  [book  iv. 

Insane  passion  for  holy  carcasses.  Spurious  bones. Multiplication  of  gaintB. 

infallible  direction,  and  this  pretended  direction  never  failed  to  ac- 
complish their  desires;  the  holy  carcass  was  always  found,  and  that 
always  in  consequence,  as  they  impiously  gave  out,  of  the  sugges- 
tion and  inspiration  of  God  himself.  Each  discovery  of  this  kind 
was  attended  with  excessive  demonstrations  of  joy,  and  animated 
the  zeal  of  these  devout  seekers  to  enrich  the  church  still  more  and 
more  with  this  new  kind  of  treasure.  Many  travelled  with  this 
view  into  the  eastern  provinces,  and  frequented  the  places  which 
Christ  and  his  disciples  had  honored  with  their  presence,  that  with 
the  bones  and  other  sacred  remains  of  the  first  heralds  of  the  gos- 
pel, they  might  comfort  dejected  minds,  calm  trembling  consciences, 
save  sinking  states,  and  defend  their  inhabitants  from  all  sorts  of 
calamities.  Nor  did  these  pious  travellers  return  home  empty  ; 
the  craft,  dexterity,  and  knavery  of  the  Greeks  found  a  rich  prey 
in  the  stupid  credulity  of  the  Latin  relic  hunters,  and  made  a  pro- 
fitable commerce  of  this  new  devotion.  The  latter  paid  considera- 
ble sums  for  legs  and  arms,  skulls  and  jaw-bones,  several  of  which 
were  pagan,  and  some  not  human,  and  other  things  that  were  sup- 
posed to  have  belonged  to  the  primitive  worthies  of  the  Christian 
church ;  and  thus  the  Latin  churches  came  to  the  possession  of 
those  celebrated  relics  of  St.  Mark,  St.  James,  St.  Bartholomew, 
Cyprian,  Pantaleon,  and  others,  which  they  show  at  this  day  with 
so  much  ostentation.  "  The  ardor  with  which  relics  were  sought 
in  the  tenth  century,"  observes  Mosheim,  "  surpasses  almost  all 
credibility  ;  it  had  seized  all  ranks  and  orders  among  the  people, 
and  was  grown  into  a  sort  of  fanaticism  and  frenzy ;  and,  if  the 
monks  are  to  be  believed,  the  Supreme  Being  interposed,  in  an 
especial  and  extraordinary  manner,  to  discover  to  doating  old  wives 
and  bare-headed  friars  the  places  where  the  bones  or  carcasses  of 
the  saints  lay  dispersed  or  interred."  * 

\  7. — In  connection  with  this  insane  passion  for  relics,  it  may  be 
remarked  that  these  dark  ages  were  equally  distinguished  by  the 
multiplication  of  new  saints  and  the  invention  of  the  most  absurd 
legends  of  the  wonders  performed  by  them  during  their  lives.  In  the 
ninth  century,  the  idolatrous  custom  became  very  general  of  ad- 
dressing prayers  almost  exclusively  to  the  saints,  leaving  them  to  pre- 
sent the  petitions  of  the  suppliant  to  God,  nor  did  any  dare  to  enter- 
tain the  smallest  hopes  of  finding  the  Deity  propitious,  before  they 
had  assured  themselves  of  the  protection  and  intercession  of  some 
one  or  other  of  the  saintly  order.  Hence  it  was  that  every  church, 
and  indeed  every  private  Christian,  had  their  particular  patron 
among  the  saints,  from  an  apprehension  that  their  spiritual  interests 
would  be  but  indifferently  managed  by  those  who  were  already 
employed  about  the  souls  of  others ;  for  they  judged,  in  this  re- 
spect, of  the  saints  as  they  did  of  mortals,  whose  capacity  is  too 
limited  to  comprehend  a  vast  variety  of  objects.  This  notion  ren- 
dered it  necessary  to  multiply  prodigiously  the  number  of  the  saints, 

*  Mosheim,  vol.  ii.,  p.  406. 


chap,  i.]    POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1074.   187 


Legendary  live9  of  saints.  Necessity  of  checking  the  increase  of  saints. 

and  to  create  daily  new  patrons  for  the  deluded  people  ;  and  this 
was  done  with  the  utmost  zeal.  The  priests  and  monks  set  their 
invention  at  work,  and  peopled  at  discretion  the  invisible  world 
with  imaginary  protectors.  They  dispelled  the  thick  darkness 
which  covered  the  pretended  spiritual  exploits  of  many  holy  men ; 
and  they  invented  both  names  and  histories  of  saints  that  never 
existed,  that  they  might  not  be  at  a  loss  to  furnish  the  credulous 
and  wretched  multitude  with  objects  proper  to  perpetuate  their  su- 
perstition and  to  nourish  their  confidence.  Many  chose  their  own 
guides,  and  committed  their  spiritual  interests  either  to  phantoms  of 
their  own  creation,  or  to  distracted  fanatics,  whom  they  esteemed 
as  saints,  for  no  other  reason  than  their  having  lived  like  madmen. 

§  8. — In  consequence  of  this  prodigious  increase  of  saints,  it 
was  thought  necessary  to  write  the  lives  of  these  celestial  patrons, 
in  order  to  procure  for  them  the  veneration  and  confidence  of  a  de- 
luded multitude ;  and  here  lying  wonders  were  invented,  and  all 
the  resources  of  forgery  and  fable  exhausted,  to  celebrate  exploits 
which  had  never  been  performed,  and  to  perpetuate  the  memory 
of  holy  persons  who  had  never  existed.  We  have  yet  extant  a 
prodigious  quantity  of  these  trifling  legends,  the  greatest  part  of 
which  were  undoubtedly  forged  after  the  time  of  Charlemagne  by 
the  monastic  writers,  who  had  both  the  inclination  and  leisure  to 
edify  the  church  by  these  pious  frauds.  The  same  impostors  who 
peopled  the  celestial  regions  with  fictitious  saints,  employed  also 
their  fruitful  inventions  in  embellishing  with  false  miracles,  and 
various  other  impertinent  forgeries,  the  history  of  those  who  had 
been  really  martyrs  or  confessors  in  the  cause  of  Christ.  The 
churches  that  were  dedicated  to  the  saints  were  perpetually  crowd- 
ed with  supplicants,  who  flocked  to  them  with  rich  presents,  in 
order  to  obtain  succor  under  the  afflictions  they  suffered,  or  deliver- 
ance from  the  dangers  which  they  had  reason  to  apprehend.  And 
it  was  esteemed  also  a  high  honor  to  be  the  more  immediate 
ministers  of  these  tutelary  mediators,  who,  as  it  is  likewise  proper 
to  observe,  were  esteemed  and  frequented  in  proportion  to  their  an- 
tiquity, and  to  the  number  and  importance  of  the  pretended  mira- 
cles that  had  rendered  their  lives  illustrious.  This  latter  circum- 
stance offered  a  strong  temptation  to  such  as  were  employed  by 
the  various  churches  in  writing  the  lives  of  their  tutelar  saints,  to 
supply  by  invention  the  defects  of  truth,  and  to  embellish  their  le- 
gends with  fictitious  prodigies,  in  order  to  swell  the  fame  of  their 
respective  patrons. 

§  9. — The  ecclesiastical  councils  found  it  necessary  at  length  to 
set  limits  to  the  licentious  superstition  of  the  deluded  multitude,  who, 
with  a  view  to  have  still  more  friends  at  court,  for  such  were  their 
gross  notions  of  things,  were  daily  adding  new  saints  to  the  list  of 
their  celestial  mediators.  They  accordingly  declared,  by  a  solemn 
decree,  that  no  departed  Christian  should  be  considered  as  a 
member  of  the  saintly  order  before  the  bishop  in  a  provincial 
council,   and   in    presence    of  the   people,  had   pronounced    him 


188  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [bookiv. 


Canonization  or  saint-making  a  prerogative  of  the  Pope.  The  feast  of  All  Saints  established  in  835. 

worthy  of  that  distinguished  honor.*  This  remedy,  feeble  and 
illusory  as  it  was,  contributed  in  some  measure  to  restrain  the 
fanatical  temerity  of  the  saint-makers  ;  but,  in  its  consequences, 
it  was  the  occasion  of  a  new  accession  of  power  to  the 
Roman  pontiff.  Even  so  early  as  the  ninth  century  many  were  of 
opinion,  that  it  was  proper  and  expedient,  though  not  absolutely  ne- 
cessary, that  the  decisions  of  bishops  and  councils  should  be  con- 
firmed by  the  consent  and  authority  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  whom 
they  considered  as  the  supreme  and  universal  bishop  ;  and  "  this 
will  not  appear  surprising,"  says  Mosheim,  "  to  any  who  reflect 
upon  the  enormous  strides  which  the  bishops  of  Rome  made  toward 
unbounded  dominion  in  this  barbarous  and  superstitious  age,  whose 
corruption  and  darkness  were  peculiarly  favorable  to  their  am- 
bitious pretensions."  In  the  year  993,  the  Pope  assumed  and  ex- 
ercised alone,  for  the  first  time,  the  right  of  creating  one  of  these 
tutelary  deities  in  the  person  of  a  Saint  Udalric,  who,  with  all  the 
formalities  of  a  solemn  canonization,  was  enrolled  in  the  number 
of  the  saints  by  pope  John  XV.,  and  thus  became  entitled  to  the 
worship  and  veneration  of  the  superstitious  multitude.  In  the 
twelfth  century,  pope  Alexander  III.  placed  canonization  or  saint- 
making  in  the  number  of  the  more  important  acts  of  authority 
which  the  sovereign  pontiff,  by  his  peculiar  prerogative,  was  alone 
entitled  to  exercise. 

§  10. — The  consequence  of  the  increase  of  saints  was,  of  course, 
a  vast  increase  of  festivals  or  saints'  days,  as  well  as  of  the  cere- 
monies of  worship.  The  carcasses  of  the  saints  transported  from 
foreign  countries,  or  discovered  at  home  by  the  industry  and  dili- 
gence of  pious  or  designing  priests,  not  only  obliged  the  rulers  of 
the  church  to  augment  the  number  of  festivals  or  holidays  already 
established,  but  also  to  diversify  the  ceremonies  in  such  a  manner, 
that  each  might  have  his  peculiar  worship.  And  as  the  authority 
and  credit  of  the  clergy  depended  much  upon  the  high  notion  which 
was  generally  entertained  of  the  virtue  and  merit  of  the  saints  they 
had  canonized,  and  presented  to  the  multitude  as  objects  of  religi- 
ous veneration,  it  was  necessary  to.  amuse  and  surprise  the  people 
by  a  variety  of  pompous  and  striking  ceremonies,  by  images  and 
such  like  inventions,  in  order  to  keep  up  and  nourish  their  stupid 
admiration  for  the  saintly  tribe.  Hence  the  splendor  and  magnifi- 
cence that  were  lavished  upon  the  churches  in  this  century,  and  the 
prodigious  number  of  costly  pictures  and  images  with  which  they 
were  adorned  ;  hence  the  stately  altars,  which  were  enriched  with 
the  noblest  inventions  of  painting  and  sculpture,  and  illuminated 
with  innumerable  tapers  at  noon  day  ;  hence  the  multitude  of  pro- 
cessions, the  gorgeous  and  splendid  garments  of  the  priests,  and 
the  masses  that  were  celebrated  in  honor  of  the  saints.  In  the  year 
835,  the  feast  of  All  Saints  was  established  by  pope  Gregory  IV., 

*  Mabillon,  Act.  Sanctor.  Ord.  Benedict!,  Sac.  v.,  Praf.  p.  44. 


chap.  r.l   POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.    189 


Worship  of  the  queen  of  heaven.  The  Rosary.  Lying  legends. 

according  to  Mabillon,  though  other  authors  ascribe  the  establish- 
ment of  this  festival  to  pope  Boniface  IV. 

§  II.- — Among  the  multitude  of  saints,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
"  the  queen  of  heaven "  was  neglected.  Her  idolatrous  worship, 
amidst  the  gloom  of  the  dark  ages,  received,  in  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  centuries,  new  accessions  of  solemnity  and  superstition. 
The  rosary  of  the  Virgin  was  probably  invented  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury. This  is  a  string  of  beads  consisting  of  one  hundred  and  fifty, 
which  make  so  many  Aves,  or  hail  Marys,  every  ten  beads  being 
divided  by  one  something  larger,  which  signifies  a  Pater,  or  Lord's 
prayer.  Before  repeating  the  rosary,  it  is  necessary  for  the  person 
to  take  it  and  cross  himself,  and  then  to  repeat  the  creed,  after 
which  he  repeats  a  prayer  to  the  Virgin  for  every  small  bead,  and 
a  prayer  to  God  for  every  large  one.  Thus  it  is  seen  that  ten 
prayers  are  offered  to  the  Virgin  for  every  one  offered  to  God  ;  and 
such  continues  to  be  the  custom,  as  we  learn  from  "  the  Garden  of 
the  Soul,"  and  other  popish  books  of  devotion,  down  to  the  present 
time.*  In  the  chaplets,  more  commonly  used,  there  are  only  fifty 
Ave  Marias,  and  five  Pater  nosters. 

Referring  to  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  in  the  dark  ages,  says  the 
calm  and  philosophic  Hallam,  "It  is  difficult  to  conceive  the  stupid 
absurdity  and  the  disgusting  profaneness  of  those  stories  which 
were  invented  by  the  monks  to  do  her  honor."  He  then  gives, 
upon  the  authority  of  Le  Grand  D'Aussy,  the  following  few  speci- 
mens, to  confirm  his  assertions,  "  lest,  they  should  appear  to  the 
reader  harsh  and  extravagant."     The  titles  are  my  own. 

(1.)  The  robber  saved  from  hanging. — "  There  was  a  man  whose 
occupation  was  highway  robbery  ;  but,  whenever  he  set  out  on  any 
such  expedition,  he  was  careful  to  address  a  prayer  to  the  Virgin. 
Taken  at  last,  he  was  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  While  the  cord  was 
round  his  neck,  he  made  his  usual  prayer,  nor  was  it  ineffectual. 
The  Virgin  supported  his  feet  "  with  her  white  hands,"  and  thus 
kept  him  alive  two  days,  to  the  no  small  surprise  of  the  executioner, 
who  attempted  to  complete  his  work  with  strokes  of  a  sword.  But 
the  same  invisible  hand  turned  aside  the  weapon,  and  the  execu- 
tioner was  compelled  to  release  his  victim,  acknowledging  the 
miracle.  The  thief  retired  into  a  monastery,  which  is  always  the 
termination  of  these  deliverances." 

(2.)  The  wicked  monk  admitted  to  heaven. — "  At  the  monastery  of 
St.  Peter,  near  Cologne,  lived  a  monk  perfectly  dissolute  and  irreli- 
gious, but  very  devout  toward  the  apostle.  Unluckily,  he  died 
suddenly  without  confession.  The  fiends  came  as  usual  to  seize  his 
soul.  St.  Peter,  vexed  at  losing  so  faithful  a  votary,  besought  God 
to  admit  the  monk  into  paradise.     His  prayer  was  refused,  and 

*  See  "  the  Rosary  of  the  blessed  Virgin"  in  "  the  Garden  of  the  Soul,"  page 
296.  The  edition  of  this  work,  to  which  I  shall  again  have  occasion  to  refer,  is 
that  published  at  New  York,  1844,  "with  the  approbation  of  the  Right  Rev.  Dr. 
Hughes." 


190  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 

The  Virgin's  favor  to  her  worshippers  and  friends.  Fears  of  Purgatory. 

though  the  whole  body  of  saints,  apostles,  angels,  and  martyrs 
joined  at  his  request  to  make  interest,  it  was  of  no  avail.  In  this 
extremity  he  had  recourse  to  the  mother  of  God.  '  Fair  lady,'  said 
he, '  my  monk  is  lost  if  you  do  not  interfere  for  him  ;  but  what  is 
impossible  for  us,  will  be  but  sport  to  you,  if  you  please  to  assist  us. 
Your  Son,  if  you  but  speak  a  word,  must  yield,  since  it  is  in  your 
power  to  command  him.'  The  queen  mother  assented,  and,  follow- 
ed by  all  the  virgins,  moved  toward  her  Son.  He  who  had  him- 
self given  the  precept,  'Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,'  no 
sooner  saw  his  own  parent  approach,  than  he  rose  to  receive  her, 
and,  taking  her  by  the  hand,  inquired  her  wishes.  The  rest  may 
be  easily  conjectured.  Compare  the  gross  stupidity,  or  rather  the 
atrocious  impiety  of  this  tale,  with  the  pure  theism  of  the  Arabian 
Nights,  and  judge  whether  the  Deity  was  better  worshipped  at  Co- 
logne or  at  Bagdad." 

(3.)  The  licentious  nun,  fyc. — "  It  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  in- 
stances of  this  kind.  In  one  tale  the  Virgin  takes  the  shape  of  a 
nun,  who  had  eloped  from  the  convent,  and  performs  her  duties  ten 
years,  till,  tired  of  a  libertine  life,  she  returns  unsuspected.  This 
was  in  consideration  of  her  having  never  omitted  to  say  an  Ave  as 
she  passed  the  Virgin's  image.  In  another,  a  gentleman,  in  love 
with  a  handsome  widow,  consents,  at  the  instigation  of  a  sorcerer, 
to  renounce  God  and  the  saints,  but  cannot  be  persuaded  to  give  up 
the  Virgin,  well  knowing  that  if  he  kept  her  his  friend,  he  should 
obtain  pardon  through  her  means.  Accordingly,  she  inspired  his 
mistress  with  so  much  passion,  that  he  married  her  within  a  few 
days." 

"  These  tales,"  adds  the  historian,  "  it  may  be  said,  were  the  pro- 
duction of  ignorant  men,  and  circulated  among  the  populace.  Cer- 
tainly they  would  have  excited  contempt  and  indignation  in  the 
more  enlightened  clergy.  But  I  am  concerned  with  the  general 
character  of  religious  notions  among  the  people :  and  for  this  it  is 
better  to  take  such  popular  compositions,  adapted  to  what  the  laity 
already  believed,  than  the  writings  of  comparatively  learned  and 
reflecting  men.  However,  stories  of  the  same  cast  are  frequent  in 
the  monkish  historians.  Matthew  Paris,  one  of  the  most  respecta- 
ble of  that  class,  and  no  friend  to  the  covetousness  or  relaxed  lives 
of  the  priesthood,  tells  of  a  knight  who  was  on  the  point  of  being 
damned  for  frequenting  tournaments,  but  saved  by  a  donation  he 
had  formerly  made  to  the  Virgin,  p.  290."* 

§  12. — In  this  dark  age,  also,  the  fears  of  purgatory,  of  that  fire 
that  was  to  destroy  the  remaining  impurities  of  departed  souls, 
were  also  carried  to  the  greatest  height,  and  exceeded  by  far  the 
terrifying  apprehensions  of  infernal  torments  ;  for  the  deluded  priest- 
ridden  multitude  hoped  to  avoid  the  latter  easily,  by  dying  enriched 
with  the  prayers  of  the  clergy,  or  covered  with  the  merits  and 
mediation  of  the  saints ;  while  from  the  pains  of  purgatory  they 

*  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  pages  465,  466. 


chap,  i.]    POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  191 


Festival  of  All-Souls.  Gross  fiction  from  which  it  origiuated. 

knew  there  was  no  exemption.  The  clergy,  therefore,  finding  these 
superstitious  terrors  admirably  adapted  to  increase  their  authority, 
and  promote  their  interest,  used  every  method  to  augment  them, 
and  by  the  most  pathetic  discourses,  accompanied  with  monstrous 
fables  and  fictitious  miracles,  they  labored  to  establish  the  doctrine 
of  purgatory,  and  also  to  make  it  appear  that  they  had  a  mighty  in- 
fluence in  that  formidable  region. 

In  the  year  993,  the  famous  annual  festival  of  all  souls  was  estab- 
lished. Previous  to  this  time,  it  had  been  customary  on  certain 
days,  in  many  places,  to  put  up  prayers  for  the  souls  that  were  con- 
fined in  purgatory  ;  but  these  prayers  were  made  by  each  religious 
society,  only  for  its  own  members,  friends,  and  patrons.  The  occa- 
sion of  the  establishment  of  this  festival  was  as  follows :  A  certain 
Sicilian  monk  made  known  to  Odilo,  abbot  of  Clugni,  that  when 
walking  near  Mount  Etna,  in  Sicily,  he  had  seen  the  flames 
vomited  forth  through  the  open  door  of  hell,  in  which  the  reprobates 
were  suffering  torment  for  their  sins,  and  that  he  heard  the  devils 
wailing  most  hideously,  "  plangentium  quod  animae  damnatorum 
eriperentur  de  manibus  eorum,  per  orationes  Cluniacensium  oran- 
tium  indefesse  pro  defunctorum  requie,"  that  is,  "  the  devils 
howled,  because  the  wailing  souls  of  the  condemned  were  snatched 
from  their  grasp,  by  the  prayers  of  the  monks  of  Clugny,  praying 
without  cessation  for  the  repose  of  the  dead."  In  consequence  of  this 
monstrous  imposition,  as  we  learn  from  Mabillon,  a  Romish  author, 
this  festival  was  established  by  Odilo.*  and  though  at  the  first,  only 
observed  by  the  congregation  of  Clugni,  was  afterward,  by  order  of 
the  Pope,  enjoined  upon  all  the  Latin  churches.  The  fact  is  worthy 
of  notice,  mentioned  by  Mosheim  (ii.,  417),  that  in  a  treatise  upon 
festivals,  by  one  of  the  later  popes,  Benedict  XVI.,  entitled  "  De 
festis  Jesu  Christi,  Mariae  et  Sanctorum,"  the  cunning  author  was 
"  artful  enough  to  observe  a  profound  silence  with  respect  to  the 
superstitious  and  dishonorable  origin  of  this  anniversary  festival. 
This,"  he  adds,  "  is  not  the  only  mark  of  prudence  and  cunning  to  be 
found  in  the  works  of  that  famous  pontiff." 

*  See  Mabillon,  Acta  SS.  Ord.  Bened.  Sa^c.  vi..  part  i.,  page  584,  where  the 
reader  will  find  the  Life  of  Odilo,  with  the  decree  he  issued  for  the  institution  of 
this  festival. 


192 


CHAPTER  II. 

PROOFS    OF    THE     DARKNESS    OF    THIS    PERIOD    CONTINUED. ORIGIN    AND 

FINAL    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    TRANSUBSTANTIATION. PERSECUTION    OF 

BERENGER,    ITS     FAMOUS     OPPOSER. POPISH    MIRACLES    IN  ITS  PROOF. 

§  13. — Another  evidence  of  the  gross  darkness  of  this  midnight 
of  the  world,  is  seen  in  the  invention  and  open  advocacy  of  that 
absurd  dogma,  which  more  than  any  other  doctrine  of  Popery,  is  an 
insult  to  common  sense,  transubstantiation.  This,  in  the  language 
of  the  Romish  authors,  "  consists  in  the  transmutation  of  the  bread 
and  wine  in  the  communion,  into  the  body  and  blood,  and  by  con- 
nexion and  concomitance,  into  the  soul  and  divinity  of  our  Lord. 
The  whole  substance  of  the  sacramental  elements  is,  according  to 
this  chimera,  changed  into  the  true,  real,  numerical,  and  integral 
Emmanuel,  God  and  man,  who  was  born  of  Mary,  existed  in  the 
world,  suffered  on  the  cross,  and  remains  immortal  and  glorious  in 
heaven.*  The  host,  therefore,  under  the  form  of  bread,  contains 
the  Mediator's  total  and  identical  body,  soul,  and  Deity.  Nothing 
of  the  substance  of  bread  and  wine  remains  after  consecration.  All, 
except  the  accidents,  is  transformed  into  the  Messiah,  in  his  god- 
head, with  all  its  perfections,  and  in  his  manhood  with  all  its  com- 
ponent parts,  soul,  body,  blood,  bones,  flesh,  nerves,  muscles,  veins 
and  sinews,  f  Our  Lord,  according  to  the  same  absurdity,  is  not 
only  whole  in  the  whole,  but  also  whole  in  every  part.  The  whole 
God  and  man  is  comprehended  in  every  crumb  of  the  bread,  and 
in  every  drop  of  the  wine.  He  is  entire  in  the  bread,  and  entire  in 
the  wine,  and  in  every  particle  of  each  element.  He  is  entire  with- 
out division,  in  countless  hosts,  or  numberless  altars.  He  is  entire 
in  heaven,  and  at  the  same  time,  entire  on  the  earth.  The  whole  is 
equal  to  a  part,  and  a  part  equal  to  the  whole. J  The  same  sub- 
stance may,  at  the  same  time,  be  in  many  places,  and  many  sub- 
stances in  the  same  place. §     This  sacrament,  in  consequence  of 

*  Credimus  panem  converti  in  earn  carnem,  quae  in  cruce  pependit.  (Lanfranc, 
243.)  Sint  quatuor  ilia,  caro,  sanguis,  anima,  et  Divinitas  Christi.  (Labbe,  xx., 
619.)  Domini  corpus  quod  natum  ex  virgine  in  ccelis  sedetad  dextram  Patris,  hoc 
sacramento  contineri.  Divinitatem  et  totam  humanam  naturam  complectitur.  (Cat. 
Trid.,  122,  125.) 

f  Continetur  totum  corpus  Christi,  scilicet,  ossa,  nervi  et  alia.  (Aquin.  iii.  2, 76, 
c.  i.)     Comprehendens  carnem,  ossa,  nervos,  &c.     (Dens,  5,  276.) 

I  Non  solus  sub  toto,  sed  totus  sub  qualibet  parte.  (Canisius.  4,  468.  Bin.  9, 
380.     Crabb.  2,  946.) 

Ubi  pars  est  corporis,  est  totum.  (Gibert,  3,  331.)  Christus  totus  et  integer 
sub  qualibet  particula  divisionis  perseverat.     (Canisius,  4,  818.) 

Totus  et  integer  Christus  sub  panis  specie  et  sub  quavis  ipsius  speciei  parte, 
item,  sub  vini  specie  et  sub  ejus  partibus,  existit.     (Labb.  20,  32.) 

}  Idem  corpus  sit  simul  in  pluribus  locis.  (Faber,  1,  128.  Paolo,  1,  530.)  Pos- 
sunt  esse  duo  corpora  quanta  et  plura  in  eodem  spatio.  (Faber,  1,  136.)  Corpus 
non  expellat  praexistens  corpus.     (Faber,  1,  137.) 


chap,  n.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.    193 

Absurdities  of  Transubstantiation.  Earliest  trace  of  this  absurd  dogma. 

these  manifold  contradictions,  is,  says  Ragusa,  '  a  display  of  Al- 
mighty power ;'  while  Faber  calls  transubstantiation  '  the  greatest 
miracle  of  omnipotence.'  "*  "  A  person,"  says  the  learned  Edgar, 
in  his  Variations  of  Popery,  "  feels  humbled  in  having  to  oppose 
such  inconsistency,  and  scarcely  knows  whether  to  weep  over  the 
imbecility  of  his  own  species,  or  to  vent  his  bursting  indignation 
against  the  impostors,  who,  lost  to  all  sense  of  shame,  obtruded  this 
mass  of  contradictions  on  man.  History,  in  all  its  ample  folios, 
displays,  in  the  deceiving  and  the  deceived,  no  equal  instance  of 
assurance  and  credulity."f 

§  14. — The  first  faint  traces  which  the  page  of  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory unfolds  of  the  doctrine  of  transmutation  of  the  elements,  and 
probably  the  hint  upon  which  in  the  following  century,  Paschasius 
built  his  preposterous  theory,  was  the  language  of  the  council  of 
Constantinople,  in  754,  which  decided  against  the  worship  of  images. 
This  council,  reckoned  by  the  Greeks,  to  be  the  seventh  general 
council,  "  in  opposing  the  worship  of  images,"  says  the  learned  arch- 
bishop Tillotson,  "  did  argue  thus  :  '  That  our  Lord  having  left 
no  other  image  of  himself  but  the  sacrament,  in  which  the  sub- 
stance of  bread,  &c,  is  the  image  of  his  body,  we  ought  to  make  no 
other  image  of  our  Lord.'  But  the  second  council  of  Nice,  in  787, 
being  resolved  to  support  the  image-worship,  did,  on  the  contrary, 
declare  that  the  sacrament,  after  consecration,  is  not  the  image  and 
antitype  of  Christ's  body  and  blood,  but  is  properly  his  body  and 
blood.  Cardinal  Bcllarmine  tells  the  same,"  adds  Tillotson,  "  but 
evidently  with  a  quibble,  '  None  of  the  ancients,'  saith  he,  '  who 
wrote  of  heresies,  hath  put  this  "  error""  (of  the  corporal  presence), 
in  his  catalogue,  nor  did  any  of  them  dispute  about  this  "  error  "  for 
the  first  six  hundred  years.'J  True,"  replies  the  archbishop,  to  this 
singular  argument,  "  True,  for  as  this  doctrine  of  transubstantiation 
was  not  in  being  during  the  first  six  hundred  years  and  more,  as  I 
have  shown,  there  could  be  no  dispute  against  it."§ 

§  15. — "  The  state  of  the  Latin  communion  at  the  time,"  says  Ed- 
gar, "  was  perhaps  the  chief  reason  of  the  origin,  progress,  and  final 
establishment  of  transubstantiation.  Philosophy  seemed  to  have 
taken  its  departure  from  Christendom,  and  to  have  left  mankind  to 
grovel  in  a  night  of  ignorance,  unenlightened  with  a  single  ray  of 
learning.  Cimmerian  clouds  overspread  the  literary  horizon,  and 
quenched  the  sun  of  science.  Immorality  kept  pace  with  ignorance, 
and  extended  itself  to  the  priesthood  and  to  the  people.  The  flood- 
gates of  moral  pollution  seemed  to  have  set  wide  open,  and  inunda- 
tions of  all  impurity  poured  on  the  Christian  world  through  the 
Roman   hierarchy.     The   enormity  of  the   clergy   was    faithfully 

*  Hoc  sacramentum  continet  miraculum  maximum,  quod  pertinet  ad  omnipoten- 
tiam.  (Faber,  1,  126.)  Divina  omnipotentia  ostenditur.  (Rao-us  in  Canisius,4, 
818.) 

f  See  Edgar's  Variations,  page  347. 

I  Bellarmine  De  Eucharistia,  lib.  i. 

§  Tillotson  on  Transubstantiation,  Ser.  xxvi.,  page  182. 
13 


194  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 


Paschasius  advocates  Transubstantiation. Rabanua  Manrug  opposes  it. 

copied  by  the  laity.  Both  sunk  into  equal  degeneracy,  and  the 
popedom  appeared  one  vast,  deep,  frightful^  overflowing  ocean  of 
corruption,  horror,  and  contamination.  Ignorance  and  immorality 
are  the  parents  of  error  and  superstition.  The  mind  void  of  infor- 
mation, and  the  heart  destitute  of  sanctity,  are  prepared  to  embrace 
any  fabrication  or  absurdity.  Such  was  the  mingled  mass  of  dark- 
ness, depravity,  and  superstition,  which  produced  the  portentous 
monster  of  transubstantiation.  Paschasius  Radbert,  in  the  ninth 
century,  seems  to  have  been  the  father  of  the  deformity,  which  he 
hatched  in  his  melancholy  cell."     (Edgar,  369.) 

It  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  ninth  century,  that  this  Paschasius, 
who  was  a  Benedictine  monk,  and  afterward  abbot  of  Corbie,  in 
France,  began  to  advocate  the  doctrine  of  a  real  change  in  the 
elements.  In  831,  he  published  a  treatise  "  Concerning  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ,"  which  he  presented  fifteen  years  after,  care- 
fully revised  and  augmented,  to  Charles  the  Bald,  king  of  France. 
The  doctrine  advanced  by  Paschasius  may  be  expressed  by  the  two 
following  propositions  :  First,  That  after  the  consecration  of  the 
bread  and  wine  in  the  Lord's  supper,  nothing  remained  of  these  sym- 
bols but  the  outward  figure,  under  which  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ 
were  locally  present.  Secondly,  That  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ, 
thus  present  in  the  eucharist,  was  the  same  body  that  was  born  of  the 
Virgin,  that  suffered  on  the  c?'oss,  and  was  raised  from  the  dead. 
This  new  doctrine,  especially  the  second  proposition,  excited  the 
astonishment  of  many.  Accordingly,  it  was  opposed  by  Rabanus, 
Heribald,  and  others,"  though  not  in  the  same  manner,  nor  upon  the 
same  principles.  Charles  "the  Bald,  upon  this  occasion,  ordered  the 
famous  Bertram  and  Johannes  Scotus,  of  Ireland,  to  draw  up  a 
clear  and  rational  explication  of  that  doctrine  which  Paschasius  had 
so  egregiously  corrupted.  In  this  controversy  the  parties  were  as 
much  divided  among  themselves,  as  they  were  at  variance  with 
their  adversaries.  The  opinions  of  Bertram  are  very  confused, 
although  he  maintained  that  bread  and  wine,  as  symbols  and  signs, 
represented  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  Scotus,  however,  main- 
tained uniformly  that  the  bread  and  wine  were  the  signs  and  symbols 
of  the  absent  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  All  the  other  theologians 
seemed  to  have  no  fixed  opinions  on  these  points.  One  thing  is 
certain,  however,  that  none  of  them  were  properly  inducted  into  the 
then  unknown  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  as  the  worship  of  the 
elements  was  not  mentioned,  much  less  contended  for,  by  any  of  the 
disputants.  It  was  an  extravagance  of  superstition  too  gross  for 
even  the  ninth  century,  though  it  is  openly  and  unblushingly  advo- 
cated and  practised  by  popish  priests  in  the  nineteenth. 

§  1G. — The  language  of  Rabanus  Maurus,  archbishop  of  Mentz, 
the  most  famous  opposcr  of  this  newly  invented  dogma,  written  in 
reply  to  Paschasius,  in  847,  is  so  decisive  a  proof  that  in  that  age 
this  absurd  dogma  was  regarded  as  a  novelty,  that  it  is  worthy  of 
especial  notice.  "  Some  persons,"  says  he,  "  of  late,  not  entertaining 
a  sound  opinion  respecting  the  sacrament  of  the  body  and  blood  of 


chap,  n.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.    195 

Stercorianism.         Berenger  writes  against  Transubstantialion.         Pope  Leo  opposes  and  punishes  him. 

our  Lord,  have  actually  ventured  to  declare  that  this  is  the 

IDENTICAL  BODY  AND  BLOOD  OF  OUR  LoRD  JeSUS  ChRIST  ;  THE  IDENTI- 
CAL   BODY,  tO  wit,  WHICH    WAS    BORN  OF    THE  VlRGIN  MaRY,  IN  WHICH 

Christ  suffered  on  the  cross,  and  in  which  he  arose  from  the 
dead.  This  error  we  have  opposed  with  all  our  might."*  The 
question  of  Ste?*corianism  (from  stercus,  dung),  arose  immediately 
out  of  these  disputes.  Paschasius  maintained  "  that  bread  and  wine 
in  the  sacrament  are  not  under  the  same  laws  with  our  other  food, 
as  they  pass  into  our  flesh  and  substance  without  any  evacuation." 
Bertram  affirmed  that  "  the  bread  and  wine  are  under  the  same 
laws  with  all  other  food."  Some  supposed  that  the  bread  and  wine 
were  annihilated,  or  that  they  have  a  perpetual  being,  or  else  are 
changed  into  flesh  and  blood,  and  not  into  humors  or  excrements  to 
be  voided. f  Such  were  the  foolish  questions  and  childish  absurdi- 
ties which  occupied  the  pens  of  the  gravest  divines  of  this  gloomy 
age,  and  which  the  professed  immutability  of  the  "  holy  Catholic 
church"  prevents  them  from  renouncing  even  in  the  present  day, 
amidst  the  light  and  intelligence  of  a  brighter  and  happier  age. 

§  17. — It  was  long,  even  in  this  dark  period,  before  so  monstrous 
an  absurdity  as  transubstantiation  was  generally  received.  In  the 
year  1045,  Berenger,  of  Tours,  in  France,  and  afterward  archdeacon 
of  Angiers,  one  of  the  most  learned  and  exemplary  men  of  his  time, 
publicly  maintained  the  doctrine  of  Johannes  Scotus,  opposed 
warmly  the  monstrous  opinions  of  Paschasius  Radbert,  which  were 
adapted  to  captivate  a  superstitious  multitude  by  exciting  their 
astonishment,  and  persevered  with  a  noble  obstinacy,  in  teaching 
that  the  bread  and  wine  were  not  changed  into  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ  in  the  eucharist,  but  preserved  their  natural  and  essential 
qualities,  and  were  no  more  than  figures  and  external  symbols  of 
the  body  and  blood  of  the  divine  Saviour.  This  wise  and  rational 
doctrine  was  no  sooner  published,  than  it  was  opposed  by  certain 
doctors  in  France  and  Germany  ;  but  the  Roman  pontiff,  Leo  IX., 
attacked  it  with  peculiar  vehemence  and  fury,  in  the  year  1050,  and 
in  two  councils,  the  one  assembled  at  Rome,  and  the  other  at  Ver- 
celli,  had  the  doctrine  of  Berenger  solemnly  condemned,  and  the 
book  of  Scotus,  from  which  it  was  drawn,  committed  to  the  flames. 
This  example  was  followed  by  the  council  of  Paris,  which  was 
summoned  the  very  same  year,  by  king  Henry  I.,  and  in  which 
Berenger  and  his  numerous  adherents,  were  menaced  with  all  sorts 
of  evils,  both  spiritual  and  temporal.  These  threats  were  executed, 
in  part,  against  Berenger,  whom  Henry  deprived  of  all  his  revenues, 
but  neither  threatenings,  nor  fines,  nor  synodical  decrees,  could 
shake  the  firmness  of  his  mind,  or  engage  him  to  renounce  the  doc- 
trine he  had  embraced. 

In  the  year  1054,  two  different  councils  assembled  at  Tours,  to 
examine  the  doctrine  held  by  Berenger,  at  one  of  which  the  famous 

*  Raban.  Maur.  Epist.  ad.  Heribald,  c.  33. 

f  See  Dupin's  Ecclesiastical  History,  cent,  ix.,  chap.  7. 


!96  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 


Terrified  at  the  monk  Hildebrand  and  pope  Nicholas,  Berenger  is  compelled  to  renounce  his  doctrines. 

Hildcbrand,  who  was  afterward  pontiff,  under  the  title  of  Gregory 
VII.,  appeared  in  the  character  of  legate,  and  opposed  the  new 
doctrine  of  Berenger  with  the  utmost  vehemence.     Berenger  was 
also  present  at  this  assembly,  and  overpowered  with  threats,  rather 
than  convinced  by  reason  and  argument,  he  not  only  abandoned  his 
opinions,  but,  if  we  may  believe  h:s  adversaries,  to  whose  testimony 
we  are  confined  in  this  matter,  abjured  them  solemnly,  and  in  con- 
sequence of  this  humbling  step,  made  his  peace  with  the  church. 
The  abjuration  of  Berenger,  who  had  not  firmness  and  faith  enough 
to  face  death  in  defence  of  the  truth,  was  not  sincere,  for  as  soon  as  « 
the  danger  was  past,  he  taught  anew,  though  with  greater  circum- 
spection, the  same  doctrine  that  he  had  just  professed  to  renounce. 
§  18. — Upon  the  news  of  Berenger's  defection  reaching  the  ears 
of  pope  Nicholas  II.,  the  exasperated   pontiff  summoned   him  to 
Rome,  A.D.  1059,  and  terrified  him  in  such  a  manner  in  the  council 
held  there  the   following  year,  that  he  declared  his  readiness  to 
embrace  and  adhere  to  the  doctrines  which  that  venerable  assembly 
should  think  proper  to  impose  upon  his  faith.     Humbert  was  accor- 
dingly appointed  unanimously  by  Nicholas  and  the  council,  to  draw 
up  a  confession  of  faith  for  Berenger,  who  signed  it  publicly,  and 
confirmed  his  adherence  to  it  by  a  solemn  oath.     In  this  confes- 
sion, there  was,  among  other  tenets  equally  absurd,  the  following 
declaration,  that  "  the  bread  and  wine,  alter  consecration,  were  not 
only  a  sacrament,  but  also  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  that  this  body  and  blood  were  handled  by  the  priests,  and  bruised 
by  the  teeth  of  the  faithful,  '  fidelium  dentibus  attriti,'  and  not  in  a 
sacramental  sense,  but  in  reality  and  truth,  as  other  sensible  objects 
are."     This  doctrine  was  so  monstrously  nonsensical,  and  was  such 
an  impudent  insult  upon  the  very  first  principles  of  reason,  that  it 
could  have  nothing  alluring  to  a  man  of  Berenger's  acute  and  philo- 
sophical turn,  nor  could  it  possibly  become  the  object  of  his  serious 
belief,  as  appeared  soon  after  this  odious  act  of  dissimulation ;  for 
no  sooner  was  he  returned  into  France,  than  taking  refuge  in  the 
countenance  and  protection  of  his  ancient  patrons,  he  expressed  the 
utmost  detestation  and   abhorrence  of  the  doctrines  he  had  been 
obliged  to  profess  at  Rome,  abjured  them  solemnly,  both  in  his  dis- 
course and  in  his  writings,  and  returned  zealously  to  the  profession 
and  defence  of  his  former,  which  had  always  been  his  real  opinion. 
In  the  year  1078,  under  the  popedom  of  Gregory  VII.,  in  a  coun- 
cil held  at  Rome,  Berenger  was  again  called  on  to  draw  up  a  new 
confession  of  faith,  and  to  renounce  that  which  had  been  composed 
by  Humbert,  though  it  had  been  solemnly  approved  and  confirmed 
by  Nicholas  II.,  and  a  Roman  council.     In  consequence  of  the 
threats  and   compulsion  of  his  enemies,  Berenger  confirmed  by  an 
oath,  "  that  the  bread  laid  upon  the  altar,  became,  after  consecration, 
the  true  body  of  Christ,  which  was  born  of  the  Virgin,  suffered  on 
the  cross,  and  now  sits  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father ;  and  that  the 
wine  placed  on  the  altar  became,  after  consecration,  the  true  blood 


chap,  n.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  197 

Death  of  Berenger.  Fourth  council  of  Lateran.  The  poisoned  host. 

which  flowed  from  the  side  of  Christ"*  Berenger  had  no  sooner  got 
out  of  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  than  he  maintained  his  true  senti- 
ments, wrote  •  a  book  in  their  defence,  retreated  to  the  isle  of  St. 
Cosme,  near  Tours,  and  bitterly  repented  of  his  dissimulation  and 
want  of  firmness  ;  until  death,  in  1088,  put  an  end  to  his  persecutions 
and  his  life.f 

§  19. — Yet  notwithstanding  the  death  of  the  able  but  too  timid 
opposcr  of  this  monstrous  doctrine,  it  was  not  till  the  year  1215,  in 
the  fourth  council  of  Lateran,  that  this  most  characteristic  and  ap- 
propriate child  of  the  dark  ages  was  duly  decreed  to  be  a  doctrine 
of  the  church.  Pope  Innocent  III.  having  heard  with  pleasure  the 
word  transubstantiation,  which  began  to  be  applied  to  this  subject 
for  the  first  time,  about  the  year  1100,  inserted  the  word  in  the  de- 
cree which  he  had  prepared  for  the  action  of  the  council,  and  from 
that  time  the  doctrine  has  always  been  thus  designated.  "  It  is 
certain,"  says  Dupin,  "  that  these  canons  were  not  made  by  the 
council,  but  by  Innocent  III.,  who  presented  them  to  the  council 
ready  drawn  up,  and  ordered  them  to  be  read  ;  and  the  prelates 
did  not  enter  into  any  debate  upon  them,  but  that  their  silence  was 
taken  for  an  approbation."     The  decree  on  transubstantiation  is  as 

*  The  absurdity  of  this  monstrous  proposition  is  well  illustrated  by  the  following 
well  known  anecdote.  If  literally  true,  it  shows  also,  what  1  am  well  persuaded 
of,  that  the  priests  do  not  themselves  believe  the  dogma  which,  to  increase  their 
own  authority  and  dignity,  they  impose  upon  the  silly  multitude.  Whether  true 
in  all  its  particulars  or  not,  it  may  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the  glaring  absurdity 
of  transubstantiation.  I  will  venture  to  say  that  there  is  not  a  priest  in  the  land 
who  would  have  faith  enough  to  submit  to  such  a  test  of  his  sincerity. 

"  A  protestant  lady  entered  the  matrimonial  state  with  a  Roman  Catholic  gen- 
tleman, on  condition  that  he  would  never  use  any  attempts,  in  his  intercourse  with 
her,  to  induce  her  to  embrace  his  religion.  Accordingly,  after  their  marriage,  he 
abstained  from  conversing  with  her  on  those  religious  topics  which  he  knew  would 
be  disagreeable  to  her.  He  employed  the  Roman  priest,  however,  to  instil  his 
popish  notions  into  her  mind.  But  she  remained  unmoved,  particularly  on  the 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  At  length  the  husband  fell  ill,  and  during  his 
affliction,  was  recommended  by  the  priest  to  receive  the  holy  sacrament.  The  wife 
was  requested  to  prepare  the  wafer  for  the  solemnity,  by  the  next  day.  She  did  so, 
and  on  presenting  it  to  the  priest,  said,  '  This,  sir,  you  wish  me  to  understand, 
will  be  changed  into  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  after  you  have  consecrated 
it.' 

"  '  Most  certainly,  my  dear  madam,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  it.' 

" '  Then,  sir,  it  will  not  be  possible,  after  the  consecration,  for  it  to  do  any 
harm  to  the  worthy  partakers ;  for,  says  our  Lord,  '  my  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and 
my  blood  is  drink  indeed,'  and  '  he  that  eateth  me  shall  live  by  me.' 

"  '  Assuredly,  the  holy  sacrament  can  do  no  harm  to  the  worthy  receivers,  but, 
so  far  from  it,  must  communicate  great  good.' 

" '  The  ceremony  was  proceeded  in,  and  the  wafer  was  duly  consecrated ; 
the  priest  was  about  to  take  and  eat  the  host,  but  the  lady  begged  pardon  for 
interrupting  him,  adding,  '  I  mixed  a  little  arsenic  with  the  wafer,  sir,  but  as  it  is 
now  changed  into  the  real  body  of  Christ,  it  cannot,  of  course,  do  you  any  harm.' 
The  principles  of  the  priest,  however,  were  not  sufficiently  firm  to  enable  him  to 
eat  it.  Confused,  ashamed,  and  irritated,  he  left  the  house,  and  never  more  ven- 
tured to  enforce  on  the  lady  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.' " 

f  See  Elliott  on  Romanism,  vol.  i.,  page  278.  Also  Dupin  and  Mosheim,  cent.  ix. 


198  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [bookiv. 

Pretended  miracles  to  establish  the  belief  in  the  wafer  God. 


follows  :  "  The  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  contained  really  in 
the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  under  the  species  of  bread  and  wine  ; 
the  bread  being  transubstantiated  into  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  wine  into  his  blood,  by  the  power  of  God."  '  Cujus  corpus  et 
sanguis  in  sacramento  altaris  sub  speciebus  panis  et  vini  veraciter 
continentur  ;  transubstantiatis  pane  in  corpus,  et  vino  in  sanguinem 
potestate  divina.'  (Concil  Lateran,  ix.,  cap.  1.) 

§  20. — The  means  by  which  the  popular  belief  in  the  wafer  God 
was  established  by  artful  monks  and  priests,  were  worthy  of  the 
doctrine  itself.  If  we  are  to  believe  the  wondrous  legends  of  those 
dark  ages,  which,  however,  have  been  reiterated  in  a  thousand 
forms  in  subsequent  centuries,  the  most  marvellous  miracles  were 
frequently  wrought  to  testify  the  reality  of  the  wonderful  transmu- 
tation effected  by  those  to  whom  it  was  given  to  "  create  their 
Creator."  Some  of  them  attested  upon  oath,  swearing  by  their 
sacred  vestments,  that  they  had  seen  the  blood  trickle  in  drops,  as 
it  does  from  a  human  body,  from  the  consecrated  wafer,  held  in  the 
hands  of  the  priests  ;  and  others  that  they  had  received  still  more 
ocular  demonstration  of  the  reality  of  the  change  of  the  bread  into 
the  body  of  Christ,  inasmuch  as  they  had  actually  seen  it  thus 
changed  into  the  Saviour  himself,  sitting  in  the  form  of  a  little  boy 
upon  the  altar  /* 

To  prove  that  this  statement  is  not  made  without  abundant 
evidence,  we  will  transcribe  some  few  of  these  pretended  miracles, 
related  upon  the  testimony  of  celebrated  and  accredited  Roman 
Catholic  authors.  There  is  a  collection  of  no  less  than  seventy- 
three  pretended  miracles  of  animals  reverencing  the  consecrated 
wafer,  collected  by  a  certain  Jesuit  priest  named  Father  Toussain 
Bridoul.  In  the  preface  to  the  work,  the  Jesuit  compiler  says, 
"  Wherefore  without  troubling  myself  to  confute  these  hare-brained 
people,  who  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  all  that  the  holy  fathers  have  said 
about  it  (the  holy  sacrament)  ;  and  having  renounced  their  reason, 
I  have  resolved  to  send  them  to  the  school  of  the  beasts,  who  have 
shown  a  particular  inclination  (not  without  a  superior  conduct)  for 
the  honor  and  defence  of  this  truth."  The  following  few  instances 
are  transcribed,  to  which  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  affixing  ap- 
propriate titles. 

(1.)  The  wafer  turned  into  a  little  boy  in  the  bee  hive. — "  Petrus  Cluniac,  lib.  1, 
cap.  1,  reports,  That  a  certain  peasant  of  Auvergne,  a  province  in  France,  per- 
ceiving that  his  bees  were  likely  to  die,  to  prevent  this  misfortune,  was  advised, 
after  he  had  received  the  communion,  to  keep  the  host,-\  and  to  blow  it  into  one  of 
his  hives  ;  and,  on  a  sudden,  all  the  bees  came  forth  out  of  their  hives,  and  ranking 
themselves  in  good  order,  lifted  the  host  up  from  the  ground,  and  carrying  it  in 
upon  their  wings,  placed  it  among  the  combs.  (!)      After  this  the   man  went 

*  Among  the  many  prodigies  of  this  kind  gravely  related  as  facts  by  Romish 
authors,  the  celebrated  Cardinal  Bellarmine  mentions,  with  several  other  miracles, 
one  in  which  instead  of  the  wafer,  "  Christ  was  seen  in  tJieform  of  a  chiW  (De 
Eucharistia,  Lib.  iii.,  c.  8.) 

f  Host.  The  term  by  which  the  papists  designate  the  consecrated  wafer,  de- 
rived from  the  Latin  word  Hostia,  which  signifies  an  animal  for  sacrifice,  a  victim. 


chaf.  ii.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.   199 


Holy  bees  worship  the  host.         rfsses  and  horses  kneel  to  it.         The  Jew's  dog  and  his  master's  nose. 

out  about  his  business,  and  at  his  return,  found  that  this  advice  had  succeeded 
contrary  to  his  expectation,  for  all  his  bees  were  dead.  Nay,  when  he  lifted  up 
the  hive,  he  saw  that  the  host  (or  wafer)  was  turned  into  a  fair  child  among  the 
honeycombs ;  (.' .')  and  being  much  astonished  at  this  change,  and  seeing  that  this 
infant  seemed  to  be  dead,  he  took  it  in  his  hands,  intending  to  bury  it  privately  in 
the  church,  but  when  he  came  to  do  it,  he  found  nothing  in  his  hands ;  for  the  in- 
fant was  vanished  away.  This  thing  happened  in  the  county  of  Clermont,  which, 
for  this  irreverence,  was,  a  while  after,  chastised  by  divers  calamities,  which  so 
dispeopled  those  parts,  that  they  became  like  a  wilderness.  From  which  it  ap- 
pears, that  bees  honor  the  holy  host  divers  ways,  by  lifting  it  from  the  earth,  and 
carrying  it  into  their  hives,  as  it  were,  in  procession." 

(2.)  The  holy  bees  who  built  a  popish  chapel. — "  Cassarius,  lib.  9,  cap.  8,  reports, 
That  a  certain  woman,  having  received  the  communion  unworthily,  carried  the 
host  to  her  hives,  for  to  enrich  the  stock  of  bees :  and  afterwards  coming  again  to 
see  the  success,  she  perceived  that  the  bees,  acknowledging  their  God  in  the  sa- 
crament, had,  with  admirable  artifice,  erected  to  him  a  chapel  of  wrax,  with  its 
doors,  windows,  bells,  and  vestry;  (!)  and  within  it  a  chalice  where  they  laid  the 
holy  body  of  Jesus  Christ.  (! !)  She  could  no  longer  conceal  this  wonder.  The 
priest,  being  advertised  of  it,  came  thither  in  procession,  and  he  himself  heard  har- 
monious music,  which  the  bees  made,  flying  round  about  the  sacrament ;  and  hav- 
ing taken  it  out,  he  brought  it  back  to  the  church  full  of  comfort,  certifying,  that 
he  had  seen  and  heard  our  Lord  acknowledged  and  praised  by  those  little  crea- 
tures." 

(3.)  The  holy  asses  who  knelt  before  the  wafer  idol. — "  P.  Orlandi,  in  his  History 
of  the  Society,  torn.  1,  lib.  2,  No.  27,  says,  That,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  within 
the  Venetian  territories,  a  priest  carrying  the  holy  host,  without  pomp  or  train,  to 
a  sick  person,  he  met,  out  of  the  town,  asses  going  to  their  pasture  ;  who,  perceiv- 
ing by  a  certain  sentiment,  what  it  was  which  the  priest  carried,  they  divided 
themselves  into  two  companies  on  each  side  of  the  way,  and  fell  on  their  knees.  (!) 
Whereupon  the  priest,  with  his  clerk,  all  amazed,  passed  between  those  peaceable 
beasts,  which  then  rose  up,  as  if  they  would  make  a  pompous  show  in  honor  of 
their  Creator ;  followed  the  priest  as  far  as  the  sick  man's  house,  where  they 
waited  at  the  door  till  the  priest  came  out  from  it,  and  did  not  leave  him  till  he 
had  given  them  his  blessing.  (! !)  Father  Simon  Rodriguez,  one  of  the  first  com- 
panions of  St.  Ignatius,  who  then  travelled  in  Italy,  informed  himself  carefully  of 
this  matter,  which  happened  a  little  while  before  our  first  fathers  came  into  Italy, 
and  found  that  all  happened  as  has  been  told." 

(4.)  The  Jew's  dog  who  worshipped  the  host,  and  bit  his  master's  nose  off  for 
destroying  it. — "  Nicholas  de  Laghi,  in  his  book  of  the  miracles  of  the  holy  sacra- 
ment, says,  That  a  Jew  blaspheming  the  holy  sacrament,  dared  to  say,  that  if  the 
Christians  would  give  it  to  his  dog,  he  would  eat  it  up,  without  showing  any  re- 
gard to  their  God.  The  Christians  being  very  angry  at  this  outrageous  speech, 
and  trusting  in  the  Divine  Providence,  had  a  mind  to  bring  it  to  a  trial :  so,  spread- 
ing a  napkin  on  the  table,  they  laid  on  many  hosts,  among  which  one  only  was 
consecrated.  The  hungry  dog  being  put  upon  the  same  table,  began  to  eat  them 
all,  but  coming  to  that  which  had  been  consecrated,  without  touching  it,  he  kneeled 
down  before  it,  (!)  and  afterwards  fell  with  rage  upon  his  master,  catching  him  so 
closely  by  the  nose,  that  he  took  it  quite  away  with  his  teeth."  (! !) — "  The  same 
which  St.  Matthew  warns  such  like  blasphemers,  saying,  '  Give  not  that  which  is 
holy  unto  dogs,  lest  they  turn  again  and  rend  you.'  " 

(5.)  St.  Anthony,  of  Padua,  compelling  a  horse  to  kneel  before  the  wafer  God. — 
"  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  disputing  one  day  with  one  of  the  most  obstinate  heretics 
that  denied  the  truth  of  the  holy  sacrament,  drove  him  to  such  a  plunge,  that  he 
desired  the  saint  to  prove  this  truth  by  some  miracle.  St.  Anthony  accepted  the 
condition,  and  said  he  would  work  miracles  upon  his  mule.  Upon  this,  the  heretic 
kept  her  three  days  without  eating  and  drinking ;  and  the  third  day,  the  saint, 
having  said  mass,  took  up  the  host,  and  made  him  bring  forth  the  hungry  mule,  to 
whom  he  spoke  thus  : — In  the  name  of  the  Lord,  I  command  thee  to  come  and  do 
reverence  to  thy  Creator,  and  confound  the  malice  of  heretics.  (!)     While  the 


200  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 

The  unbelieving  Jew  fetches  blood  from  the  wafer. 

saint  made  this  discourse  to  the  mule,  the  heretic  sifted  out  oats  to  make  the  mule 
eat;  but  the  beast  having  more  understanding  than  his  master,  kneeled  before  the 
li  >-'.  adoring  it  as  its  Creator  and  Lord.  (!  !)  This  miracle  comforted  all  the  faith- 
ful, and  enraged  the  heretics  ;  except  him  that  disputed  with  the  saint,  who  was 
converted  to  the  Catholic  faith."* 

In  addition  to  the  above  marvellous  prodigies,  I  will  transcribe 
another  pretended  miracle  of  a  somewhat  different  kind,  but  in- 
tended to  prove  the  same  unscriptural  and  absurd  doctrine ;  that 
the  consecrated  wafer  is  transubstantiated  into  the  very  body  and 
blood  of  Christ.  This  instance  is  related  by  Friar  Leon,  and  was 
first  published  at  Paris  in  1633,  with  the  approbation  of  two  popish 
doctors  of  theology,  and  has  been  reprinted  no  longer  ago  than 
the  year  1821.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  pretended  time  of  its  oc- 
currence is  before  the  end  of  the  century  in  which  the  monstrous 
doctrine  was  first  established  as  an  article  of  faith  by  pope  Innocent 
III.,  in  the  council  of  Lateran. 

(6.)  The  unbelieving  Jew  fetches  blood  from  the  loafer,  irhich  turns  into  the  body 
of  Christ  dying  on  the  cross,  and  afterwards  turns  back  again  into  a  wafer. — "  In 
the  year  of  our  Lord,  1290,  in  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Fair  of  France,  a  poor 
woman  who  had  pledged  her  best  gown  with  a  Jew  for  thirty  pence,  saw  the  eve 
of  Easter  day  arrive  without  the  means  of  redeeming  the  pledge.  Wishino-  to 
receive  the  sacrament  on  that  day,  she  went  and  besought  the  Jew  to  let  her  have 
the  gown  for  that  occasion,  that  she  might  appear  decent  at  church.  The  Jew 
said,  he  would  not  only  consent  to  give  her  back  the  gown,  but  would  also  foro-ive 
her  the  money  lent,  provided  she  would  bring  him  the  host,  which  she  would 
receive  at  the  altar.  The  woman,  instigated  by  the  same  fiend  as  Judas,  promised, 
for  thirty  pence,  to  deliver  into  the  hands  of  a  Jew  the  same  Lord  as  the  traitorous 
disciple  had  sold  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver. 

The  next  morning  she  went  to  church,  received  the  sacrament,  and  feigning 
devotion,  she  concealed  the  host  in  her  handkerchief;  went  to  the  Jew's  house, 
and  delivered  it  into  his  hands.  No  sooner  had  the  Jew  received  it,  than  he  took 
a  penknife,  and  laying  the  host  upon  the  table,  stabbed  it  several  times,  and  behold 
blood  gushed  out  from  the  wounds  in  great  abundance.  (!) 

The  Jew,  no  way  moved  by  this  spectacle,  now  endeavored  to  pierce  the  host 
witli  a  nail,  by  dint  of  repeated  blows  with  a  hammer,  and  again  blood  rushed  out. 
Becoming  more  daring,  he  now  seized  the  host,  and  hung  it  upon  a  stake,  <o  inflict 
upon  it  as  many  lashes,  with  a  scourge,  as  the  body  of  Christ  received  from  the 
Jews  of  old. 

Then,  snatching  the  host  from  the  stake,  he  threw  it  into  the  fire  ;  and,  to  his 
astonishment,  saw  it  moving  unhurt  in  the  midst  of  the  flames.  (!  !) 

Driven  now  to  desperation,  he  seized  a  large  knife,  and  endeavored  to  cut  the 
host  to  pieces,  but  in  vain.  And  as  if  to  omit  no  one  of  the  sufferings  endured  by 
Jesus  on  the  cross,  he  seized  the  host  again,  hung  it  in  the  vilest  place  in  the 
house,  and  pierced  it  with  the  point  of  a  spear,  and  again  blood  issued  from  the 
wound.  Lastly,  he  threw  the  host  into  a  cauldron  of  boiling  water,  and.  instantly, 
the  water  was  turned  into  blood ;  and  lo  !  the  host  was  seen  rising  out  of  the 
water  in  the  form  of  a  crucifix,  and  Jesus  Christ  was  again  seen  dying  on  the 
cross.  (.' .' .') 

The  Jew  having  crucified  the  Lord  afresh,  now  hid  himself  in  the  darkest  cel- 
lar of  the  house ;  and  a  woman  having  entered  the  house,  beheld  the  affecting 
picture  of  the  passion  of  our  Lord  again  exhibited  on  earth.  Moved  with  fear, 
she  fell  on  her  knees,  and  made  on  her  forehead  the  sign  of  the  cross,  when,  in  a 

*  This  instance  is  also  related  by  Cardinal  Bellarmine.  De  Eucharistia,  Lib. 
iii.,  c.  8,  ut  supra. 


chap,  n.]   POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  201 

Cannibalism.  Reasons  of  papists  why  the  host  does  not  look  like  "raw  and  bloody  flesh." 

moment,  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  suspended  on  the  cross  over  the 
cauldron,  turned  into  the  host  again,  and  jumped  into  a  dish  which  the  woman 
held  in  her  hand.  (!)  The  woman  took  it  to  the  priest,  told  the  story  I  have  re- 
peated to  you,  and  the  Jew  was  seized,  sent  to  prison,  and  burnt  alive. 

The  penknife  with  which  the  host  was  pierced,  the  blood  that  flowed  from  the 
wounds,  the  cauldron  and  the  dish,  are  all  preserved,  as  an  infallible  proof  of 
this  miracle." 

§  21. — The  evident  object  of  these  pretended  miracles  is  to  prove 
the  real  transmutation  of  the  wafer  into  the  real  living  body,  blood, 
soul  and  divinity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Now,  if  this  transmu- 
tation were  really  effected,  and  this  real  living  body  and  soul  were 
chewed  between  the  teeth  and  swallowed,  is  it  not  plain  that  those 
who  partook  of  the  horrible  banquet  would  be  guilty  of  cannibal- 
ism ?  The  manducation  of  the  sacramental  elements,  if  transub- 
stantiation  be  true,  makes  the  communicant  the  rankest  cannibal. 
The  patron  of  the  corporeal  presence,  according  to  his  own  sys- 
tem, devours  human  flesh  and  blood  :  and,  to  show  the  refinement 
of  his  taste,  indulges  in  all  the  luxury  of  cannibalism.  He  rivals 
the  polite  Indian,  who  eats  the  quivering  limbs  and  drinks  the  flow- 
ing gore  of  the  enemy.  The  papist  even  exceeds  the  Indian  in 
grossness.  The  cannibals  of  America  or  New  Zealand  swallow 
only  the  mangled  remains  of  an  enemy,  and  would  shudder  at  the 
idea  of  devouring  any  other  human  flesh.  But  the  partizans  of 
Romanism  glut  themselves  with  the  flesh  and  blood  of  a  friend. 
The  Indian  only  eats  the  dead,  while  the  papist,  with  more  shock- 
ing ferocity,  devours  the  living.  The  Indian  eats  man  of  mortal 
mould  on  earth.  The  papist  devours  God-man,  as  he  exists  exalted, 
immortal,  and  glorious  in  heaven.  It  is  true  that  Romish  writers 
have  exercised  a  great  deal  of  ingenuity  in  endeavoring  to  gild 
over  the  rank  cannibalism  of  Popery.  Admitting  the  horror  that 
would  be  excited  by  feeding  on  raw  human  flesh  and  blood  in  their 
own  proper  forms,  these  writers  endeavor  to  disguise,  as  well  as 
they  can,  the  grossness  and  inhumanity  of  eating  that  which,  not- 
withstanding its  species  or  form,  they  admit  to  be  a  living  human 
body.  A  few  extracts  illustrative  of  these  attempts  will  be  given. 
Thus  Aimon  represents  "  the  taste  and  figure  of  bread  and  wine  as 
remaining  in  the  sacrament,  to  prevent  the  horror  of  the  communi- 
cant." Similar  statements  are  found  in  Lanfranc.  According  to 
this  author,  "  the  species  remain,  lest  the  spectator  should  be  horrified 
at  the  sight  of  raw  and  bloody  flesh.  (!)  The  nature  of  Jesus  is 
concealed  and  received  for  salvation,  without  the  horror  which 
might  be  excited  by  blood."*  Hugo  acknowledges  that  "  few  would 
approach  the  communion,  if  blood  should  appear  in  the  cup,  and  the 

*  Propter  sumentium  horrorem,  sapor  panis  et  vini  remanet  et  figura.  (Aimon, 
in  Dach.  1.  42.) 

Reservatis  ipsarum  rerum  speciebus,  et  quibusdam  aliis  qualitatibus,  ne  percipi- 
entes  cruda  et  cruenta  horrerent.     (Lanfranc,  244.) 

Christi  natura  contegitur,  et  sine  cruoris  horrore  a  digne  sumentibus  in  salutem 
accipitur.     (Lanfranc,  248.) 


202 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM,  [book  iv. 


Shocking  expressions  of  Romanists  to  gild  over  the  cannibalism  of  transubstantiation. 


flesh  should  appear  red  as  in  the  shambles"*  Even  hunger  itself 
would  be  disgusted  at  such  bloody  food.  Durand  admits,  that 
"  human  infirmity,  unaccustomed  to  eat  man's  flesh,  would,  if  the 
substance  were  seen,  refuse  participation."!  Aquinas  avows  "  the 
horror  of  swallowing  human  jlesh  and  blood."%  "  The  smell,  the 
species,  and  the  taste  of  bread  and  wine  remain,"  says  the  sainted 
Bernard,  "  to  conceal  flesh  and  blood,  which,  if  offered  without  dis- 
guise as  meat  and  drink,  might  horrify  human  weakness."^  Ac- 
cording to  Alcuin  in  Pithou,  "  Almighty  God  causes  the  prior  form 
to  continue  in  condescension  to  the  irailty  of  man,  who  is  unused  to 
swallow  raw  flesh  and  blood  "\\  According  to  the  Trentine  Cate- 
chism, "  the  Lord's  body  and  blood  are  administered  under  the 
species  of  bread  and  wine,  on  account  of  man's  horror  of  eating 
and  drinking  human  flesh  and  bloody  These  descriptions  are 
shocking,  and  calculated,  in  some  measure,  to  awaken  the  horror 
which  they  portray.** 

§  22. — After  the  reader  has  examined  these  disgusting  attempts 
of  Romish  writers  to  palliate  the  cannibalism  of  transubstantiation, 
let  him  cast  his  eye  once  more  over  the  lying  legends  of  pretended 
miracles  in  proof  of  it,  selected  above  from  hundreds  of  similar 
ones,  gravely  related  by  popish  authors  as  facts,  and  then  let  him 
decide  whether  a  religion  can  be  from  God,  which  utters  such 
enormities,  and  requires  such  outrageous  falsehoods  to  sustain  it. 

0  anti-Christ  !  anti-Christ  !  truly  and  unerringly  was  thy 
picture  drawn  by  the  pen  of  inspiration,  when  it  was  declared 
thy  coming  should  be  "after  the  working  of  Satan,  with  all 
power,  and  signs,  and  lying  wonders  and  with  all  deceivableness 
of  unrighteousness  in  them  that  perish.  Mother  of  harlots,  and 
abominations  of  the  earth  !"  Yet,  like  Babylon  of  old,  "  thine 
end  shall  come,  and  the  measure  of  thy  covetousness  !"  thy  abomi- 
nations are  not  always  to  last,  nor  thy  lying  wonders  to  deceive  the 
nations  for  ever.  For  the  same  unerring  Spirit  that  drew  thy  por- 
trait hath  also  predicted  thy  fall ;  when  the  mighty  angel  shall  cry 
with  a  strong  voice,  "  Babylon  the  great  is  fallen,  is  fallen. 
Come  out  of  her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers  of  her  sins, 

*  Si  cruor  in  calice  fieret  manifestus  et  si  in  macello  Christi  ruberet  sua  caro, 
rarus  in  tcrris  ille  qui  hoc  non  abhorreret.     {Hugo,  de  corp.  70.) 

•(•  Fragilitas  humana,  quae  suis  carnibus  non  consuevit  vesci,  ipso  visu  nihil 
hauriat,  quod  horreat.     {Durand,  in  Lanfranc,  100.) 

1  Non  est  consuetum  hominibus,  horribilem  carnem  hominis  comedere  et  san- 
guineus bibere.     (Aquin  III.  75,  V.  P.  357.) 

§  Odor,  species,  sapor,  pondus  remanent,  ut  horror  penitus  tollatur,  ne  humana 
infirmitas  escum  carnis  et  potum  sanguinis  in  sumptione  horreret.  (Bernard, 
1682.) 

||  Consulens  omnipotens  Deus  infirmitati  nostrae,  qui  non  habemus  usum  come- 
dere carnem  crudam  et  sanguinem  bibere  fecit  ut  in  pristina  remanens  forma  ilia 
duo  munera.     (Alcuin  in  Pithou,  467.) 

IT  A  communi  hominum  natura  maxime  abhorreat  humanae  carnis  esca,  aut 
sanguinis  potione  vesci,  sapientissime  fecit,  ut  sanctissimum  corpus  et  sanguis  sub 
earurn  rerum  specie  panis  et  vini  nobis  administraretur.    (Cat.  Trid.  129.) 

**  See  Edgar's  Variations,  387. 


chap,  n.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.   203 

Creators  of  the  Creator.  Horrible  blasphemies  of  a  pope  and  a  cardinal. 

and  that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues  !  For  her  sins  have  reached 
unto  heaven  and  God  hath  remembered  her  iniquities.  Rejoice 
over  her,  thou  heaven,  and  ye  holy  apostles  and  prophets  ;  for  God 
hath  avenged  you  on  her  !  And  in  her  was  found  the  blood  of  pro- 
phets, and  of  saints,  and  of  all  that  were  slain  upon  the  earth."* 

§  23. — The  doctrine  which  requires  such  pious  frauds  as  above 
related,  to  gain  it  credence,  is  so  gross  an  outrage  upon  common 
sense,  that  no  arguments  are  necessary  to  disprove  it.f  Its  very 
statement  is  its  refutation.  But  it  has  been  the  source  of  incalcu- 
lable worldly  gain  to  the  anti-Christian  clergy,  whom  it  elevates  to 
the  blasphemous  dignity  of  Creators  of  their  Creator,  and 
hence  the  secret  of  its  success.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  quote 
the  horrible  impiety  of  pope  Urban  and  cardinal  Biel,  without 
shuddering. 

"  The  hands  of  the  pontiff,"  said  Urban  in  a  great  Roman  Coun- 
cil, "  are  raised  to  an  eminence  granted  to  none  of  the  angels,  of 
creating  God  the  Creator  of  all  things,  and  of  offering  him 
up  for  the  salvation  of  the  whole  world."  "  This  prerogative," 
adds  the  same  authority,  "  as  it  elevates  the  Pope  above  angels, 
renders  pontifical  submission  to  kings  an  execration."  To  all  this 
the  Sacred  Synod,  with  the  utmost  unanimity,  responded,  Amen.J 
Cardinal  Biel  extends  this  power  to  all  priests.  "  He  that  created 
me"  says  the  cardinal,  "  gave  me,  if  it  be  lawful  to  tell,  to  create 
himself."  This  power,  Biel  shows,  exalts  the  clergy,  not  only 
above  emperors  and  angels,  but  which  is  a  higher  elevation,  above 
Lady  Mary  herself.      "  Her  ladyship,"  says  the  cardinal,  "  once 

*  2  Thess.  ii.  9,  10  ;  Jer.  li.  13 ;  Rev.  xvii.  5— xviii.  4,  5,  6,  24. 

f  On  such  a  subject  as  this  it  is  lawful  to  imitate  the  satirical  and  ironical  mode 
of  disputation  adopted  by  the  prophet  Elijah,  in  his  contest  with  the  idolatrous 
priests  of  Baal.  (1  Kings,  xviii.  27.)  The  following  is  translated  from  a  satirical 
poem  of  George  Buchanan,  and  sets  in  vivid  and  striking  light  the  folly  and  im- 
piety of  this  idolatry.  "  A  baker  and  a  painter  once  contended,  which  of  them 
could  produce  the  best  specimen  of  his  art ; — whether  the  former  would  excel  with 
his  oven,  or  the  latter  with  his  colors.  The  painter  boasted  that  he  had  made  a 
god ;  the  baker  replied,  It  is  I  who  make  the  true  body  of  God,  thou  only  canst 
produce  an  image  or  representation  of  it.  The  painter  said,  thy  god  is  always 
consumed  by  men's  teeth  ;  thine,  rejoined  the  baker,  is  corroded  by  worms.  The 
painter  affirmed,  that  one  of  his  making  would  endure  entire  for  many  years,  while 
an  innumerable  quantity  of  the  baker's  would  be  often  devoured  in  an  hour.  But 
you,  said  the  baker,  can  scarcely  paint  one  god  in  a  year,  while  I  can  produce  ten 
thousand  in  a  day. 

Stop,  said  a  priest,  and  contend  no  more  with  words  to  no  purpose  ;  neither  of 
your  gods  can  do  anything  without  me  ;  and  seeing  it  is  I  that  make  each  of 
them  a  god,  both  shall  be  subservient  to  me  :  for  the  picture  shall  beg  for  me,  and 
the  bread  be  eaten  by  me." 

|  Dicens,  nimis  execrabile  videri,  ut  manus,  quae  in  tantam  eminentiam  excre- 
verunt,  quod  nulli  angelorum  concessum  est,  ut  Deum  cuncta  creantem  suo  signa- 
culo  creent,  et  eundem  ipsum  pro  salute  totius  mundi,  Dei  Patris  obtutibus  offerant. 
Et  ab  omnibus  acclamatum  est  "  Fiat,  fiat."  (Hoveden,  ad  Ann.  1099,  P.  268. 
Labb.  12,  960.     Bruy  2,  635.) 


204  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  rv. 

Worship  of  the  wafer  God  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

conceived  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Redeemer  of  the  world  ;  while 
the  priest  daily  calls  into  existence  the  same  Deity."* 

If  the  fact  were  not  beyond  dispute,  the  assertion  would  be  in- 
credible that  this  impious  and  idolatrous  doctrine  of  the  dark  ages 
is  still  held  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  in  enlightened  America 
too  !f  Yet  such  is  the  fact,  and  whoever  wishes  to  see  a  Romish 
priest  create  his  wafer  God  by  pronouncing  a  few  mystic  Latin 
words,J  and  the  silly  multitude  worship  this  bit  of  bread,  as  the 
priest  holds  it  up  before  them,  has  only  to  visit  a  Roman  Catholic 
church  during  the  performance  of  mass.     (See  Frontispiece.) 

This  worship  of  the  wafer  God  is  a  stupid  and  grovelling 
idolatry,  of  which  even  an  ancient  worshipper  of  Jupiter  or  Venus, 
or  a  modern  votary  of  Juggernaut  or  Vishnu,  would  be  ashamed. 
While  most  of  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  Popery  can  be  traced  to 
their  heathen  origin,  this  alone  is  too  extravagant  to  find  a  parallel 

*  Qui  creavit  me,  si  fas  est  dicere,  dedit  mihi  creare  se.  Semel  concepit  Dei 
filium,  eundem  Dei  filium  advocant  quotidie  corporaliter.  (Bid,  Lect.  4.  See 
Edgar,  383.) 

f  As  a  proof  that  this  monstrous  doctrine  of  the  dark  ages  is  taught  in  all  its 
grossness  in  the  nineteenth  century,  the  following  few  questions  and  answers  are 
transcribed  from  Butler's  Catechism,  a  popular  Roman  Catholic  manual  in  almost 
universal  use  among  papists  wherever  the  English  language  is  used. 

On  the  Blessed  Eucharist. 

Q.  What  is  the  blessed  Eucharist  ?  A.  The  body  and  blood,  soul  and  divinity 
of  Jesus  Christ,  under  the  appearance  of  bread  and  wine  ? 

Q.  What  do  you  mean  by  the  appearances  of  bread  and  wine  ?  A.  The  taste, 
color,  and  form  of  bread  and  wine,  which  still  remain,  after  the  bread  and  wine 
are  changed  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ. 

Q.  Are  both  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  under  the  appearance  of  bread,  and 
under  the  appearance  of  wine  ?  A.  Yes ;  Christ  is  whole  and  entire,  true  God, 
and  true  Man,  under  the  appearance  of  each. 

Q.  Did  Christ  give  power  to  the  priests  of  his  church  to  change  bread  and 
wine  into  his  body  and  blood  ?  A.  Yes ;  when  he  said  to  his  apostles  at  his  last 
6iipper  :  Do  this  for  a  commemoration  for  me.     Luke  xxii.  19. 

Q.  Why  did  Christ  give  to  the  priests  of  his  church  so  great  a  power?  A. 
That  his  children,  throughout  all  ages  and  nations,  might  have  a  most  acceptable 
sacrifice  to  offer  to  their  Heavenly  Father — and  the  most  precious  food  to  nourish 
their  souls. 

Q.  What  is  the  sacrifice  of  the  New  Law  ?     A.  The  Mass. 

Q.  What  is  the  Mass?  A.  The  sacrifice  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ, 
which  are  really  present  under  the  appearances  of  bread  and  wine ;  and  are  of- 
fered to  God  by  the  priest  for  the  living  and  the  dead. 

Q,.  Is  the  Mass  a  different  sacrifice  from  that  of  the  Cross  ?  A.  No ;  because  the 
same  Christ,  who  once  offered  himself  a  bleeding  victim  to  his  Heavenly  Father 
on  the  cross,  continues  to  offer  himself  in  an  unbloody  manner,  by  the  hands  of 
his  priests,  on  our  altars. 

Q,.  At  what  part  of  the  Mass  are  the  bread  and  wine  changed  into  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ  ?     A.  At  the  consecration. 

Q,.  How  are  we  to  be  penetrated  with  a  lively  faith  ?  A.  By  firmly  believing 
that  the  blessed  Eucharist  is  Jesus  Christ  himself,  true  God  and  true  Man, 
his  very  flesh  and  blood,  with  his  soul  and  divinity. 

t  Hoc  est  corpus  meum  (this  is  my  body),  from  which  is  doubtless  derived 
the  cant  phrase,  Hocus  pocus,  used  by  pretended  conjurors. 


chap,  ii.]    POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  205 

Papists  worse  than  the  heathen  who  never  devoured  the  gods  they  worshipped 

even  in  the  temples  of  paganism  itself.  "  As  to  that  celebrated  act 
of  popish  idolatry,"  says  Dr.  Middleton,  "  the  adoration  of  the  host, 
I  must  confess  that  I  cannot  find  the  least  resemblance  of  it  in  any 
part  of  the  pagan  worship  :  and  as  oft  as  I  have  been  standing  at 
mass,  and  seen  the  whole  congregation  prostrate  on  the  ground,  in 
the  humblest  posture  of  adoring,  at  the  elevation  of  this  consecrated 
piece  of  bread  ;  I  could  not  help  reflecting  on  a  passage  of  Tully, 
where,  speaking  of  the  absurdity  of  the  heathens  in  the  choice  of 
their  gods,  he  says, '  Was  any  man  ever  so  mad  as  to  take  that 
which  he  feeds  upon  for  a  god  V  Ecquem  tarn  amentem  esse  putas, 
qui  illud,  quo  vescatur,  Deum  credat  esse  ?  (Cic.  de  not.  Deor.  3.) 
This  was  an  extravagance  left  for  Popery  alone  ;  and  what  an  old 
Roman  could  not  but  think  too  gross,  even  for  Egyptian  idolatry 
to  swallow,  is  now  become  the  principal  part  of  worship,  and  the 
distinguishing  article  of  faith  in  the  creed  of  modern  Rome.'"*  No 
wonder  that  the  old  Arabian  philosopher,  Averroes,  when  brought 
into  contact  with  this  worse  than  heathenish  superstition,  exclaimed, 
with  surprise  and  disgust,  "  I  have  travelled  over  the  world,  and 
seen  many  people,  but  none  so  selfish  and  ridiculous  as  Christians, 
who  devour  the  God  they  worship  /" 

After  reading  the  particulars  above  narrated,  and  especially  the 
horribly  blasphemous  language  of  pope  Urban  and  cardinal  Biel, 
let  the  reader  remember  that  the  besotted  votaries  of  Rome  not 
only  receive  this  doctrine  as  an  article  of  faith  themselves,  but  pro- 
nounce a  most  awful  curse  upon  all  the  world  beside,  who  refuse  to 
believe  it  !  The  following  are  the  very  words  of  the  canons  of 
the  celebrated  council  of  Trent,  passed  in  1551,  pronouncing  the 
awful  anathema,  and  thus  consigning  to  eternal  damnation  (if  they 
could)  the  whole  protestant  world,  and  all  else  who  refuse  to  be- 
lieve this  monstrous  doctrine.  The  following  are  extracts  from  the 
original  Latin  of  the  words  of  the  council,  with  a  faithful  English 
translation. 

"  Sancta   haec  synodus  declarat,  per  "  This  holy  council  declareth — That 

consecrationem  panis  et  vini  conversio-  by  the  consecration  of  the   bread   and 

nem  fieri  totius  substantia:,  panis  in  sub-  wine,  there  is  effected  a  conversion  of  the 

stantiam  corporis  Christi  Domini  nostri,  whole  substance  of  the  bread  into  the  sub- 

et  totius  substantia  vini,  in  subslantiam  stance  of  the  body  of  Christ  our  Lord, 

sanguinis    ejus :    qua?    conversio    con-  and  of  the  wine  into  the  substance  of  his 

venienter  et  proprie  a  sancta  catholica  blood;    which   conversion   is   fitly   and 

ecclesia  transubstantiatio  est  appellata."  properly  termed   by  the   holy  Catholic 

church,  Transubstantialion.,, 

The  council  then  proceed  to  enact  the  canons  and  curses,  of 
which  the  following  are  the  first,  second,  and  third. 

"  Canon  I.  Si  quis  negaverit  in  sane-  1.  "If  any  one  shall  deny  that  in  the 

tissimae  eucharistiae  sacramento  contine-  most  holy  sacrament  of  the  eucharist, 

ri  vere,  realiter,  et  substantialiter,  corpus  there  are  contained,  truly,  really,  and 

et  sanguinem  una  cum  anima  et  divini-  substantially,  the  body  and  blood,  together 

*  Dr.  Middleton's  letter  from  Rome,  p.  179. 


206  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vr. 

The  curses  of  Trent  upon  all  who  refuse  to  believe  the  dogma  of  Transubstantiation. 


tate   Domini    nostri   Jesu   Christi,   ac  with  the  soul  and  divinity  of  our  Lord 

proinde    totum   Christum  ;    sed    dixerit  Jesus  Christ ;  or  say  that  he  is  in  it  only 

tantummodo  esse  in  eo  ut  in  signo,  vel  as  in  a  sign,  or  figure,  or  by  his  infiu- 

6gura,  aut  virtute  ;   O^ANATHEMA  ence.  CT  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED ! 
SIT." 

"  Canon  II.    Si  quis  dixerit  in  sacro-  2.  "  If  any  one  shall  say  that  in  the 

sancto  eucharistia?  sacramento,  remanere  sacrament  of   the   eucharist,   the   sub- 

substantiam   panis  et  vini  una  cum  cor-  stance  of  the  bread  and  wine  remains 

pore   et   sanguine   Domini   nostri  Jesu  together  with  the  body  and  blood  of  our 

Christi,  negaveritque  mirabilem  illam  et  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  shall  deny  the 

singularem  conversionem  totius  substan-  wonderful  and  singular  conversion  of 

tut  panis  in  corpus,  et  totius  substantia  the  whoi?  substance  of  the  bread  into  his 

vini  in  sanguinem,  manentibus  dumtaxat  body,  and  the  whole  substance  of  the  wine 

speciebus  panis  et  vini :    quam  quidem  into  his  blood,  the  appearances  only  of 

conversionem  catholica  ecclesia  aptissi-  bread  and  wine  remaining,  which  con- 

me  Transubstantionem  appellat ;  ET AN-  version  the   catholic  church  most  pro- 

ATHEMA  SIT."  perly  terms  Transubstantiation,  ET  LET 

HIM  BE  ACCURSED! 

"  Canon  HI.    Si  quis    negaverit  in  3.  "  If  any  one  shall  deny,  that  in  the 

venerabile  sacramento  eucharistia?,  sub  adorable   sacrament    of  the   eucharist, 

unaquaque  specie,  et  sub  singulis  cujus-  whole  Christ  is  contained  in  each  element 

que  speciei  partibus,  separatione   facta,  or  species,  and  in  the  separate  parts 

totum     Christum    contineri ;     U°  AN-  of  each  element  or  species,  a  separation 

ATHEMA  SIT."*  being  made,  ET  LET   HIM    BE  AC- 
CURSED." 

§  24. — Let  it  be  remembered  that  these  awful  curses  were  pro- 
nounced by  the  last  general  council  of  the  Romish  church  ever 
assembled  ;  that,  of  course,  they  have  never  been  repealed  ;  but 
stand  down  to  the  year  1845  in  flaming  characters  upon  the  statute 
book  of  Rome,  an  enduring  monument  of  her  bigoted  intolerance 
and  hatred  of  all  who  refuse  to  yield  up  their  common  sense  and 
reason  at  the  bidding  of  a  corrupt  priesthood,  whose  evident  object 
it  is  to  exalt  themselves  not  only  above  the  common  herd  of  the 
laity,  but  in  their  own  language,  "  to  an  eminence  granted  to  none 
of  the  angels " — by  proclaiming  themselves  as  the  "  Creators  of 
the  Creator."  In  these  awful  anathemas,  of  course,  are  included 
our  Baxters,  our  Bunyans,  our  Flavels,  our  Paysons,  and  all  the 
holy  and  devoted  men  who  have  honored  the  protestant  ranks,  not 
only  in  the  past,  but  in  the  present  generation.  There  have  been 
periods,  as  we  have  already  seen,  when  the  anathemas  of  Rome 
were  something  more  than  an  idle  breath  of  air,  when  they  could 
kindle  the  fires  of  martyrdom,  and  fill  the  dungeons  of  the  inquisi- 
tion with  the  tortured  and  helpless  victims  of  popish  bigotry  and 
cruelty.  Blessed  be  God  !  those  periods,  we  trust,  are  past.  God 
forbid  that  they  should  ever  return  !  The  spirit  of  Popery  remains 
unchanged.  God  forbid  that  the  power  to  make  these  curses 
effectual  (at  least  by  the  aid  of  "  the  secular  arm ")  should  ever 
again  return  to  deluge  the  world  with  blood  ! 

*  Concil  Trident.,  sess.  xiii.,  cap.  4. 


207 


CHAPTER  III. 

PROOFS   OF    THE    DARKNESS    OF    THIS    PERIOD     CONTINUED. BAPTISM    OF 

BELLS,    AND    FESTIVAL    OF    THE    ASSES. 

§  25. — Another  of  the  profane  and  senseless  mummeries  of  Popery, 
which  sprung  up  in  this  dark  age,  and  which  has  been  han- 
ded down  to  the  present  time,  was  the  consecration  or  baptism 
of  Bells.  Cardinal  Baronius  says  this  custom  was  first  introduced 
by  pope  John  XIIL,  who  died  in  972  ;  who  gave  the  name  of  John 
the  Baptist,  to  the  great  bell  of  the  Lateran  church  at  Rome.*  The 
reason  why  the  name  of  some  saint  is  given  to  the  bell  at  its  bap- 
tism, says  Cardinal  Bona,  is  "  in  order  that  the  people  may  think 
themselves  called  to  divine  service,  by  the  voice  of  the  saint  whose 
name  the  bell  bears."f  The  following  was  inscribed  upon  the  con- 
secrated bells : 

"  Colo  verum  Deum ;  plebem  voco ;  et  congrego  Clerum : 
Divos  adoro  ;  festa  doceo  ;  defunctos  ploro ; 
Pestem  damones  fugo." 

that  is,  "  I  adore  the  true  God  ;  I  call  the  people  ;  I  collect  the 
priests ;  I  worship  the  saints  ;  I  teach  the  festivals  ;  I  deplore  the 
dead  ;  I  drive  away  pestilence  and  devils." 

This  senseless  custom  of  the  dark  ages,  of  consecrating  and  bap- 
tizing bells,  has  been  ever  since  observed  by  papists,  and  still  is, 
down  to  the  present  time.  In  a  letter  of  an  English  traveller, 
inserted  in  the  London  Magazine  for  1780,  there  is  an  interesting 
account  of  a  performance  of  this  ceremony  at  Naples,  in  Italy.  On 
that  occasion  a  nobleman  was  godfather  to  the  bell,  and  a  lady  of 
quality  was  godmother.  Most  of  the  prayers  said  on  the  occasion, 
ended  with  the  following  words, '  that  thou  wouldst  be  pleased  to 
rinse,  purify,  sanctify,  and  consecrate  these  bells  with  thy  heavenly 
benediction.'  '  Ut  hoc  tintinnabulum  coelesti  benedictione  perfundere, 
purificare,  sanctificare,  et  consecrare  dignareris.'  The  following 
were  the  words  of  consecration :  'Let  the  sign  be  consecrated  and 
sanctified,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost'  '  Consecretur  et  sanctificetur  signum  istud,  in  nomine 
Patris,  et  Filii,  et  Spiritus  Sancti.  Amen.'  The  bishop,  then  turn- 
ing to  the  people,  said,  the  bell's  name  is  Mary.  He  had  previously 
demanded  of  the  godfather  and  godmother  what  name  they  would 
have  put  upon  the  bell,  and  the  lady  gave  it  this  name. 

§  26. — A  more  recent  eye-witness  of  this  ceremony  in  the  city  of 
Montreal,  Canada,  describes  it  as  follows :  "  The  two  bells  were  sus- 
pended from  a  temporary  erection  of  wood  in  the  centre  of  the  church. 
In  the  vacant  space  round  them,  a  table  and  chairs  were  placed  for 

f  Bona.  Rer.  Liturg.,  Lib.  ii.,  cap.  22. 
*  Baronius'  Annals,  aim.  968. 


208  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 


Baptism  of  Bells.  Sponsors.  An  expensive  dress  for  the  bell. 

the  principal  performers.  The  candles  on  the  altar  at  the  upper  end 
of  the  church,  were  lighted  in  readiness  for  the  exhibition,  and  in  a 
short  time  a  door  on  the  left  of  the  altar  opened,  and  forth  came  the 
procession.  At  the  head  of  it  were  two  boys  dressed  in  white, 
carrying  two  immense  candles,  each  of  which,  with  the  candlestick, 
might  probably  measure  seven  or  eight  feet.  After  them  came  the 
priests,  some  in  gorgeous  silken  robes,  some  in  white,  others  in 
black,  and  some  flaring  with  bright  colors  and  gold  ;  other  boys 
also  in  white  followed,  one  of  whom  bore  a  silver  vase  with  water, 
and  another  a  small  vessel  of  oil.  Some  of  the  priests  in  black  took 
their  seats  near  the  altar,  the  rest  came  forward  to  the  bells ;  the 
large  candles  were  placed  upon  the  table,  and  beside  them  the  vase 
and  the  vessel  of  oil.  One  of  the  priests,  an  old  man  dressed  in 
white,  then  got  up  into  the  pulpit  at  the  side  of  the  church,  to 
address  the  people ;  after  which,  descending  from  the  pulpit,  he  put 
on  a  robe  of  various  bright  colors,  and  proceeded  to  the  ceremonial. 
After  chanting  a  hymn,  he  read  Latin  prayers  over  the  water  in  the 
basin,  and  thus,  I  suppose,  consecrated  it ;  another  of  the  priests 
then  carried  the  basin  to  the  bells,  and  the  first  dipped  a  pretty  large 
brush  in  the  water,  and  with  it  made  the  form  of  a  cross  upon  the 
bell,  pronouncing  the  form  of  words  used  on  such  occasions,  '  In 
nomine  Patris,  et  Filii,  et  Spiritus  Sancti ;'  a  third  priest  with 
another  brush  completed  his  work,  making  cross  after  cross,  and 
then  carefully  brushing  the  intermediate  places  till  the  bell  was 
wetted  all  over  ;  the  second  bell  was  crossed  and  recrossed  in  the 
same  manner,  and  immediately  large  clean  towels  were  produced, 
and  the  bells  were  carefully  wiped  dry.  Returning  to  the  table, 
singing  and  reading  of  prayers  succeeded,  and  the  oil  was  next 
blessed  and  made  holy  ;  the  principal  priest  then  dipped  his  finger 
in  the  oil,  and  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  on  one  place  on  each  bell, 
carefully  wiping  the  place  with  cotton  wool ;  he  then  repeated  it  on 
a  great  many  places  on  the  bells,  both  inside  and  outside,  carefully 
wiping  them  as  before  with  cotton.  During  the  singing  which  fol- 
lowed, one  of  the  boys  went  out  and  brought  in  a  silver  censer  with 
red  coals  in  it ;  a  small  box  of  incense  stood  on  the  table,  out  of 
which  the  priest  took  a  spoonful  and  threw  it  on  the  coals,  reading 
prayers  over  it  as  before ;  the  incense  smoked  up  and  perfumed  the 
air  ;  then,  after  waving  the  censer  with  great  solemnity  three  times, 
he  carried  it  first  to  the  one  bell  and  then  to  the  other,  holding  it 
under  them  till  they  were  filled  with  smoke."*     (See  Engraving.) 

§  27. — It  is  regarded  as  a  very  great  honor  to  stand  godfather  or 
godmother  to  one  of  these  baptized  bells,  and  rich  presents  are 
made  on  these  occasions.  On  another  occasion  of  the  kind,  which 
took  place  in  the  same  city  only  a  year  or  two  ago,  according  to 
the  public  journals  of  that  city,  the  velvet  and  gold  cloth  in  which 
the  holy  bell  was  dressed,  cost  no  less  a  sum  than  two  thousand  dol- 
lars.    This  is  understood  to  be  the  gift  of  those  who  are  honored 

*  M'Gavin's  Protectant,  vol.  i.,  page  520. 


.  omish  '  eremonj    .1  the  Baptism  ui  Beii- 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  211 

Consecration  of  a  bell  at  Dublin. Senseless  and  childish  inuinmerieX 

with  the  office  of  sponsors.     Within  a  few  weeks  this  absurd  and 
senseless   mummery   has   been   performed   in   Marlborough  street 
Romish  chapel,  Dublin.     An  eye-witness    describes  the  ceremony 
in  the   Dublin  Warder,  in  the  following  lively  style  :  "  On  our  en- 
trance," says  he,  "  we  beheld  the  bell  occupying  the  outer  railed-in 
place  opposite  the  altar,  and  elevated  on  a  raised  platform  covered 
with  some  red  stuff'.    Its  upper  periphery  was  garlanded  with  festoons 
of  fading  flowers,  while  a  boquet  in   an   earthenware  vase  was 
perched  in   the   wood-work  of  the  bell,  and  seemed  to  look  with 
vegetable   vanity  on  the  idol   of  copper  and  tin  beneath.     Some 
thirty  or  forty  priests  in  vestments  were  exceedingly  busy,  bustling 
here  and  there,  to  urge  on  the  pageant,  and  encircled  that  venerable 
prelate,  Doctor  Murray,  the  lord  archbishop  of  Dublin,  whom  they 
placed  on  a  supposed  throne,  raised  four  or  five  steps  from  the  floor. 
After  placing  a  gilded  mitre  on  his  head,  and  a  gold  embroidered 
robe  on  his  shoulders,  they  saluted  him  with  several  fantastic  genu- 
flexions, and  then  brought  him  a  silver  censer,  and  stooping  under 
the  raised  platform,  whereon  the  bell  reposed,  disappeared,  and,  I 
presume,  were  employed  for  some  minutes  in  worshipping  and 
fumigating  the  interior  of  the  bell  !  !     After  this,  four  or  five  priests 
preceded  by  young  boys,  robed  in  red  gowns,  bearing  lighted  can- 
dles, perambulated    around  the  bell,  and  then  one  of  the  priests, 
wielding  a  black-haired  brush,  dipped  it  in  water,  and  wet  the  bell 
profusely  ;  then  arose  a  lugubrious  chant  from  all  the  priests,  the 
organ  occasionally  drowning  all   accompaniment  in  its  sonorous 
diapason.  Doctor  Murray  was  now  conducted  from  his  throne,  and 
came  near  the  bell,  and  after  reciting  certain  prayers,  a  napkin  was 
handed   him,  wherewith  he  wiped  part  of  the  bell.     This  was  the 
signal  for  about  a  dozen  of  napkins,  which,  in  the  fists  of  as  many 
priests,  began  to  rub,  and  scrub,  and  curry,  and  wipe  the  bell  on  all 
parts  of  its  surface.     While  this  was  going  on,  the  organ  choir  were 
chanting  instrumental  and  vocal  exhortations  to   the   bell,  to  bear 
all  patiently.     And  when  the  brawny  arms  and  lusty  fists  of  those 
priests  had  well  dried  the  bell,  Doctor  Murray  was  again  conducted 
in  pontificalibus  near  the  bell,  and  a  small   phial  of  ointment  being 
handed  to  him,  he  dipped  his  thumb  into  it,  and  rubbed  it  to  various 
parts  of  the  periphery  of  the  bell,  crossing  it,  the  priests,  organ,  and 
choir,  meanwhile  chanting  out  triumphant  vociferations  at  what  they 
supposed  to  be  its  consecration." 

in  reading  the  above  accounts  of  the  performance  of  these 
profane  and  idolatrous  ceremonies  in  churches  called  Christian,  and 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  one  can  hardly  help  imagining  himself 
carried  back  some  seven  or  eight  centuries,  to  the  gloom  of  the  dark 
ages,  when  Popery  was  in  its  glory  ;  or  living  in  a  heathen  land, 
and  perusing  the  account  of  some  imposing  ceremony  in  the  idol 
temples  of  Bramha,  Gaudama,  or  Juggernaut. 

§  28. — We  cannot  better  close  these  remarks  on  the  baptism  of  the 
bells,  than  by  the  following  antique  and  curious  account  of  the  same 
14 


212 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 


Curious  and  antique  account  of  the  mummery  of  bell-baptism,  from  old  Philip  Stubbes— 1598. 


ceremony,  which  is  valuable,  not  only  for  the  information  it  affords, 
and  the  piquancy  of  its  style,  but  also  as  a  choice  historical  relic. 
It  is  taken  from  an  old  work,  written  in  1585,  by  Philip  Stubbes, 
entitled  "  The  Theatre  of  the  Pope's  Monarchic." 

"  The  order  and  manner  of  christening  of  belles,  with  ridicu- 
lous ceremonies  used  therein  by  the  papists. — When  they  are 
disposed  to  christen  any  bell,  first  of  all  there  is  warnying  thereof 
ffiuen  in  the  church  a  good  while  before  the  day  appointed,  which 
day  being  come  the  people  flock   thicke  and  three-fold  to  see  the 
commedie   played.      The  godfathers  and  godmothers  also,  being 
warned  before  the  church  wardens,  are  present  in  all  the  best  ap- 
parrel  that  they  haue.     Besides  whom  you  shall  haue  2  or  3  others 
present,  eury  one  striuing  and  contending  who  shall  bee  godfathers 
and  godmothers  to  the  bell,  supposing  it  a  wonderful  preferment,  a 
mirracilous  promotion,  and  singular  credit  so  to  be.    Thus  all  things 
made  readie,  the  bishop  in  all  his  masking  geare  commeth  forth  like 
a  coniuring  iugler,  and  hauing  made  holy  water  with  salt  and  other 
fibbersause  he  sprinkleth  all   things  with  the  same  as  a  thing  of  un- 
speakable force.     And  although  it  is  at  noone  days,  yet  must  he 
haue  his  tapers  burning  round  about  on  eury  side ;  and  then  kneel- 
in^  down  hee  very  solemnly  desireth  the  people  to  pray,  that  God 
would  vouchsafe  to  grannt  to  this  bell  a  blessed  and  happie  Chris- 
tendom, and  with  all  a  lustie  sound  to  driue  away  diuels  and  to  pre- 
uaile  against  all  kinde    of  peril  and   tempests  whatsoeuer.     This 
prayer  ended,  the  bishop  anoynteth  the  bell  in  eury  place  with  oyle, 
and'ehrisme,  mumblying  to  himselfe  certaine  coniurations  and  exor- 
cismes,  which  no  man   heareth  but  he  alone,  and  yet  do  all  men 
understande  it  as  well  as  hee.    Then  commandeth  hee  the  godfathers 
and  godmothers  to  giue  the  name  to  the  bell,  which  being  giuen,  he 
poureth  on  water  three  or  four  seueral  times,  anoynting  it  with  oyle, 
and  chrisme,  as  before,  for  what  cause  I  know  not,  except  it  bee 
either  to  make  his  bellie  soluble,  his  ioynts  nimble  or  his  colour  fare. 
This  done,  he  putteth  on  the  Bell  a  white  linnen  chrisome,  command- 
ing the  godfathers  and  godmothers  to  pull  it  up  from  the  grounde  by 
ropes  and  engines  made  for  that  purpose.     Thene  fall  they  downe 
before  this  new  christtened  bell,  all  prostrate  upon  their  knees,  and 
offer  uppe  to  this  idol,  gifts  of  gold,  siluer,  frankensence,  myrh  and 
mayne  other  things,  eury  one  striuing  who  shall  giue  most.     These 
sacrifices  and  offerings  to  the  Dieuell  ended,  the  Bell  is  hanged  uppe 
in  the  steeple  with  great  applause  of  the  people,  euery  one  reioycing 
that  the  bell  hath  receiued  such  a  happie  christendome.     For  ioy 
whereof  they  celebrate  a  feast  to  Bacchus,  spending  all  that  day 
and  peraduenturc  2  or  3  dayes   after  in  danncing  and  ryotting,  in 
feasting  and  banketting,  in  swilling  and  drinking,  like  filthie  epicures, 
tyll  they  being  as  drunken  as  swyne,  vomit  and  disgorge  their 
stinking  stomaches,  worse  than  any  dogges.     And  thus  endeth  this 
satyre  together  with  the  plaies,  enterludcs,  Pageants,  office,  and 
ceremonies  of  this  suffragan  Bishop. 


chap,  ni.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  213 

The  popish  Festival  of  the  Ass.  Ode  sung  by  the  priests  in  honor  of  the  ass. 

"  Now  whether  there  bee  anything  here,  either  prouable  by  the 
woorde  of  God,  or  by  the  example  of  the  primitiue  Apostolical 
churche,  or  any  particular  member  of  the  same  euer  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  world,  I  referre  it  to  the  judgment  of  the  wyse  and 
learned." 

§  29. — Another  proof  of  the  grovelling  and  worse  than  senseless 
superstition  of  this  dark  period  of  the  world,  was  a  festival  called 
the  Feast  of  the  Ass.  This  absurd  festival  was  celebrated  in  several 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  churches  of  this  age,  in  commemoration  of 
the  Virgin  Mary's  flight  into  Egypt,  which  was  supposed  to  have 
been  made  on  an  ass.  Among  other  places,  this  Feast  was  regu- 
larly celebrated  at  Beauvais,  on  every  14th  of  January.  Were  not 
the  fact  established  upon  the  most  indubitable  authority,  it  could  be 
scarcely  credited  that  such  disgusting  ceremonies  were  performed 
in  places  of  worship  called  Christian.  The  following  account  of 
this  festival  is  given  by  the  learned  Townley,  in  his  "  Illustrations 
of  Biblical  Literature,"  upon  the  unquestionable  authority  of  the 
writers  cited  at  the  foot  of  the  page.  A  beautiful  young  woman 
was  chosen,  richly  attired,  and  a  young  infant  placed  in  her  arms, 
to  represent  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the  infant  Jesus.  She  then 
mounted  an  ass  richly  caparisoned,  and  rode  in  procession,  followed 
by  the  bishop  and  clergy,  from  the  cathedral  to  the  church  of  St. 
Stephen,  where  she  was  placed  near  the  altar,  and  high  mass  com- 
menced. Instead,  however,  of  the  usual  responses  by  the  people, 
they  were  taught  to  imitate  the  braying  of  the  ass  ;  and  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  service  the  priest,  instead  of  the  usual  words  with 
which  he  dismissed  the  people,  brayed  three  times,  and  the  people 
brayed  or  imitated  the  sounds  hinham,  hinham,  hinham  !  During 
the  ceremony  the  following  ludicrous  composition,  half  Latin,  half 
French,  was  sung  by  the  priests  and  the  people,  with  great  vocife- 
ration, in  praise  of  the  ass : 

TRANSLATION. 

"  Orientis  partibus  "  From  the  country  of  the  East 

Adventavit  asinus  ;  Came  this  strong  and  handsome  beast ; 

Pulcher  et  fortissimus,  This  able  ass  beyond  compare, 

Sarcinis  aptissimus.  Heavy  loads  and  packs  to  bear. 

Hez,  Sire  Asnes,  car  chantez ;  Now,  Signior  Ass,  a  noble  bray  ; 

Belle  bouche  rechignez ;  That  beauteous  mouth  at  large  display, 

Vous  aurez  du  foin  assez  Abundant  food  our  hay-lofts  yield, 

Et  de  1'  avoine  a  plantez.  And  oats  abundant  load  the  field. 

Lentus  erat  pedibus,  True  it  is,  his  pace  is  slow, 

Nisi  foret  baculus  ;  Till  he  feels  the  quick'ning  blow  ; 

Et  eum  in  clunibus  Till  he  feels  the  urging  goad, 

Pungeret  aculeus.  On  his  buttock  well  bestow'd, 
Hez,  Sire  Asnes,  &c.  Now,  Signior  Ass,  &c. 

Hie  in  collibus  Sichem,  He  was  born  on  Shechem's  hill ; 

Jam  nutritus  sub  Ruben;  In  Reuben's  vales  he  fed  his  fill ; 

Transiit  per  Jordanem,  He  drank  of  Jordan's  sacred  stream, 

Saliit  in  Bethlehem.  And  gamboled  in  Bethlehem. 
Hez,  Sire  Asnes,  &c.  Now,  Signior  Ass,  &c. 


214 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  IV. 


A  braying  match  in  honor  of  the  ass,  by  his  representatives,  the  priests,  and  the  people. 


Ecce  magnis  auribus ! 
Subjugalis  filius ; 
Asinus  egregius, 
Asinorum  dominus ! 
Hez,  Sire  Asnes,  &c. 

Saltu  vincit  hinnulos, 
Damas  et  capreolos, 
Super  dromedarios 
Velox  Madianeos. 
Hez,  Sire  Asnes,  &c. 

Aurum  de  Arabia, 
Thus  et  myrrham  de  Saba, 
Tulit  in  ecclesia 
Virtus  asinaria. 

Hez,  Sire  Asnes,  &c. 

Dum  trahit  vehicula 
Multa  cum  sarcinula, 
Illius  mandibula 
Dura  terit  pabula. 
Hez,  Sire  Asnes,  &c. 

Cum  aristis  hordeum 
Comedit  et  carduum ; 
Triticum  a  palea 
Segregat  in  area 
Hez,  Sire  Asnes,  &c 

Amen,  dicas,  asine,* 
Jam  satur  de  gramine  : 
Amen,  amen,  itera ; 
Aspernare  Vetera. 


See  that  broad,  majestic  ear! 
Born  he  is  the  poke  to  wear ; 
All  his  fellows  he  surpasses  ! 
He's  the  very  lord  of  asses  ! 
Now,  Signior  Ass,  &c. 

In  leaping  he  excels  the  fawn, 
The  deer,  the  colts  upon  the  lawn ; 
Less  swift  the  dromedaries  ran, 
Boasted  of  in  Midian. 
Now,  Signior  Ass,  &c. 

Gold,  from  Araby  the  blest, 
Seba  myrrh,  Of  myrrh  the  best, 
To  the  church  this  ass  did  bring ; 
We  his  sturdy  labors  sing. 
Now,  Signior  Ass,  &c. 

While  he  draws  his  loaded  wain, 
Or  many  a  pack,  he  don't  complain ; 
With  his  jaws,  a  noble  pair, 
He  doth  craunch  his  homely  fare. 
Now,  Signior  Ass,  &c. 

The  bearded  barley  and  its  stem, 
And  thistles,  yield  his  fill  of  them  ; 
He  assists  to  separate, 
When  it's  thresh'd,  the  chaff  from  wheat. 
Now,  Signior  Ass,  &c. 

Amen  !  bray,  most  honor'd  ass, 
Sated  now  with  grain  and  grass ; 
Amen  repeat,  Amen  reply, 
And  disregard  antiquity."} 


Hez  va  !  hez  va  !  hez  va  hez  ! 
Bialx  Sire  Asnes  car  allez  ; 
Belle  bouche  car  chantez."J 

The  learned  Edgar  closes  the  account  which  he  gives  of  this 
ridiculous  mummery,  in  the  following  caustic  style  :  "  The  worship 
concluded  with  a  braying-match  between  the  clergy  and  laity,  in 
honor  of  the  ass.  The  officiating  priest  turned  to  the  people,  and  in 
a  tine  treble  voice,  and  with  great  devotion,  brayed  three  times  like 
an  ass,  whose  representative  he  was ;  while  the  people,  imitating  his 
example  in  thanking  God,  brayed  three  times  in  concert.  Shades 
of  Montanus,  Southcott,  and  Swedenborg,  hide  your  diminished 
heads!  Attempt  not  to  vie  with  the  extravagancy  of  Romanism. 
Your  wildest  ravings,  your  loudest  nonsense,  your  most  eccentric 
aberrations  have  been  outrivalled  by  an  infallible  church  !"§ 

The  final  chorus,  as  given  by  Du  Cange,  is  certainly  an  imitation 
of  asinine  braying ;  and  when  performed  by  the  whole  congrega- 
tion must  have  produced  a  most  inharmonious  symphony. 

*  Here  he  is  made  to  bend  his  knees.  J  Du  Cange,  Glossarium,  v.,  Festum. 

f  Literary  Panorama,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  585-588;  and  vol.  vii.,  pp.  716-718. 
j  Edgar's  Variations,  page  19. 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.   215 

Attempts  to  suppress  the  Feast  of  the  Ass.  Profligate  popes  and  clergy. 

There  is  another  translation  of  this  sacred  ode,  sung  by  these  dig- 
nified priests  to  the  ass,  which  exhibits  the  ludicrousness  of  the  cere- 
mony in  a  more  striking  light,  than  even  the  translation  above  given. 
At  the  risk  of  provoking  a  smile,  which  in  such  a  case  may  be 
allowable,  I  will  transcribe  the  first  four  stanzas. 

TRANSLATION. 

"  The  Ass  did  come  from  Eastern  climes  !  The  Ass  was  born  and  bred  withlongears> 

Heigh-ho  !  my  Assy  !  Heigh-ho  !  my  Assy  ! 

He's  fair  and  fit  for  the  pack  at  all  times  !  And  now  the  Lord  of  Asses  appears, 

Sing,  father  Ass,  and  you  shall  have  grass,  Grin,  father  Ass,  and  you  shall  get  grass, 

And  hay,  and  straw  too,  in  plenty  !  And  straw,  and  hay  too,  in  plenty. 

The  Ass  is  slow,  and  lazy  too ;  The  Ass  excels  the  hind  at  leap, 

Heigh-ho,  my  Assy  !  Heigh-ho  !  my  Assy  ! 

But  the  whip  and  spur  will  make  him  go,  And  faster  than  hound  or  hare  can  trot, 

Sing,  father  Ass,  and  you  shall  get  grass,  Bray,  father  Ass,  and  you  shall  get  grass, 

And  hay,  and  straw  too,  in  plenty.  And  straw,  and  hay  too,  in  plenty." 

Attempts  were  made,  at  various  times,  to  suppress  or  to  regulate 
these  sottish  superstitions,  by  Mauritius,  bishop  of  Paris,  Odo  of 
Sens,  Grosseteste  of  Lincoln  in  England,  and  others.  By  the  latter 
prelate,  on  account  of  its  licentiousness,  it  was  abolished  in  Lincoln 
cathedral,  where  it  had  been  annually  observed  on  the  Feast  of  the 
Circumcision.*  On  the  continent,  however,  it  continued  for  centuries 
to  be  celebrated,  and  was  officially  permitted  by  the  acts  of  the 
chapter  of  Sens,  in  France,  so  late  as  1517.  Still  later  permissions 
are  found,  as  we  learn  from  Tilliot  and  the  other  authorities  already 
cited,  till  at  length,  unable  to  stand  against  the  light  of  the  glorious 
reformation,  this  senseless  and  disgusting  popish  festival  ceased, 
toward  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century. f 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PROFLIGATE    POPES    AND    CLERGY    OF    THIS    PERIOD. 

§  30. — The  present  chapter  will  be  devoted  chiefly  to  a  sketch 
of  the  profligate  lives  of  several  of  the  popes  of  this  gloomy  period, 
related  not  merely  upon  the  testimony  of  protestant  writers,  but  by 
the  standard  authors  of  that  apostate  church,  of  which  each  of 
these  monsters  of  vice  was,  successively,  the  crowned  and  anointed 
head.     It  would  hardly  be  desirable  to  stir  the  black  pool  of  filth 

*  Tilliot,  Memoires  pour  servir  a  l'histoire  de  la  Fete  des  Foux,  p.  26-32.  Lau- 
sanne et  Geneve,  1751,  12mo. 

t  Illustrations  of  Biblical  Literature,  by  Rev.  James  Townley,  D.  D.,  vol.  i.,p.249. 


216  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  nr. 

Link*  in  the  holy  apostolic  succession.  Horrible  barbarities  of  pope  John  VIII. 

composed  of  the  lives  of  these  "  successors  of  the  apostles,"  were 
it  not  to  show  the  value  of  the  lofty  claims  now  so  boldly  put  forth 
by  the  votaries  of  Rome,  and  all  who  trace  their  succession  through 
the  same  polluted  channel,  to  be  exclusively  the  "  Holy  Apostolic 
Church  ;"  connected  by  an  unbroken  series  of  links  with  the  apos- 
tle Peter  himself;  by  the  uninterrupted  chain  of  "apostolic  succes- 
sion," from  pope  Peter  in  the  first  century,  through  the  Johns  and 
the  Benedicts  and  the  Alexanders,  down  to  the  popes  and  prelates 
of  the  nineteenth.  Let  us  proceed  then  to  sketch  the  character  of 
a  few  of  these  holy  links  in  this  chain  as  related  by  the  pen  of  im- 
partial history. 

§  31. — John  VIII. — This  pope  was  enriched  with  a  great  num- 
ber of  costly  presents  by  the  emperor  Charles  the  Bald,  in  return 
for  the  services  of  the  Pope  in  causing  him  to  be  elected  Emperor. 
Upon  the  death  of  Louis  II.,  a  fierce  and  bloody  contention  for  the 
empire  ensued  among  the  descendants  of  Charlemagne.  Through 
the  favor  of  the  Pope,  however,  Charles,  the  grandson  of  Charle- 
magne, was  successful.  Advancing  to  Rome,  at  the  invitation  of 
the  Pontiff,  he  was  crowned  by  him  with  great  solemnity  in  the 
church  of  St.  Peter  on  Christmas  day,  875,  the  same  day  on  which 
his  celebrated  ancestor  had  been  crowned  in  the  same  place, 
seventy-five  years  before,  by  pope  Leo  III.  It  is  worthy  of  re- 
mark that  the  artful  Pope  spoke  of  this  coronation  as  giving  to 
Charles  a  right  to  the  empire,  thus  insinuating  that  he  had  the 
power  of  conferring  the  empire,  and  from  this  time  forward  the 
popes  claimed  the  right  of  confirming  the  election  of  an  emperor.* 
In  a  sentence  pronounced  by  pope  John  upon  a  certain  bishop 
Formosus,  is  the  following  expression : — "  He  has  conspired  with 
his  accomplices  against  the  safety  of  the  republic,  and  our  beloved 
son  Charles,  whom  we  have  chosen  and  consecrated  Emperor.f 
This  Pope  was  a  monster  of  blood  and  cruelty.  He  commended 
the  unnatural  barbarity  of  Athanasius,  bishop  of  Naples,  who  put 
out  the  eyes  of  his  own  brother,  Sergius,  duke  of  the  same  city, 
and  sent  him  in  that  state  to  the  Pope,  to  answer  to  a  charge  of 
rebellion  against  the  Holy  See.  He  applied  to  Athanasius  the 
words  of  the  Saviour,  "  he  that  loveth  father  or  mother"  (the  Pope 
adds  "  brother  ")  "  more  than  me,  is  not  worthy  of  me,"  and  pro- 
mised to  send  him  as  a  recompense  for  so  meritorious  an  act,  a 
handsome  pecuniary  reward. J  It  soon  appeared,  however,  that 
the  bishop  had  more  regard  to  himself  than  to  the  Pope  in  this 
unnatural  act,  for  he  soon  seized  upon  the  brother's  vacant  dukedom, 
and  in  his  turn  was  excommunicated  by  the  Pope.  Subdued  by 
the  terror  of  the  spiritual  thunder,  the  refractory  bishop  and  duke 
sent  to  implore  absolution  of  the  Pope,  but  the  blood-thirsty  pontiff 
sent  him  a  reply,  that  the  only  terms  upon  which  he  would  grant 

*  Sigonius  de  reg.  Italiae,  lib.  vi. 
f  Epist.  Joann.,  319. 
t  Ibid.,  66. 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  217 


PopeSergius  III.  the  father  of  pope  John  XI.,  the  bastard  son  of  the  harlot  Marozia. 

him  absolution  were,  that  he  should  deliver  to  his  vengeance  several 
men,  of  whose  names  he  sent  him  a  list,  and  that  he  should  cut  the 
throats  of  the  rest,  'jugulatis  aliis,'  of  the  Pope's  Saracen  enemies 
in  the  presence  of  his  legates.*  Such  was  the  cruel  spirit  of  this 
professed  disciple  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and  link  in  the  unbroken 
chain  of  apostolical  succession  ! 

§  32. — Sergius  III. — About  the  commencement  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, the  singular  spectacle  was  presented  in  Rome  of  almost  the 
whole  power  and  influence  being  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  three 
notorious  and  abandoned  prostitutes,  Theodora  and  her  two  daugh- 
ters, Marozia  and  Theodora.  This  extraordinary  state  of  things 
arose  from  the  almost  unbounded  influence  of  the  Tuscan  party  in 
Rome,  and  the  adulterous  commerce  of  these  wicked  women  with  the 
powerful  heads  of  this  party.  Marozia  cohabited  with  Albert  or 
Adalbert,  one  of  the  powerful  counts  of  Tuscany,  and  had  a  son 
by  him  named  Alberic.  Pope  Sergius  III.,  who  was  raised  to  the 
papacy  in  904,  also  cohabited  with  this  woman,  and  by  his  Holiness 
she  had  another  son  named  John,  who  afterward  ascended  the 
papal  throne,  through  the  influence  of  his  licentious  mother.  Even 
Baronius,  the  popish  annalist,  confesses  that  pope  Sergius  was  "  the 
slave  of  every  vice,  and  the  most  wicked  of  men."f  Among  other 
horrid  acts,  Platina  relates  that  pope  Sergius  rescinded  the  acts  of 
pope  Formosus,  compelled  those  whom  he  had  ordained  to  be  reor- 
dained,  dragged  his  dead  body  from  the  sepulchre,  beheaded  him  as 
though  he  were  alive,  and  then  threw  him  into  the  Tiber  /J 

§  33. — John  X. — This  infamous  Pope  was  the  paramour  of  the 
harlot  Theodora.  While  a  deacon  of  the  church  at  Ravenna,  he 
used  frequently  to  visit  Rome,  and  possessing  a  comely  person,  as 
we  are  informed  by  Luitprand,  a  contemporary  historian,  being 
seen  by  Theodora  she  fell  passionately  in  love  with  him,  and  en- 
gaged him  in  a  criminal  intrigue.  He  was  afterwards  chosen 
bishop  of  Ravenna,  and  upon  the  death  of  pope  Lando,  in  914, 
this  shameless  woman,  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  her  adulterous 
intercourse  with  her  favorite  paramour,  "  as  she  could  not  live  at 
the  distance  of  two  hundred  miles  from  her  lover,"§  had  influence 
sufficient  to  cause  him  to  be  raised  to  the  papal  throne.  Mosheim 
says  the  paramour  of  pope  John  was  the  elder  harlot  Theodora, 
but  his  translator,  Dr.  Maclaine,  agrees  with  the  Romish  historian 
Fleury  (who  admits  these  disgraceful  facts),  in  the  more  probable 
opinion  that  it  was  the  younger  Theodora,  the  sister  of  Marozia.|| 

§  34. — John  XI. — This  Pope  was  the  bastard  son  of  his  Holiness 
pope  Sergius  III.,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  was  one  of  the  favored 
lovers  of  the  notorious  Marozia.  The  death  of  pope  Stephen  in 
931,  presented  to  the  ambition  of  Marozia,  says  Mosheim  (ii.,  392), 

*  Epist.  Joann.,  294. 

f  Baronius,  ad  Ann.  908. 

I  Platina's  Lives  of  the  Popes,  vita  Sergii  III. 

Luitprand,  Lib.  ii.,  cap.  12. 

Mosheim  ii.,  391,  and  Fleury's  Ecclesiastical  History,  bookliv. 


218  HISTORY -OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 

Horrible  licentiousness  of  pope  John  XII. 

"  an  object  worthy  of  its  grasp,  and  accordingly  she  raised  to  the 
papal  dignity  John  XI.,  who  was  the  fruit  of  her  lawless  amours 
with  cue  of  the  pretended  successors  of  St.  Peter,  whose  adulter- 
ous commerce  gave  an  infallible  guide  to  the  Roman  church." 

§  3">. — John  XII. — This  monster  of  wickedness  was  a  nephew 
of  .1  elm  the  bastard,  the  last  named  Pope,  and  through  the  influence 
of  the  dominant  Tuscan  party  in  Rome,  was  raised  to  the  popedom 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  years.  His  tyranny  and  debaucheries  were 
so  abominable,  that  upon  the  complaint  of  the  people  of  Rome,  the 
emperor  Otho  caused  him  to  be  solemnly  tried  and  deposed.  Upon 
the  Emperor's  ambassadors  coming  to  that  city  they  carried  back 
to  their  master  an  account  of  the  notorious  scandals  of  which  the 
Pope  was  guilty  ;  that  "  he  carried  on  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  city 
a  criminal  commerce  with  one  Rainera,  the  widow  of  one  of  his 
soldiers,  and  had  presented  her  with  crosses  and  chalices  of  gold 
belonging  to  the  church  of  St.  Peter  ;  that  another  of  his  concubines 
named  Stephania,  had  lately  died  in  giving  birth  to  one  of  the 
Pope's  bastards  ;  that  he  had  changed  the  Lateran  palace,  once  the 
abode  of  saints,  into  a  brothel,  and  there  cohabited  with  his  own 
fathers  concubine,  who  was  a  sister  of  Stephania,  and  that  he  had 
forced  married  women,  widows,  and  virgins  to  comply  with  his 
impure  desires,  who  had  come  from  other  countries  to  visit  the 
tombs  of  the  apostles  at  Rome."  Upon  the  arrival  of  Otho,  pope 
John  fled  from  the  city.  Several  bishops  and  others  testified  to  the 
Emperor  the  above  enormities,  besides  several  other  offences.  The 
Emperor  summoned  him  to  appear,  saying  in  the  letter  he  addressed 
to  him,  "  You  are  charged  with  such  obscenities  as  would  make  us 
blush  were  they  said  of  a  stage-player.  I  shall  mention  to  you  a 
few  of  the  crimes  that  are  laid  to  your  charge  ;  for  it  would  require 
a  whole  day  to  enumerate  them  all.  Know,  then,  that  you  are 
accused,  not  by  some  few,  but  by  all  the  clergy  as  well  as  the  laity, 
of  murder,  perjury,  sacrilege,  and  incest  with  your  own  two  sisters, 
&c,  &c.  We  therefore  earnestly  entreat  you  to  come  and  clear 
yourself  from  these  imputations,"  &c.  To  this  letter  his  Holiness 
returned  the  following  laconic  answer : — "  John,  servant  of  the 
servants  of  God,  to  all  bishops.  We  hear  that  you  want  to 
make  another  pope.  If  that  is  your  design,  I  excommunicate 
you  all  in  the  name  of  the  Almighty,  that  you  may  not  have  it 
in  your  power  to  ordain  any  other,  or  even  to  celebrate  mass ! !  /" 
Regardless  of  this  threat,  however,  the  Emperor  and  council  de- 
posed "  this  monster  without  one  single  virtue  to  atone  for  his  many 
vices,"  as  he  was  called  by  the  bishops  in  council,  and  proceeded 
to  elect  a  successor.  Still,  be  it  remembered,  this  "monster"  John 
XII.  is  reckoned  in  the  regular  line  of  the  popes.  The  next  of  the 
name  is  called  John  the  Thirteenth,  and  he  is  therefore  an  essential 
necessary  link  in  the  boasted  chain  of  holy  apostolical  succes- 
sion! No  sooner  had  the  emperor  Otho  left  Rome,  than  several 
of  the  licentious  women  of  the  city  with  whom  pope  John  had 
been  accustomed  to  spend  the  greater  portion  of  his  time,  in  con- 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  219 

Cruelties  of  pope  John  XII.  Cardinal  Baronius' s  admission  of  these  enormities. 

cert  with  several  persons  of  rank,  conspired  to  murder  the  new 
Pope,  and  to  restore  John  to  his  See.  The  former  was  fortunate 
enough  to  make  his  escape  to  the  Emperor  then  at  Camerino,  and 
the  latter  was  brought  back  in  triumph  to  the  Lateran  palace. 
Upon  his  return,  pope  John  seized  upon  several  of  the  clergy  who 
were  opposed  to  him,  and  inflicted  on  them  the  most  horrible  tor- 
tures. Otger,  bishop  of  Spire,  was  whipped  by  his  command  till 
he  was  almost  dead;  another,  cardinal  John,  was  mutilated  by 
having  his  right  hand  cut  off,  and  Azo  by  the  loss  of  his  tongue, 
nose,  and  two  fingers.  But  these  horrible  enormities  were  not 
permitted  to  continue  long.  Shortly  after  his  return  to  the  city, 
the  Pope  was  caught  in  bed  with  a  married  woman,  and  killed  on 
the  spot,  as  some  authors  say,  by  the  Devil,  but  probably  by  the 
husband  in  disguise.* 

§  36. — But  decency  demands  that  we  should  draw  a  veil  over 
the  further  debaucheries  and  incests  of  these  boasted  successors  of 
the  prince  of  the  apostles,  and  their  shameless  female  associates  in 
guilt  and  pollution.  Historical  fidelity  demanded  so  much  of  the 
truth  to  be  made  known,  and  certainly  the  reader  will  conclude 
here  is  enough  for  a  specimen.  So  conclusive  is  the  evidence  of 
the  historical  accuracy  of  these  disgraceful  facts,  that  popish 
writers  are  constrained  to  admit  their  truth.  We  have  already 
referred  to  the  celebrated  Fleury,  but  shall  cite  the  following  re- 
markable language  of  Cardinal  Baronius,  one  of  the  most  powerful 
champions  of  popery,  in  reference  to  these  events. 

"Quae  tunc  facies  sanctae  Ecclesiae  "O!  what  was  then  the  face  of  the 
Romanae  !  quam  faedissima  cum  Romae  holy  Roman  church !  how  filthy,  when 
dominarentur  potentissimae  aeque  et  sor-  the  vilest  and  most  powerful  prostitutes 
didissimcc  meretrices  !  quarum  arbitrio  ruled  in  the  court  of  Rome !  by  whose 
mutarentur  sedes,  darentur  Episcopi,  et  arbitrary  sway  dioceses  were  made  and 
quod  auditu  horrendum  et  infandum  est,  unmade,  bishops  were  consecrated,  and 
intruderentur  in  Sedem  Petri  earum  — which  is  inexpressibly  horrible  to  be 
amassii  fseudo-pontifices,  qui  non  sint  mentioned  ! — false  popes,  their  fara- 
nisi  ad  consignanda  tantum  tempora  in  mours,  were  thrust  into  the  chair  of 
catalogo  Romanorum  Pontificum  scripti.  St.  Peter,  who,  in  being  numbered  as 
Quis  enim  a  scortis  hujusmodi  intru-  popes,  serve  no  purpose  except  to  fill  up 
sos  sine  lege  legitimos  dicere  possit  Ro-  the  catalogues  of  the  popes  of  Rome, 
manos  fuisse  Pontifices  ?  Sic  vindica-  For  who  can  say  that  persons  thrust  into 
verat  omnia  sibi  libido,  saeculari  poten-  the  popedom  without  any  law  by  harlots 
tia  freta,  insaniens,  aestro  percita  domi-  of  this  sort,  were  legitimate  popes  of 
nandi."  Rome  ?    In  this  manner,  lust,  support- 

ed by  secular  power,  excited  to  frenzy, 
in  the  rage  for  domination,  ruled  in  all 
things." 

In  another  passage,  Cardinal  Baronius,  the  celebrated  annalist  of 
the  Romish  church,  expresses  his  feelings  in  reference  to  the  horri- 

*  Bower,  vita  John  XII.  The  above  particulars  in  the  life  of  this  vicious  Pope 
are  related  by  Bower,  upon  the  incontestible  authority  of  Luitprand,  bishop  of 
Cremona,  an  authentic  contemporary  historian.  His  work  is  frequently  referred 
to  by  the  cautious  and  learned  Gieseler.  Hist,  rerum  in  Europa  sun  temp,  gesta- 
rum,  Lib.  vi.  in  Muratori  Rer.  Ital.  Script. 


220 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [bookiv. 


The  holy  See,  according  to  Baronius,  "  without  spot,"  yet  "  blackened  with  perpetual  infamy." 


bly  flagitious  lives  of  these  popes,  and  the  See  which  they  dishon- 
ored, in  the  following  remarkable  language  : 

"  Est  plane,  ut  vix  aliquis  credat,  im-  "  It  is  evident  that  one  can  scarcely 

mo  nee  vix  quidem  sit  crediturus,  nisi  believe,  without  ocular  evidence,  what 

euis    inspiciat  ipse  oculis,  manibusque  unworthy,  base,  execrable,  and  abominable 

contrectaX,quamindigna,quamqneturpia  things  the  holy,  apostolical  See,  which  is 

alqu",    deformia    execranda,  insuper,  et  the  pivot  upon  which  the  whole  Ca- 

abominanda  sit  coacta  pad  sacrosancla  tholic  church  revolves,  was  forced  to 

apostolica   sedes  in  ctjjus  cardine  uni-  endure,  when  the  princes  of  this  age, 

versa  ecclesia  Catholica  vertitur,  although    Christian,   yet  arrogated    to 

cum  Principes  saeculae  hujus  quantumli-  themselves  the  election  of  the  Roman 

bet  Christiani,  hac  tamen  ex  parte  di-  pontiffs.     Alas,  the  shame !    Alas,  the 

cendi  tyranni  saevissimi  arrogaverunt  sibi  grief!  what  monsters  horrible  to  be- 

tyrarmice  electionem  Romanorum  pon-  hold,  were  then,  by  them,  intruded  on 

tificum.     Quot  tunc  ab  eis,  proh  pudor  !  the  holy  See,  which  angels  revere !  what 

proh  dolor!  in  eandem  Sedem  Angelis  evils  ensued!  what  tragedies  did  they 

reverendam  visu  horrenda  intrusa  sunt  perpetrate  !    with  what  pollutions  was 

monstra  ?  quot  ex  eis  oborta  sunt  mala,  this  See,  though  itself  without  spot  or 

consummate    tragcedia?  ?     quibus   tunc  wrinkle,  then   stained!  with  what  cor- 

ipsam  sine  macula  el  sine  ruga  contigit  ruptions  infected !  with  what  filthiness 

aspergi  sordibus,  putoribus  infici,  inqui-  denied  !  and  by  these  things  blackened 

nati  spurcitiis,  ex  bisque  perpetua  in-  with  perpetual  infamy."* 

FAMIA  DENIGRARI  !" 

How  the  above  assertions  can  be  reconciled,  that  "  the  holy  See 
itself"  can  be  "without  spot  or  wrinkle,"  and  yet  "blackened 
with  perpetual  infamy,"  must  be  left  for  popish  casuists  to  explain. 

"  Who  can  say,"  asks  Baronius,  "  that  persons  thrust  into  the 
popedom,  by  harlots  of  this  sort,  were  legitimate  popes  of  Rome  ?" 
Certainly,  we  answer,  they  have  evidently  no  more  claim  to  the 
character  of  bishops  or  ministers  of  Christ,  than  their  scarcely  more 
wicked  master,  Beelzebub  himself.  But  then,  what  becomes  of  the 
boasted  uninterrupted  apostolical  succession  1  What,  indeed  ! 
After  reading  the  above  brief  recitals  of  but  a  few  instances  of 
papal  profligacy,  presented  in  this  age,  the  reader  will  be  prepared 
to  acknowledge  the  justice  of  the  remark  of  Mosheim,  in  reference 
to  the  tenth  century :  "  The  history  of  the  Roman  pontiffs  that  lived 
in  this  century,"  says  he,  "  is  a  history  of  so  many  monsters,  and 
not  of  men,'  and  EXHIBITS  A  horrible  series  of  the  most  flagi- 
tious, tremendous,  and  complicated  crimes,  as  all  writers,  even 
those  of  the  Romish  communion,  unanimously  confess."  (Vol.  ii.,  390.) 

§  37. — It  would  be  amusing,  were  it  not  painful  to  witness  the 
lame  attempts  of  Roman  Catholic  writers  to  reconcile  the  horrible 
profligacy  of  many  of  their  popes,  with  their  views  in  relation  to 
apostolical  succession,  and  papal  infallibility.  Father  Gahan,  in  his 
history  of  the  church,  already  referred  to.  which  is  probably  the 
most  accessible  and  popular  work  of  its  kind,  among  the  multitude 
of  Romanists,  after  faintly  admitting  (page  279),  that  "  some  unwor- 
thy popes  "  who  had  been  "  thrust  into  the  apostolic  chair,"  by  the 

*  Baronius  Annal.,  ad  Ann.  900,  &c.  The  former  of  the  above  passages  from 
the  Annalist,  is  cited  by  Southey,  in  his  Yindicia;  Anglicanae,  page  389.  Lon- 
don, 1826. 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  221 

Do  what  they  say,  and  not  what  they  do.  Another  monster,  pope  Benedict  IX. 

intrigues  of  "  three  women  of  scandalous  lives,"  had  "  disgraced 
their  high  station,  by  the  immorality  of  their  lives,"  proceeds  to 
remark  as  follows  :  "  Christ  promised  infallibility,"  says  he,  "  to  the 
great  body  of  her  pastors,  in  their  public  doctrine,  but  he  has  no- 
where promised  them  impeccability  in  their  conduct.  '  Go,'  said 
he  to  them, '  teach  all  nations  :  Baptize  and  teach  them  to  observe 
all  that  I  have  ordained,  and  I  will  be  with  you,'  &c.  In  virtue  of 
this  promise,  he  is  always  with  the  pastors  of  his  church,  to  guaran- 
tee them  from  all  error  in  the  doctrine  of  faith,  but  not  to  exempt  them 
from  all  vice ;  for  he  did  not  say,  as  the  great  Bossuet  observes,  *  / 
will  be  with  you  practising  all  that  I  have  commanded,  but  /  will 
be  with  ye  teaching.'  Hence,  to  show  that  the  mark  of  the  true 
faith  was  attached  to  the  profession  of  the  public  doctrine,  and  not 
to  the  innocence  of  their  morals,  he  said  to  the  faithful  who  are 
taught, '  do  all  that  they  say,  and  not  what  they  do."(!  !)#  I 
suppose  that  most  of  my  readers  have  heard  the  old  anecdote  of  the 
drinking  and  fox-hunting  English  parson,  who  used  to  admonish 
his  congregation  that  they  must  do  as  he  said,  and  not  as  he  did ;  but 
probably  few  of  them  ever  imagined,  before  reading  the  above  pre- 
cious specimen  of  papal  reasoning  that  the  parson  was  indebted  for 
his  maxim  to  the  Saviour  himself. 

§  38. — Among  the  popes  of  the  eleventh  century,  while  there  were 
some  whose  lives  were  decent,  there  were  others,  worthy  rivals  in 
profligacy  to  their  predecessors  of  the  tenth.  I  shall  add,  however, 
but  one  to  this  disgraceful  list,  Benedict  IX.,  on  account  of  his  pre- 
eminence in  vice.  He  was  a  son  of  Alberic,  count  of  Tuscany,  and 
was  placed  on  the  papal  throne,  through  the  money  and  the  influ- 
ence of  his  father,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  A.  D.  1033.  His 
vicious  life  can  only  find  a  parallel  in  that  of  the  most  debauched 
of  the  Roman  emperors,  Heliogabalus,  Commodus,  or  Caligula. 
The  Romans,  shocked  at  his  daily  public  debaucheries,  more  than 
once  expelled  him  from  the  city,  but  by  means  of  the  emperors,  or 
some  other  powerful  friends,  he  was  as  often  restored.  Finding 
himself  at  length  an  object  of  public  abhorrence,  on  account  of  his 
flagitious  crimes,  he  finally  sold  the  popedom  to  his  successor, 
Gregory  VI.,  and  betook  himself  to  a  private  life,  rioting  without 
control  in  all  manner  of  uncleanliness.  One  of  his  successors  in  the 
papal  chair,  Desiderius,  or  Victor  III.,  describes  pope  Benedict  as 
"  abandoned  to  all  manner  of  vice.  A  successor  of  Simon  the  sor- 
cerer, and  not  of  Simon  the  apostle."!  No  doubt  this  opinion  is 
correct,  but  again  we  ask,  what  becomes  of  the  uninterrupted  apos- 
tolical succession  ? 

§  39. — It  might,  of  course,  be  expected  that  the  examples  thus 
set  by  the  occupants  of  the  vaunted  Holy  See,  the  boasted  suc- 
cessors of  St.  Peter,  would  be  imitated  by  the  inferior  orders  of 
clergy,  who  were  taught  to  regard  the  popes  as  their  spiritual 

*  Gahan's  History  of  the  Church,  page  280. 
f  Desid.  Dialog.,  Lib.  iii. 


222  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 

Licentiousness  of  the  inferior  clergy.  Concubines  of  the  priests  confessing  to  their  paramours. 

sovereign  and  head,  as  the  vicegerents  of  God  upon  earth.  Ac- 
cordingly, we  find  that  a  universal  corruption  of  morals  had  in- 
vaded "the  monks  and  the  clergy.  "  The  houses  of  the  priests  and 
monks,"  says  the  abbot  Alredus,  "were  brothels  for  harlots,  and 
filled  with  assemblies  of  buffoons;  wherein,  gambling,  dancing,  and 
music,  amid  every  nameless  crime,  the  donations  of  royalty,  and 
the  benevolence  of  princes,  the  price  of  precious  blood,  were  most 
prodigally  squandered."* 

"  Atto's  language  on  this  topic,"  says  Edgar.  "  is  equally  striking. 
He  represents  some  of  the  clergy  as  sold  in  such  a  degree  to  their 
lusts,  that  they  kept  filthy  harlots  in  their  houses.  These,  in  a  pub- 
lic manner,  lived,  bedded,  and  boarded  with  their  consecrated  para- 
mours. Fascinated  with  their  wanton  allurements,  the  abandoned 
clergy  conferred  on  the  partners  of  their  guilt,  the  superintendence 
of  their  family  and  all  their  domestic  concerns.  These  courtezans, 
during  the  lives  of  their  companions  in  iniquity,  managed  their 
households  :  and,  at  their  death,  inherited  their  property.  The 
ecclesiastical  alms  and  revenues,  in  this  manner,  descended  to  the 
accomplices  of  vile  prostitution.!  The  hirelings  of  pollution  were 
adorned,  the  church  wasted,  and  the  poor  oppressed  by  men  who 
professed  to  be  the  patrons  of  purity,  the  guardians  of  truth,  and 
the  protectors  of  the  wretched  and  the  needy. 

§  40. — "  Damian  represents  the  guilty  mistress  as  confessing  to  the 
guilty  priest.J  This  presented  another  absurdity  and  an  aggravation 
of  the  crime.  The  formality  of  confessing  what  the  father  confessor 
knew,  and  receiving  forgiveness  from  a  partner  in  sin,  was  an  insult 
on  common  sense,  and  presented  one  of  the  many  ridiculous  scenes 
which  have  been  exhibited  on  the  theatre  of  the  world.  Confession 
and  absolution  in  this  way  were,  after  all,  very  convenient.  The 
fair  penitent  had  not  far  to  go  for  pardon,  nor  for  an  opportunity 
of  repeating  the  fault,  which  might  qualify  her  for  another  course 
of  confession  and  remission.  Her  spiritual  father  could  spare  her 
blushes  ;  and  his  memory  could  supply  any  deficiency  of  recollec- 
tion in  the  enumeration  of  her  sins.  This  mode  of  remission  was 
attended  with  another  advantage,  which  was  a  great  improvement 
on  the  old  plan.  The  confessor,  in  the  penance  which  he  pre- 
scribed on  these  occasions,  exemplified  the  virtues  of  compassion 
and  charity.  Christian  commiseration  and  sympathy  took  place 
of  rigor  and  strictness.  The  holy  father  indeed  could  not  be  severe 
on  so  dear  a  friend  ;  and  the  lady  could  not  refuse  to  be  kind  again 
to  such  an  indulgent  father.     Damian,  however,  in  his  want  of 

*  "  Fuisse  clericorum  domos  prostibula  meretricum  conciliabulum  histrionum, 
ubi  aleac,  saltus,  cantus,  patrimonia  regum,  eleemosynae  principum  proiligarentur, 
imo  pretiosi  sanguinis  pretium,  et  alia  infanda."  (Alredus,  cap.  ii.) 

f  Quod  dicerc  pudet.  Quidem  in  tanta  libidine  mancipantur,  ut  obsccenas 
meretriculas  sua  simul  in  domo  secum  habitare,  uno  cibum  sumere,  ac  publice 
degere  permittant.  Unde  meretrices  ornantur,  ecclesia>  vestantur,  pauperes  tri- 
bulantur.     (Attn,  Ep.  9.     Dachery,  i.  439.) 

|  Les  coupables  se  confessent  a  leurs  complices,  qui  ne  leur  imposent  point  de 
penitences  convenables.     (Damian  in  Bruy.  2,  356.     Giannon,  X.  §  2.) 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  223 

Concubinage  openly  practised.  Regarded  as  a  less  crime  in  a  priest  than  marriage. 

charity  and  liberality,  saw  the  transaction  in  a  different  light ;  and 
complained  in  bitterness  of  this  laxity  of  discipline,  and  the  insult 
on  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  and  on  rational  piety.  This  adultery 
and  fornication  of  the  clergy  degenerated,  in  many  instances,  into 
incest  and  other  abominations'  of  the  grossest  kind.  Some  priests, 
according  to  the  council  of  Mentz  in  888, '  had  sons  by  their  own 
sisters.'*  Some  of  the  earlier  councils,  through  fear  of  scandal,  de- 
prived the  clergy  of  all  female  company,  except  a  mother,  a  sister, 
or  an  aunt,  who,  it  was  reckoned,  was  beyond  all  suspicion.  But 
the  means  intended  for  prevention  were  the  occasion  of  more  ac- 
cumulated scandal  and  more  heinous  criminality.  The  interdiction 
was  the  introduction  to  incestuous  and  unnatural  prostitution." 
{Edgar,  516,  17.) 

§  41. — In  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  concubinage  was 
openly  practised  by  the  clergy,  and  it  was  regarded  by  popes  and 
prelates  as  a  far  less  crime  to  keep  a  concubine  than  to  marry  a  wife. 
"  Any  person,  clergyman  or  layman,  according  to  the  council  of 
Toledo  in  its  seventeenth  canon,  who  has  not  a  wife  but  a  concu- 
bine, is  not  to  be  repelled  from  the  communion,  if  he  be  content 
with  one.f  And  his  holiness  pope  Leo,  the  vicar-general  of  God, 
confirmed,  in  the  kindest  manner  and  with  the  utmost  courtesy,  the 
council  of  Toledo  and  the  act  of  the  Spanish  prelacy.  J  Such  was 
the  hopeful  decision  of  a  Spanish  council  and  a  Roman  pontiff: 
but,  ridiculous  as  it  is,  this  is  not  all.  The  enactment  of  the  coun- 
cil and  the  Pope  has  been  inserted  in  the  Romish  body  of  the  Canon 
Law  edited  by  Gratian  and  Pithou.  Gratian's  compilation  indeed 
was  a  private  production,  unauthenticated  by  any  pope.  But 
Pithou  published  by  the  command  of  Gregory  XIII.,  and  his  work 
contains  the  acknowledged  Canon  Law  of  the  Romish  church. 
His  edition  is  accredited  by  pontifical  authority,  and  recognized 
through  popish  Christendom.  Fornication  therefore  is  sanctioned 
by  a  Spanish  council,  a  Roman  pontiff,  and  the  canon  law.  Forni- 
cation, in  this  manner,  was,  in  the  clergy,  not  only  tolerated  but 
also  preferred  to  matrimony.  Many  of  the  popish  casuists  raised 
whoredom  above  wedlock  in  the  clergy.  Costerus  admits  that  a 
clergyman  sins,  if  he  commit  fornication ;  but  more  heinously  if  he 
marry.  Concubinage,  the  Jesuit  grants,  is  sinful ;  but  less  aggra- 
vated, he  maintains,  than  marriage.  Costerus  was  followed  by 
Pighius  and  Hosius.  Campeggio  proceeded  to  still  greater  ex- 
travagancy. He  represented  a  priest  who  became  a  husband,  as 
committing  a  more  grievous  transgression  than  if  he  should  keep 
many   domestic    harlots.§      An   ecclesiastic,   rather    than   marry, 

*  Quidam  sacerdotum  cum  propriis  sororibus  concumbentes,  filios  ex  eis  gene- 

rassent.     {Bin.  7,  137.     Labb.  11,  586.) 

f  Christiano  habere  licitum  est  unam  tantum  aut  uxorem,  ant  certe  loco  uxoris 

concubinam.     (Pithou,  47.     Giannon,v.5.    Dachery,  1,  528.     Canisius,  2,  111.) 
X  Confirmatum  videtur  auctoritate  Leonis  Papae.     (Bin.  1,  737.) 
5  Gravius  peccat,  si  contrahat  matrimonium.    (Cost.,  c.  15.) 
Quod  sacerdotes  fiant  mariti.  multo  esse  gravius  peccatum  quam  se  plurimas 


224  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 


Amidst  nil  this  profligacy,  the  power  and  influence  of  the  popes  increased. Causes  of  thii. 

should,  according  to  this  precious  divine,  keep  a  seraglio.  The 
clergyman,  he  affirms,  who  perpetrates  whoredom,  acts  from  a  per- 
suasion of  its  rectitude  or  legality  ;  while  the  other  knows  and 
acknowledges  his  criminality.  The  priesthood,  therefore,  in  Cam- 
pe^gio's  statement,  are  convinced  of  the  propriety  of  fornication."* 

1 42. The  most  astonishing  circumstance  of  all  is,  that  amidst  all 

this  abandoned  profligacy  of  popes  and  priests,  their  power,  and 
wealth,  and  influence,  should  have  gone  on  steadily  increasing  till  it 
reached  its  culminating  point  during  the  pontificate  of  the  im- 
perious Hildebrand,  who  ascended  the  papal  throne  under  the  title 
of  Gregory  VII.,  A.  D.  1073. 

This  strange  fact  is  accounted  for  in  the  general  ignorance  of 
the  bible,  the  supposed  authority  of  the  forged  decretals,  and 
the  awful  terror  of  excommunication  and  interdict.  During  these 
dark  a^es,  the  Scriptures  were  almost  entirely  unknown,  not  only 
among  the  laity,  but  even  among  the  great  majority  of  the  clergy. 
Those  of  the  priests  who  had  some  acquaintance  with  the  sacred 
books  labored  hard  to  conceal  from  the  eyes  of  the  people  a  volume 
which  so  plainly  condemned  their  vicious  lives  and  their  anti-scrip- 
tural doctrines  and  ceremonies.  This,  it  is  well  known,  has  ever 
been  the  policy  of  popish  priests,  and  down  to  the  present  day  in 
countries  where  Popery  generally  prevails,  multitudes  of  otherwise 
well  educated   people   are  ignorant   even  of  the  existence  of  the 

bible.t 

§  43. — During  these  dark  ages,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  the  forged 
decretals,  and  the  spurious  donation  of  the  emperor  Constantine, 
were  universally  received  as  genuine,  and  constantly  appealed  to  in 
proof  of  the  assumptions  of  the  popes.  On  this  point,  in  addition 
to  what  has  already  been  said  in  a  former  chapter  (see  above,  page 
182,  &c),  I  shall  quote  a  paragraph  from  the  celebrated  work  of 
the  learned  John  Daille  on  "  the  right  use  of  the  fathers."  Speak- 
ing of  various  early  forgeries,  says  he,  "  I  shall  place  in  this  rank 
the  so  much  vaunted  deed  of  the  donation  of  Constantine,  which 

doni  meretrices  alunt.  Nam  illos  habere  persuasum  quasi  recte  faciant,  hos  autem 
scire  et  peccatum  agnoscere.     (Campeggio,  in  Sleidan,  96.) 

*  See  Edgar,  520. 

f  A  remarkable  and  unexceptionable  proof  of  this  assertion  is  found  in  the 
recent  work  of  George  Borrow,  entitled  "  the  Bible  in  Spain."  On  one  occasion, 
he  says,  "  I  asked  a  boy  whether  he  or  his  parents  were  acquainted  with  the 
Scripture  and  ever  read  it ;  he  did  not,  however,  seem  to  understand  me.  I  must 
here  observe  that  the  boy  was  fifteen  years  of  age,  that  he  was  in  many  respects 
very  intelligent,  and  had  some  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language  ;  nevertheless, 
he  knew  not  the  Scripture,  even  by  name,  and  I  have  no  doubt,  from  what  I  sub- 
sequently observed,  that  at  least  two-thirds  of  his  countrymen  are  on  that  im- 
portant point  no  wiser  than  himself.  At  the  doors  of  village  inns,  at  Mie  hearths 
of  the  rustics,  in  the  fields  where  they  labor,  at  the  stone  fountain  by  the  way-side, 
where  they  water  their  cattle,  I  have  questioned  the  lower  classes  of  the  children 
of  Portugal  about  the  Scripture,  the  Bible,  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  in  no 
one  instance  have  they  known  what  I  was  alluding  to,  or  could  return  me  a 
rational  answer,  though  on  all  other  matters  their  replies  were  sensible  enough." 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  225 

Forged  decretals.  Daille  on  the  fathers.  Mysterious  terrors  of  excommunication  and  interdict. 

has  for  so  long  a  time  been  accounted  as  a  most  valid  and  authentic 
evidence,  and  has  also  been  inserted  in  the  decrees,  and  so  pertina- 
ciously maintained  by  the  bishop  of  Agobio,  against  the  objections 
of  Laurentius  Valla.  Certainly  those  very  men,  who  at  this  day 
maintain  the  donation,  do  notwithstanding  disclaim  this  evidence  as 
a  piece  of  forgery."* 

In  reference  to  the  decretal  epistles,  Daille  remarks,  "  Of  the 
same  nature  are  the  epistles  attributed  to  the  first  popes,  as  Clemens, 
Anacletus,  Euaristus,  Alexander,  Sixtus,  Telesphorus,  Hyginus, 
Pius,  Anicctus,  and  others,  down  to  the  times  of  Siricius  (that  is  to 
say,  to  the  year  of  our  Saviour  385),  which  the  world  read,  under 
these  venerable  titles,  at  the  least  for  eight  hundred  years  together ; 
and  by  which  have  been  decided,  to  the  advantage  of  the  church 
of  Rome,  very  many  controversies,  and  especially  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  the  rest,  that  of  the  Pope's  monarchy.  This  shows 
plain  enough  the  motive  (shall  I  call  it  such  ?),  or  rather  the  purposed 
design  of  the  trafficker  that  first  circulated  them.  The  greatest 
part  of  these  are  accounted  forged  by  men  of  learning  ;  for  indeed 
their  forgery  appears  clear  enough  from  their  barbarous  style,  the 
errors  met  with  at  every  step  in  the  computation  of  times  and  his- 
tory, the  pieces  they  are  patched  up  of,  stolen  here  and  there  out 
of  different  authors,  whose  books  we  have  at  this  day  to  show  ;  and 
also  by  the  general  silence  of  all  the  writers  of  the  first  eight  cen- 
turies, among  whom  there  is  not  one  word  mentioned  of  them." 

§  44. — When,  in  addition  to  these  facts,  we  call  to  mind  the  im- 
mense power  wielded  by  the  popes  and  clergy,  in  consequence  of  the 
mysterious  terror  attached  to  the  thunders  of  excommunication  and 
interdict,  we  shall  no  longer  be  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  growth 
of  papal  power  and  assumption  during  this  midnight  of  the  world. 
During  the  dark  ages,  excommunication  received  that  infernal 
power  which  dissolved  all  connexions,  and  the  unfortunate  or 
guilty  victim  of  this  horrid  sentence  was  regarded  as  on  a  level 
with  the  beasts.  The  king,  the  ruler,  the  husband,  the  father,  nay, 
even  the  man,  forfeited  all  their  rights,  all  their  advantages,  the 
claims  of  nature  and  the  privileges  of  society,  and  was  to  be  shun- 
ned like  a  man  infected  with  the  leprosy,  by  his  servants,  his  friends 
or  his  family.  Two  attendants  only  were  willing  to  remain  with 
Robert,  king  of  France,  who  was  excommunicated  by  pope  Gre- 
gory V.,  and  these  threw  all  the  meats  that  passed  his  table  into  the 
fire.  Indeed,  the  mere  intercourse  with  a  proscribed  person  incur- 
red what  was  called  the  lesser  excommunication,  or  privation  of 
the  sacraments,  and  required  penitence  and  absolution.  Every- 
where the  excommunicated  were  debarred  of  a  regular  sepulture, 
which  has,  through  the  superstition  of  consecrating  burial-grounds, 

*  Daille  on  the  right  use  of  the  fathers,  Philad.,  pages  46,  47. 

At  the  time  when  Daille  wrote  this  valuable  work,  A.  D.  1631,  we  see  from  the 
above  sentence  there  were  some  who  still  contended  for  the  genuineness  of  this 
spurious  grant.  The  arguments  of  Laurentius  Valla  have  since  been  universally 
admitted  as  conclusive,  and  the  point  is  conceded  by  Romanists  themselves. 


226  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 

The  iron  age  of  the  world  was  the  golden  age  of  Popery. 

been  treated  as  belonging  to  ecclesiastical  control.  But  as  excom- 
munication, which  attacked  only  one  and  perhaps  a  hardened  sin- 
ner, was  not  always  efficacious,  the  church  had  recourse  to  a  more 
comprehensive  punishment.  For  the  offence  of  a  nobleman,  she 
put  a  county,  for  that  of  a  prince,  his  entire  kingdom,  under  an  in- 
terdict, or  suspension  of  religious  offices.  No  stretch  of  her  tyran- 
ny was  perhaps  so  outrageous  as  this.  During  an  interdict,  the 
churches  were  closed,  the  bells  silent,  the  dead  unburied,  no  rite  but 
those  of  baptism  and  extreme  unction  performed.  The  penalty 
fell  upon  those  who  had  neither  partaken  nor  could  have  prevented 
the  offence ;  and  the  offence  was  often  but  a  private  dispute,  in 
which  the  pride  of  a  pope  or  bishop  had  been  wounded.  This  was 
the  mainspring  of  the  machinery  that  the  clergy  set  in  motion,  the 
lever  by  which  they  moved  the  world.  From  the  moment  that 
these  interdicts  and  excommunications  had  been  tried,  the  powers 
of  the  earth  might  be  said  to  have  existed  only  by  sufferance.* 
During  the  pontificates  of  Gregory  VII.,  Innocent  III.,  and  their 
successors,  while  Popery  sat  on  the  throne  of  the  earth  and  wielded 
the  sceptre  of  the  world,  we  shall  see  that  these  spiritual  weapons 
were  employed  with  tremendous  effect. 

§  45. — It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  attentive  observation,  that  the 
iron  age  of  the  world  wras  the  golden  age  of  Popery.  Its  anti- 
Christian  doctrines  were  never  more  extensively  and  implicitly  re- 
ceived than  during  these  dark  ages  ;  its  superstitious  rites  never 
more  reverently  performed  ;  its  contemptible  festivals  never  more 
generally  observed  ;  its  corrupt  and  licentious  clergy  never  more 
devoutly  honored  and  munificently  enriched  ;  and  its  haughty  and 
imperious  popes  never  attained  a  loftier  elevation  of  worldly  dig- 
nity than  during  this  intellectual  and  moral  midnight  of  the  world. 
Hence  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Roman  Catholic  his- 
torian, Dupin,  and  others,  should  refer  in  terms  of  the  highest  com- 
placency to  this  age.  Speaking  of  the  tenth  century,  which  was 
the  darkest  part  of  this  moral  midnight,  Dupin  remarks,  "  In  this 
century  there  was  no  controversy  relating  to  the  doctrine  of  faith, 
or  points  of  divinity,  because  there  were  no  heretics,  or  persons 
who  refined  upon  matters  of  religion,  and  dived  into  our  mysteries. 
However,  there  were  some  clergymen  in  England  who  would  needs 
maintain  that  the  bread  and  wrine  upon  the  altar  continued  in  the 
same  nature  after  the  consecration,  and  that  they  were  only  the 
figure  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  error  was  re- 
futed by  a  miracle  wrought  by  Odo,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
who  made  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  appear  visibly  in  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  holy  mysteries,  and  made  some  drops  of  blood  flow  out 
of  the  consecrated  bread  when  it  was  broken.  St.  Dunstan  like- 
wise refuted  that  error  very  strenuously  in  his  discourses.  In  fine, 
there  was  no  council  held  in  this  century  that  disputed  any  point 

*  For  a  fuller  account  of  these  spirit  mil  weapons,  see  Hallam's  Middle  Ages 
(chap,  vii.)  ;  Mosheim,  ii.,  210,  note  ;  and  Hume's  Hist,  of  England,  chap.  xi. 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.   227 

Important  lesson  derived  from  the  history  of  Popery  in  the  dark  ages.  Popery  in  England. 

of  doctrine  or  discipline,  which  shows  us  that  there  was  no  error 
of  faith  that  was  of  any  consequence,  or  made  any  noise  in  the 
church.''*  Father  Gahan  re-echoes  the  same  sentiments.  "  This 
age,"  says  he,  "  was  indeed  happy  in  this  respect,  that  no  consider- 
able heresy  arose,  or  was  broached  in  it,  for  which  reason  there 
was  no  occasion  for  general  councils,  nor  for  so  many  ecclesiastical 
writers,  as  in  the  foregoing  ages."f 

Before  dismissing  the  subject  of  the  present  chapter,  I  would 
embrace  the  opportunity  of  recording  a  truth  which  it  behoves 
every  protestant,  and  especially  every  American  protestant,  well 
to  remember — a  truth,  written  in  burning  characters  upon  the  dark 
back-ground  of  the  world's  midnight,  evident  as  the  lines  of  forked 
lightning  upon  a  dark  and  cloudy  sky — it  is  this  :    Ignorance  and 

DARKNESS  ARE  THE  NATIVE  ELEMENT  OF  PoPERY.  Its  MOST  FLOURISH- 
ING DAYS  WERE  IN  THE  MIDNIGHT  OF  THE  WORLD.  The  GREATEST 
BLOW  THAT  ANTI-ChRISTIAN  SYSTEM  EVER  RECEIVED  WAS  THE  RE- 
VIVAL OF  LETTERS  AND  THE  INVENTION  OF  PRINTING.  The  GOLDEN 
AGE  OF  POPERY  WAS  THE  IRON  AGE  OF  THE  WORLD,  AND  ITS  UNIVERSAL 
REIGN  WOULD  BE  THE  IRON  AGE  RESTORED  ! 


CHAPTER  V. 

POPERY    IN    ENGLAND,    PRIOR    TO    THE    CONQUEST. AUGUSTIN    THE    MIS- 
SIONARY,  AND    DUNSTAN    THE    MONK. 

§  46. — Before  proceeding  to  give  a  biographical  sketch  of  the 
celebrated  Hildebrand  or  Gregory  VII.,  under  whom  the  assump- 
tions of  the  papacy  reached  their  climax,  we  shall  present  a  concise 
account  of  the  most  remarkable  events  connected  with  the  estab- 
lishment of  Popery  in  Great  Britain,  and  its  subsequent  history,  to 
the  Norman  conquest.  It  was  under  the  auspices  of  the  first 
Gregory,  bishop  of  Rome,  that  the  monk  Augustin,  with  his  associ- 
ates, arrived  in  England,  near  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  to  pro- 
pagate among  the  rude  and  hardy  Saxons,  not  the  simple  and  un- 
corrupted  gospel  of  Christ,  but  the  religion  of  Rome,  already  cor- 
rupted, as  the  reader  of  the  foregoing  pages  is  aware,  by  the  intro- 
duction of  a  variety  of  pagan  ceremonies,  and  false  and  unscriptural 
dogmas.  A  much  purer  form  of  the  Christian  religion  and  worship 
was  already  observed  in  the  mountains  of  Wales  and  other  parts  of 
the  island,  received,  as  is  supposed  by  some,  from  the  apostle  Paul 

*  Dupin's  Ecclesiastical  History,  cent.  x. 
f  Gahan's  History  of  the  Church,  p.  279. 
15 


228  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 

Primitive  Welsh  Christians.  Reception  of  the  monk  Augustin,  by  king  Ethelbert. 

himself,  and  by  others,  from  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  who  were  said  to 
have  visited  Britain ;  or  as  is  supposed  by  others,  with  more  proba- 
bility,  from  some  primitive  British-born  disciples,  who  probably 
heard  and  received  the  true  gospel  from  the  lips  of  St.  Paul,  while 
a  prisoner  at  Rome,  and  returning  to  their  native  island,  dissemi- 
nated its  saving  truths  among  their  countrymen.  These  primitive 
disciples  had  been  driven  by  the  fierce  and  barbarous  invaders  of 
the  island,  chiefly  to  the  mountainous  districts  of  Wales,  and  not- 
withstanding the  zeal  of  Augustin  and  other  emissaries  of  Rome, 
steadily  refused  to  admit  the  authority,  or  to  receive  the  doctrines  or 
the  rites  of  that  corrupt  and  apostate  church. 

§  47. — It  was  in  the  year  59G,  that  Augustin,  and  the  other  Ro- 
man missionaries,  landed  in  the  county  of  Kent,  and  despatched  one 
of  their  interpreters  to  acquaint  king  Ethelbert  with  the  news  and 
design  of  their  coming.     After  a  few  days'  deliberation,  Ethelbert 
went  into  the  island,  and  appointed  a  conference  to  be  held  in  the 
open  air.     The  missionaries  advanced  in  orderly  procession,  carry- 
ing before  them  a  silver  cross,  and  singing  a  hymn.    The  king  com- 
manded them  to  sit  down,  and  to  him  and  his  earls  they  disclosed 
their  mission.  Ethelbert  answered  with  a  steady  and  not  unfriendly 
judgment ;  "  Your  words  and  promises  are  fair,  but  they  are  new 
and° uncertain.     I  cannot,  therefore,  abandon  the  rites  which,  in 
common  with  all  the  nations  of  the  Angles,  I  have  hitherto  observed. 
But  as  you  come  so  far  to  communicate  to  us  what  you  believe  to 
be  most  excellent,  we  will  not  molest  you.     We  will  receive  you 
hospitably,  and  supply  you  with  what  you  need ;  nor  do  we  forbid 
any  one  to  join  your  society  whom  you  can  persuade  to  prefer  it." 
He  gave  them  a  mansion  at  Canterbury,  his  metropolis,  for  their 
residence,  and  allowed  them  to  preach  as  they  pleased.    The  labors 
of  these  zealous  emissaries  of  Rome  were  so  successful,  that  the 
King  himself,  and  vast  multitudes  of  his  subjects,  were  persuaded  to 
be  baptized,  and  ten  thousand  are  said  to  have  submitted  to  that 
rite  on  the  following  Christmas  day,  thus  exchanging  with  the  same 
ease  as  they  would  exchange  one  garment  for  another,  the  ancient 
Paganism  of  their  Saxon  ancestors,  for  the  Christianized  Paganism 
of  Rome. 

§  48.— Lest  the  attachments  of  the  islanders  to  their  pagan  cere- 
monies might  prove  an  obstacle  to  their  nominal  profession  ot 
Christianity,  Gregory,  as  before  mentioned  (see  above,  page  130), 
wrote  to  Augustin,  now  raised  to  the  dignity  of  archbishop,  direct- 
ing him,  as  we  are  informed  by  the  venerable  Bede,  not  to  destroy 
the  heathen  temples  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  but  only  to  remove  the 
images  of  their  gods,  to  wash  the  walls  with  holy-water,  to  erect 
altars,  and  deposit  relics  in  them,  and  so  convert  them  into  Christian 
churches :  and  this,  not  only  to  save  the  expense  of  building  new  ones, 
but  that  the  people  might  be  more  easily  prevailed  upon  to  frequent 
those  places  of  worship  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed.  He 
directs  him  further  to  accommodate  the  Christian  worship,  as  much 
as  possible,  to  those  of  the  heathen,  that  the  people  might  not  be  so 


chap,  v.]    POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  229 

Growth  of  popish  superstition  in  Britain.  Monkery,  relics,  pious  frauds. 

much  startled  at  the  change ;  and,  in  particular,  he  advises  him  to 
allow  the  Christian  converts,  on  certain  festivals,  to  kill  and  eat  a 
great  number  of  oxen  to  the  glory  of  God,  as  they  had  formerly 
done  to  the  honor  of  the  devil.  In  the  course  of  the  seventh  century, 
monasteries,  in  great  abundance,  were  founded  in  all  parts  of  Eng- 
land, and  rich  endowments  bequeathed  them.  To  encourage  per- 
sons to  adopt  the  monastic  life,  the  impious  doctrine  now  began  to 
be  broached,  that  "  as  soon  as  any  person  put  on  the  habit  of  a 
monk,  all  the  sins  of  his  former  life  were  forgiven  him."  This 
engaged  many  princes  and  great  men,  who  have  as  many  sins  as 
their  inferiors,  to  put  on  the  cowl,  and  end  their  days  in  monasteries. 
In  fact,  superstition,  in  various  forms,  made  rapid  strides  in  England 
in  the  seventh  century  ;  among  which  may  be  mentioned  a  ridicu- 
lous veneration  for  relics,  in  which  the  clergy  of  the  church  of  Rome 
had  for  some  time  been  driving  a  gainful  trade — a  traffic  which 
never  can  be  carried  on,  except  between  knaves  and  fools.  Few 
persons,  in  those  days,  thought  themselves  safe  from  the  machina- 
tions of  the  devil,  unless  they  carried  the  relics  of  some  saint  about 
them  ;  and  no  church  could  be  dedicated  without  a  decent  quantity 
of  this  sacred  trumpery.  Stories  of  dreams,  visions,  and  miracles, 
were  propagated  by  the  clergy,  without  a  blush,  and  believed  with- 
out a  doubt  by  the  laity.  Extraordinary  watchings,  fastings,  and 
other  arts  of  tormenting  the  body,  in  order  to  save  the  soul,  became 
frequent  and  fashionable ;  and  it  began  to  be  believed  that  a  pil- 
grimage to  Rome  was  the  most  direct  road  to  heaven.* 

§  49. — During  the  eighth  century  in  England,  no  less  than  in 
Italy,  ignorance  and  superstition  advanced  with  rapid  strides.  The 
clergy  became  more  knavish  and  rapacious,  and  the  laity  more 
abject  and  stupid  than  at  any  former  period.  Of  this,  the  trade  in 
relics  alone  affords  abundant  proof.  The  monks  were  daily  making 
discoveries,  as  they  pretended,  of  the  precious  remains  of  some 
departed  saint,  which  they  soon  converted  into  gold  and  silver.  In 
this  traffic  they  had  all  the  opportunities  they  could  desire  of  impos- 
ing counterfeit  wares  upon  their  customers,  seeing  it  was  no  easy 
matter  for  the  laity  to  distinguish  the  tooth  or  the  toe-nail  of  a  saint, 
from  that  of  a  sinner,  after  it  had  been  some  centuries  in  the  grave. 
The  place  where  the  body  of  Albanus,  the  protomartyr  of  Britain, 
lay,  is  said  to  have  been  revealed  to  Offa,  king  of  Mercia,  in  vision, 
A.  D.  794  !  The  body  was  accordingly  taken  up,  with  all  imagi- 
nable pomp  and  ceremony,  in  the  presence  of  three  bishops,  and  a 
vast  number  of  people  of  all  ranks,  and  lodged  in  a  rich  shrine, 
adorned  with  gold  and  precious  stones.  To  do  the  greater  honor 
to  the  memory  of  the  holy  martyr,  king  Offa  built  a  stately  monas- 
tery at  the  place  where  his  body  was  found,  which  he  called  by  his 

*  Bede,  Epist.  ad  Egbert.  Spelman,  Concil,  Tom.  i.,  p.  99,  as  cited  by  William 
Jones,  the  venerable  continuator  of  Russell's  Modern  Europe,  to  whose  lectures 
on  Ecclesiastical  History  I  am  indebted  for  many  of  the  facts  relative  to  the  pro- 
gress of  Popery  in  Britain.     See  Lect.  xxx.-xxxiv.    London,  1834. 


23()  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  bookiv. 

Cunning  of  the  Pope  to  raise  a  tribute  in  England.  An  archbishop  of  the  school  of  Hildebrand 

name,  St.  Al ban's,  and  in  which  he  deposited  his  remains,  enriching 
it  with  many  lands  and  privileges.  As  to  the  character  of  Offa,  the 
monarch  to  whom  the  clergy  were  indebted  for  this  ridiculous  piece 
of  pious  fraud,  it  may  suffice  to  say,  that  his  life  was  disgraced  by 
the  commission  of  not  a  few  very  horrible  crimes;  to  atone  for 
which  he  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  where  he  lavished  his  money 
upon  the  Pope  and  the  clergy,  to  procure  the  pardon  of  his  sins.  In 
particular,  he  made  a  grant  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  mancus- 
scs  (pieces  of  money  of  the  value  of  l'Ss.  4d.  each),  being  one  for 
each  day  in  the  year,  to  be  disposed  of  by  the  Pope  to  certain  chari- 
table and  pious  uses.  The  Roman  pontiff  consented  to  become  his 
almoner ;  but  cunningly  contrived  to  convert  it  into  an  annual  tax 
upon  the  English  nation,  and  in  the  most  imperious  manner,  demand- 
ed it  as  a  lawful  tribute,  and  mark  of  subjection  of  the  kingdom  of 
England  to  the  church  of  Rome.  So  early  and  so  rapidly  did  the 
proud  pontiffs  of  Rome  strive  to  extend  their  dominion  over  the 
nations  of  the  earth. 

§  50. — We  have  already  seen  in  the  case  of  Theodore  (see  above, 
page  135),  how  artfully  the  Pope  contrived  to  extend  and  strengthen 
his  power  in  England,  by  appointing  a  creature  of  his  own  to  the 
dignity  of  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  we  shall  soon  see  that 
these  lordly  prelates  were  ready  enough  to  imitate  the  pride  and 
presumption  of  those  to  whom  they  were  originally  indebted  for 
their  dignity.  In  934,  the  See  of  Canterbury  was  rilled  by  a  pre- 
late of  the  name  of  Odo,  who  acted  the  primate  with  a  very  high 
hand,  of  which  the  following  is  a  fair  specimen.  He  issued  a  pas- 
toral letter  to  the  clergy  and  people  of  his  province  (commonly 
called  the  Constitutions  of  Odo),  in  which  he  addresses  them  in  this 
magisterial  style  :  "  I  strictly  command  and  charge  that  no  man 
presume  to  lay  any  tax  on  the  possessions  of  the  clergy,  who  are 
the  sons  of  God,  and  the  sons  of  God  ought  to  be  free  from  all  taxes 
in  every  kingdom.  If  any  man  dares  to  disobey  the  discipline  of 
the  church  in  this  particular,  he  is  more  wicked  and  impudent  than 
the  soldiers  who  crucified  Christ.  /  command  the  King,  the  princes, 
and  all  in  authority,  to  obey,  with  great  humility,  the  archbishops, 
and  bishops,  for  they  have  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  &c. 
If  this  Odo  had  lived  a  century  or  two  later,  we  might  have  well 
supposed  that  he  had  stolen  an  arrow  from  the  quiver  of  the  impe- 
tus Hildebrand. 

§  51. — Of  all  the  primates'of  England,  none  has  obtained  greater 
notoriety  than  the  celebrated  Saint  Dunstan,  so  famous,  or  rather 
so  infamous  for  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of  priestly  celibacy,  and  for  his 
pretended  wonderful  miracles.  Dunstan,  we  are  informed,  was 
born  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  925,  near  Glastonbury,  and  was  de- 
scended from  a  respectable  family  who  resided  there.  He  was  put 
to  school,  and  his  parents  encouraged  his  application  to  learning,  in 
which  he  is  said  to  have  made  wonderful  proficiency,  such  as 
evinced  superior  abilities.  Having  run  with  rapidity  through  the 
course  of  his  studies,  he  obtained  an  introduction  into  the  ecclesias- 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  231 

St.  Dunstan's  pretended  miracles.        Pulling  the  devil's  nose  with  red  hot  tongs.        Glastonbury  abfey. 

tical  establishment  at  the  celebrated  abbey  of  Glastonbury,  where 
he  continued  his  application  to  learning  with  commendable  diligence, 
so  that  he  seems  to  have  attained  all  the  knowledge  that  was  within 
his  reach.  Having,  by  the  persuasions  of  an  uncle,  embraced  the 
monkish  life,  he  made  with  his  own  hands  a  subterraneous  cave,  or 
cell,  adjoining  the  church  wall  of  Glastonbury.  It  was  five  feet 
long,  and  two  and  a  half  wide,  and  nearly  of  a  sufficient  height  for  a 
man  to  stand  upright  in  the  excavation.  Its  only  wall  was  its  door, 
which  covered  the  whole,  and  in  this  a  small  aperture  to  admit  light 
and  air.  One  of  the  legendary  tales  which  have  been  used  to  exalt 
his  fame,  shows  the  arts  by  which  he  gained  it.  In  this  cave  Dun- 
stan  slept,  studied,  prayed,  and  meditated,  and  sometimes  exercised 
himself  in  working  on  metals.  One  night  all  the  neighborhood  was 
alarmed  by  the  most  terrific  howlings,  which  seemed  to  issue  from 
his  abode.  In  the  morning,  the  people  flocked  to  inquire  the  cause ; 
he  told  them  the  devil  had  intruded  his  head  into  his  window  to 
tempt  him  while  he  was  heating  his  work — that  he  had  seized  him 
by  the  nose,  with  his  red  hot  tongs,  and  that  the  noise  was  Satan's 
roaring  at  the  pain ;  and  such  was  the  credulity  of  the  age,  that  the 
simple  people  believed  him,  and  venerated  the  recluse  for  this 
amazing  exploit ! 

§52. — In  941,  the  fame  of  Dunstan's  sanctity  and  miracles  was 
such  that  the  King  bestowed  upon  him  the  rich  abbey  of  Glaston- 
bury, the  most  ancient,  and  down  to  the  time  of  king  Henry  VIII., 
the  most  celebrated  monastic  institution  of  the  kingdom ;  and  per- 
mitted him  to  make  free  use  of  the  royal  treasury  to  rebuild  and  to 
adorn  it.  While  Dunstan  was  abbot  of  this  monastery,  he  filled  it 
with  Benedictine  monks,  to  which  order  he  belonged,  and  of  which 
he  was  a  most  active  and  zealous  patron.  On  an  adjoining  page  is 
a  correct  and  beautiful  view  of  the  remains  of  Glastonbury  abbey, 
the  scene  of  many  of  his  legendary  miracles,  which  is  situated  in 
Somersetshire,  England,  and  which  continues  to  be  an  object  of 
deep  interest  to  travellers  and  antiquaries.  We  learn  from  an  accu- 
rate writer,*  that  the  foundation  plot  upon  which  this  vast  fabric 
and  its  immense  range  of  offices  were  erected,  included  a  space  of 
not  less  than  sixty  acres,  and  was  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  a  lofty 
wall  of  wrought  freestone.  The  principal  building,  the  great 
abbey  church,  consisted  of  a  nave  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
in  length,  aud  forty-five  in  breadth ;  a  choir  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty-five  feet ;  and  a  transept  of  nearly  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet ; 
and  with  the  chapel  of  St.  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  which  stood  at  the 
West  end,  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  in  length,  by  twenty-four  in 
breadth,  its  extreme  length  measured  the  vast  extent  of  five  hun- 
dred and  thirty  feet.  Adjoining  the  church  on  the  south  side,  was 
a  noble  cloister,  forming  a  square  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  feet. 
The  church  contained  five  chapels,  St.  Edgar's,  St.  Mary's,  St.  An- 
drew's, the  chapel  of  our  Lady  of  Loretto,  and  the  chapel  of  the 

*  Collinson,  in  his  history  of  Somersetshire. 


232  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 


Dunstan's  persecution  of  the  married  clergy.  Miraculous  images  speaking  to  reprove  the  guilt  of  matrimony 

holy  Sepulchre.  St.  Joseph's  chapel,  which  is  the  prominent  object 
in  the  engraving,  is  still  pretty  entire,  excepting  the  roof  and  floor, 
and  must  be  admired  for  the  richness  of  the  finishing,  as  well  as  for 
the  o-rcat  elegance  of  the  design.  The  communication  with  the 
church  was  by  a  spacious  portal.  There  are  doors  also  to  the 
North  and  South  ;  one  is  ornamented  with  flower-work,  the  other 
with  very  elaborate  flourishes  and  figures.  The  arches  of  the 
windows  are  semi-circular,  and  adorned  with  the  lozenge,  zigzag, 
and  embattled  mouldings  ;  underneath  appears  a  series  of  compart- 
ments of  interlaced  semi-circular  arches,  springing  from  slender 
shafts,  and  also  ornamented  with  zigzag  mouldings,  and  in  their 
spandrils  are  roses,  crescents,  and  stars.  Altogether  this  is  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  remains  of  antiquity  in  the  world.  (See  En- 
graving.) 

§  53. — In  980,  the  former  abbot  of  Glastonbury  was  made  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  assured  of  the  favor  of  king  Edgar,  pre- 
pared to  execute  the  grand  design  which  he  had  long  meditated — 
of  compelling  the  secular  canons  to  put  away  their  wives,  and 
become  monks ;  or  of  driving  them  out,  and  introducing  Benedictine 
monks  in  their  room.  With  this  view  he  procured  the  promotion 
of  his  intimate  friend,  Oswald,  to  the  See  of  Worcester,  and  of 
Ethel wald  to  that  of  Winchester  ;  two  prelates  who  were  them- 
selves monks,  and  animated  with  the  most  ardent  zeal  for  the 
advancement  of  their  order.  This  trio  of  bishops,  the  three  great 
champions  of  the  monks,  and  enemies  of  the  married  clergy-,  now 
proceeded  by  every  possible  method  of  fraud  or  force,  to  drive  the 
married  clergy  out  of  all  the  monasteries,  or  compel  them  to  put 
away  their  wives  and  children.  Rather  than  consent  to  the  latter, 
by  far  the  greatest  number  chose  to  become  beggars  and  vagabonds, 
for  which  the  monkish  historians  give  them  the  most  opprobrious 
names.  To  countenance  these  cruel,  tyrannical  proceedings,  Dun- 
stan  and  his  associates  held  up  the  married  clergy  as  monsters  of 
wickedness  for  cohabiting  with  their  wives,  magnified  celibacy  as 
the  only  state  becoming  the  sanctity  of  the  sacerdotal  office,  and 
propagated  a  thousand  lies  of  miracles  and  visions  to  its  honor. 
Among  other  popish  contrivances,  hollow  crosses  or  images  were 
constructed  sufficiently  large  to  conceal  a  monk,  which,  when 
appealed  to  by  Dunstan,  miraculously  spoke  in  a  human  voice,  and 
declared  in  the  hearing  of  the  gaping  and  astonished  multitudes,  the 
horrible  guilt  of  those  who  claimed  to  be  priests,  and  yet  chose  also 
to  be  husbands  and  fathers. 

§  54. — In  the  year  969,  a  commission  was  granted  by  king  Edgar, 
who  appears  to  have  been  an  obedient  tool  of  Dunstan,  to  the  three 
prelates,  to  expel  the  married  canons  out  of  all  the  cathedrals  and 
larger  monasteries,  promising  to  assist  them  in  the  execution  of  it 
with  all  his  power.  On  this  occasion  he  made  a  flaming  speech,  in 
which  he  painted  the  manners  of  the  married  clergy  in  the  most 
odious  colors,  calling  upon  them  to  exert  all  their  power  in  conjunc- 
tion with  him,  to  exterminate  those  abominable  wretches  who  kept 


chap,  v.]    POPERY  IN  ITS  GLORY— WORLD-MIDNIGHT— 800-1073.  235 

Strange  penance  for  a  libertine  king. Death  of  St.  Dunstuii. 

wives.  In  the  conclusion  of  his  speech  he  thus  addressed  Dunstan  :  "  I 
know,  O  holy  father  Dunstan  !  that  you  have  not  encouraged  those 
criminal  practices  of  the  clergy.  You  have  reasoned,  entreated, 
threatened.  From  words  it  is  now  time  to  come  to  blows.  All  the 
power  of  the  crown  is  at  your  command.  Your  brethren,  the  ven- 
erable Ethelwald,  and  the  most  reverend  Oswald,  will  assist  you. 
To  you  three  I  commit  the  execution  of  this  important  work.  Strike 
boldly ;  drive  those  irregular  livers  out  of  the  church  of  Christ,  and 
introduce  others  who  will  live  according  to  rule."  And  yet  this 
furious  champion  for  chastity  had,  some  time  before  the  delivery 
of  this  harangue,  ravished  a  nun,  a  young  lady  of  noble  birth,  and 
great  beauty,  at  which  his  holy  father  confessor  was  so  much  offend- 
ed, that  he  enjoined  him,  by  way  of  penance,  not  to  wear  his  crown 
for  seven  years ;  to  build  a  nunnery,  and  to  persecute  the  married 
clergy  with  all  his  might — a  strange  way  of  making  atonement  for 
his  own  libertinism,  by  depriving  others  of  their  natural  rights  and 
liberties. 

§  55. — At  length  this  famous  Saint  Dunstan  died  in  the  year  988, 
and  England  was  relieved  of  one  of  the  most  cunning  and  success- 
ful impostors,  and  obedient  tools  of  Rome,  the  world  ever  saw. 
When  it  is  mentioned  that  Dunstan  pretended  to  many  other  mira- 
cles, about  equal  in  probability  and  absurdity  to  that  already  men- 
tioned, of  pulling  the  devil's  nose  with  his  red  hot  tongs,  this  judg- 
ment will  not  be  regarded  as  unduly  severe.  As,  however,  Dunstan 
was  mainly  instrumental  in  restoring  and  promoting  the  monastic 
institutions,  the  grateful  monks,  who  were  almost  the  only  historians 
of  those  dark  ages,  have  loaded  him  with  the  most  extravagant 
praises,  and  represented  him  as  the  greatest  miracle-monger  and 
highest  favorite  of  heaven,  that  ever  lived.  To  say  nothing  of  his 
many  conflicts  with  the  devil,  in  which  we  are  told  he  often  bela- 
bored that  enemy  of  mankind  most  severely,  the  following  short 
story,  which  is  related  with  great  exultation  by  his  biographer,  will 
give  some  idea  of  the  astonishing  impiety  and  impudence  of  those 
monks,  and  of  the  no  less  astonishing  blindness  and  credulity  of 
those  unhappy  times.  "  The  most  admirable,  the  most  inestimable 
father  Dunstan,"  says  his  biographer,  "  whose  perfections  exceeded 
all  human  imagination,  was  admitted  to  behold  the  mother  of  God, 
and  his  own  mother,  in  eternal  glory ;  for  before  his  death  he  was 
carried  up  into  heaven,  to  be  present  at  the  nuptials  of  his  own 
mother  with  the  Eternal  King,  which  were  celebrated  by  the  angels 
with  the  most  sweet  and  joyous  songs.  When  the  angels  reproached 
him  for  his  silence  on  this  great  occasion,  so  honorable  to  his  mo- 
ther, he  excused  himself  on  account  of  his  being  unacquainted  with 
those  sweet  and  heavenly  strains ;  but  being  a  little  instructed  by 
the  angels,  he  broke  out  into  this  melodious  song  ;  '  O  King  and 
Ruler  of  nations,  &c.'"  The  original  author  of  this  impious  fiction 
was  Dunstan  himself,  who,  upon  his  pretended  return  from  this 
celestial  visit,  summoned  a  monk  to  commit  the  heavenly  song  to 
writing  from  Dunstan's  lips,  and  the  morning  after,  all  the  monks 


23G  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  iv. 

Conquest  of  England,  by  William  of  Normandy — A.  D.  1066. 

were  commanded  to  learn  and  to  sing  it,  while  Dunstan  loudly  de- 
clared the  truth  of  the  vision. 

In  the  year  1066,  an  event  occurred,  which  constitutes  an  impor- 
tant epoch,  both  in  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  history  of  England. 
That  event  was  the  conquest  by  William  of  Normandy.  The  con- 
sequences upon  Popery  in  England,  of  this  memorable  revolution,  as 
they  belong  chiefly  to  the  succeeding  period,  must  be  reserved  for  a 
future  chapter. 


237 


BOOK    V. 


POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT. 


FROM     THE     ACCESSION    OF    POPE     GREGORY    VIT.,     A.   D.     1073,   TO   THE    DEATH   OF 
BONIFACE   VHI.,   A.  D.    1303. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    LIFE    AND    REIGN    OF    POPE    HILDEBRAND    OR    GREGORY    VII. 

§  1. — One  of  the  most  extraordinary  characters  on  the  page  of 
history,  and  probably  the  most  conspicuous  person  in  the  history  of 
the  eleventh  century,  was  the  famous  monk  Hildebrand,  now 
reverenced  by  papists  as  Saint  Gregory  VII.,  who  ascended  the 
papal  throne  in  1073,  and  who  carried  the  assumptions  of  the 
papacy  to  a  height  never  before  known,  claimed  supreme  dominion 
over  all  the  governments  of  the  world,  and  attempted  to  bring  all 
emperors,  kings,  and  other  earthly  rulers,  under  his  authority  as  his 
vassals  and  dependents.  This  artful  and  ambitious  monk  had  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  an  almost  unlimited  influence  at  Rome  long  be- 
fore his  election  to  the  pontificate,  and  the  attempts  of  the  three  or 
four  popes  who  preceded  him,  to  exercise  their  haughty  sway  over 
the  sovereigns  of  the  earth,  is  to  be  attributed  chiefly  to  his  influence 
and  counsels.  So  early  as  previous  to  the  accession  of  pope  Victor 
II.  in  1055,  the  authority  of  Hildebrand  was  such  that  he  was  em- 
powered by  the  people  and  clergy  of  Rome  to  go  to  Germany,  and 
to  select  by  his  own  unaided  judgment,  in  their  name,  a  successor 
to  the  preceding  Pope,  Leo  IX.,  by  performing  which  trust  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all,  he  greatly  increased  his  own  popularity  and 
power. 

During  the  reign  of  Victor,  a  complaint  was  received  from  the 
emperor  Henry  III.,  that  Ferdinand  of  Spain  had  assumed  the  title 
of  Emperor,  and  begging  that  unless  he  would  immediately  re- 
linquish the  title,  Ferdinand  might  be  excommunicated,  and  his 
kingdom  put  under  an  interdict.  Hildebrand  saw  at  once  that 
this  would  be  a  favorable  opportunity  of  advancing  the  scheme  he 
had  doubtless  already  formed  of  reducing  all  earthly  sovereigns  to 
subjection  to  the  papal  power,  and  accordingly  persuaded  the  Pope 
to  dispatch  legates  into  Spain,  threatening  Ferdinand  with  the  thun- 
ders of  excommunication  and  interdict  unless  he  immediately  obeyed 


238  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Hildebrand  and  the  Pope  persuade  Robert  of  Normandy  to  acknowledge  himself  a,  vassal  of  Rome. 


the  papal  mandates  and  renounced  a  title  which  had  been  conferred 
by  the  Holy  See  only  on  Henry.  The  terrified  prince  was  glad  to 
maintain  his  peace  with  the  spiritual  tyrants  of  Rome,  by  submis- 
sive obedience  to  his  commands. 

§  2. — A  few  years  later,  Hildebrand  and  pope  Nicholas  II.,  who 
was  elected  in  1059,  had  the  address  to  prevail  upon  Robert  Guiscard, 
the  famous  Norman  conqueror,  in  consideration  of  the  Pope's  con- 
firming to  him  certain  territories  he  had  conquered,  and  to  which 
neither  Nicholas  nor  Robert  had  a  particle  of  right,  to  own  himself 
a  vassal  of  the  Holy  See,  and  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
Pope,  which  is  transcribed  by  Cardinal  Baronius,  from  a  volume  in 
the  Vatican  library,  in  the  following  terms : — "  I,  Robert,  by  the 
grace  of  God  and  St.  Peter,  duke  of  Apulia  and  Calabria,  and  future 
duke  of  Sicily,  promise  to  pay  to  St.  Peter,  to  you,  pope  Nicholas, 
my  lord,  to  your  successors,  or  to  your  and  their  nuncios,  twelve 
deniers,  money  of  Pavia,  for  each  yoke  of  oxen,  as  an  acknowledg- 
ment for  all  the  lands  that  I  myself  hold  and  possess,  or  have  given 
to  be  held  and  possessed  by  any  of  the  Ultramontanes  ;  and  this 
sum  shall  be  yearly  paid  on  Easter  Sunday  by  me,  my  heirs  and 
successors,  to  you,  pope  Nicholas,  my  lord,  and  to  your  suc- 
cessors. So  help  me  God,  and  these  his  holy  Gospels."  When 
Robert  had  taken  this  oath,  the  Pope  acknowledged  him  for  law- 
ful duke  of  Apulia  and  Calabria,  confirmed  to  him  and  his  suc- 
cessors for  ever  the  possession  of  those  provinces,  promised  to  con- 
firm to  him  in  like  manner  the  possession  of  Sicily,  as  soon  as  he 
should  reduce  that  island,  and  putting  a  standard  in  his  right  hand, 
declared  him  vassal  of  the  apostolical  See,  and  standard-bearer  of 
the  holy  church.  From  this  time  Robert  styled  himself  '  dux 
Apulia?  and  Calabria?  and  futurus  Sicilia?.'* 

§  3. — Soon  after  the  election  of  pope  Nicholas,  and  probably  by 
the  advice  of  Hildebrand,  an  important  decree  was  issued  rela- 
tive to  the  manner  of  the  election  of  future  popes.  Before  his  time, 
there  had  been  no  settled  rules  accurately  defining  the  electors  of 
the  popes,  but  they  had  been  chosen  by  the  whole  Roman  clergy, 
nobility,  burgesses,  and  assembly  of  the  people.  The  consequence 
of  such  a  confused  and  jarring  multitude  uniting  in  the  election 
was,  that  animosities  and  tumults,  sometimes  accompanied  with 
bloodshed,  frequently  occurred  in  consequence  of  the  collisions  of 
the  different  contending  factions ;  each  party  striving  to  secure  the 
election  of  its  own  favorite  candidate  to  the  honor  of  being  the  suc- 
cessor of  St.  Peter-  and  the  vicar  of  God  upon  earth.  To  prevent 
these  disorders  in  future,  as  well  as  to  enhance  the  power  of  the 
higher  clergy  at  Rome,  Nicholas  issued  his  decree  that  the  power 
of  electing  a  pope  should  be  henceforth  vested  in  the  cardinal 
bishops  {cardinales  episcopi),  and  the  cardinal  clerks  or  presbyters 
(cardinales  clerici).  By  the  cardinal  bishops  we  are  to  understand 
the  seven  bishops,  who  belonged  to  the  city  and  territory  of  Rome, 

*  Leo  Ostiens.,  1.  ii.,  c.  16. 


chap,  i.]       POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.        239 

Decree  confining  the  election  of  Pope  to  the  cardinals.  Hildebrand  becomes  Pope 

whom  Nicholas  calls,  in  the  same  edict,  comprovinciales  episcopi  ; 
and  by  the  cardinal  clerks,  the  ministers  of  twenty-eight  Roman 
parishes  or  provincial  churches.  These  were  to  constitute  in  future 
the  college  of  electors,  and  were  henceforward  called  the  college  of 
Cardinals,  in  a  new  and  unusual  sense  of  the  term,  which  is  pro- 
perly the  origin  of  that  dignity  in  its  modern  sense. 

It  was  customary  for  bishops  in  these  ages,  to  be  consecrated  by 
the  metropolitan,  but  (in  the  swelling  and  bombastic  language  of 
the  papal  edict),  "  Since  the  apostolic  See  cannot  be  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  any  superior  or  metropolitan,  the  cardinal  bishops 
must  necessarily  supply  the  place  of  a  metropolitan,  and  fix  the 
elected  pontiff  on  the  summit  of  apostolic  exaltation  and  em- 
pike."'  All  the  rest  of  the  clergy,  of  whatever  order  or  rank  they 
might  be,  were,  together  with  the  people,  expressly  excluded  from 
the  right  of  voting  in  the  election  of  the  pontiff,  though  they  were 
allowed  what  is  called  a  negative  suffrage,  and  their  consent  was 
required  to  what  the  others  had  done.  In  consequence  of  this  new 
regulation,  the  cardinals  acted  the  principal  part  in  the  creation  of 
the  new  pontiff;  though  they  suffered  for  a  long  time  much  oppo- 
sition both  from  the  sacerdotal  orders  and  the  Roman  citizens,  who 
were  constantly  either  reclaiming  their  ancient  rights,  or  abusing 
the  privilege  they  yet  retained  of  confirming  the  election  of  every 
new  pope  by  their  approbation  and  consent.  In  the  following  cen- 
tury there  was  an  end  put  to  all  these  disputes  by  Alexander  III., 
who  was  so  fortunate  as  to  finish  and  complete  what  Nicholas  had 
only  begun,  and  who,  just  one  hundred  years  after  the  decree  of 
Nicholas,  transferred  and  confined  to  the  college  of  cardinals  the 
sole  right  of  electing  the  popes,  and  deprived  the  body  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  rest  of  the  clergy  of  the  right  of  vetoing  the  choice  of 
the  cardinals  left  them  by  the  decree  of  pope  Nicholas.  To  ap- 
pease the  tumults  occasioned  by  these  acts,  the  popes,  at  various 
times,  added  other  individuals  to  the  college  of  Cardinals,  and  in 
subsequent  ages,  an  admission  to  this  high  order  of  purpled  pre- 
lates, the  obtaining  of  a  cardinal's  hat,  was  regarded,  next  to  the 
papal  chair,  as  the  highest  object  of  Romish  sacerdotal  ambition, 
and  moreover  a  necessary  step  to  all  aspirants  to  the  dignity  of 
sovereign  pontiff,  as  no  one  but  a  cardinal  can  be  elected  pope.f 

§  4. — At  length  in  the  year  1073,  Hildebrand  was  himself  chosen 
Pope,  and  assumed  the  title  of  Gregory  VII.,  and  his  election  was 
confirmed  by  the  emperor  Henry  IV.,  to  whom  ambassadors  had 
been  sent  for  that  purpose.  This  prince  indeed  had  soon  reason  to 
repent  of  the  consent  he  had  given  to  an  election  which  became  so 
prejudicial  to  his  own  authority,  so  fatal  to  the  interests  and  liber- 
ties of  the  church,  and  so  detrimental,  in  general,  to  the  sovereignty 

*  "  Quia  sedes  apostolica  super  se  metropolitanum  habere  non  potest ;  cardi- 
nales  episcopi  metropolitan i  vice  procul  dubio  fungantur,  qui  electum  antistatem 
ad  apostolici  culminis  apicem  provebant."  {Edict  of  Nicholas,  in  Baluzius  iv.,  62.) 

f  See  a  learned  dissertation  on  Cardinals  in  Mosheim,  cent,  xi.,  part  ii. 


240  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Inordinate  :unl>ition  of  Gregory  VII.  Hi-  plans  lor  universal  empire. 

and  independence  of  kingdoms  and  empires.  Hildebrand  was  a 
man  of*  uncommon  genius,  whose  ambition  in  forming  the  most 
arduous  projects  was  equalled  by  his  dexterity  in  bringing  them 
into  execution ;  sagacious,  crafty,  and  intrepid,  nothing  could 
escape  his  penetration,  defeat  his  stratagems,  or  daunt  his  courage; 
haughty  and  arrogant  beyond  all  measure  ;  obstinate,  impetuous, 
and  intractable  ;  he  looked  up  to  the  summit  of  universal  empire 
with  a  wishful  eye,  and  labored  up  the  steep  ascent  with  uninter- 
rupted ardor,  and  invincible  perseverance  ;  void  of  all  principle, 
and  destitute  of  every  pious  and  virtuous  feeling,  he  suffered  little 
restraint  in  his  audacious  pursuits,  from  the  dictates  of  religion  or 
the  remonstrances  of  conscience.  Such  was  the  character  of 
Hildebrand,  and  his  conduct  was  every  way  suitable  to  it ;  for  no 
sooner  did  he  find  himself  in  the  papal  chair,  than  he  displayed  to 
the  world  the  most  odious  marks  of  his  tyrannic  ambition.  Not 
contented  to  enlarge  the  jurisdiction,  and  to  augment  the  opulence 
of  the  See  of  Rome,  he  labored  indefatigably  to  render  the  univer- 
sal church  subject  to  the  despotic  government  and  the  arbitrary 
power  of  the  pontiff  alone,  to  dissolve  the  jurisdiction  which  kings 
and  emperors  had  hitherto  exercised  over  the  various  orders  of  the 
clergy,  and  to  exclude  them  from  all  part  in  the  management  or 
distribution  of  the  revenues  of  the  church.  Nay,  this  outrageous 
pontiff  went  still  farther,  and  impiously  attempted  to  submit  to  his 
jurisdiction  the  emperors,  kings,  and  princes  of  the  earth,  and  to 
render  their  dominions  tributary  to  the  See  of  Rome. 

§  5. — The  views  of  Hildebrand,  or  Hellbrand,  as  from  his  insane 
ambition  he  has  been  appropriately  styled,  were  not  confined  to 
the  erection  of  an  absolute  and  universal  monarchy  in  the  church  ; 
they  aimed  also  at  the  establishment  of  a  civil  monarchy  equally  ex- 
tensive and  despotic  ;  and  this  aspiring  pontiff,  after  having  drawn 
up  a  system  of  ecclesiastical  canons  for  the  government  of  the 
church,  would  have  introduced  also  a  new  code  of  political  laws, 
had  he  been  permitted  to  execute  the  plan  he  had  formed.  His 
purpose  was,  says  Mosheim,  to  engage  in  the  bonds  of  fidelity  and 
allegiance  to  St.  Peter,  i.  e.,  to  the  Roman  pontiffs,  all  the  kings 
and  princes  of  the  earth,  and  to  establish  at  Rome  an  annual  assem- 
bly of  bishops,  by  whom  the  contests  that  might  arise  between 
kingdoms  or  sovereign  states  were  to  be  decided,  the  rights  and 
pretensions  of  princes  to  be  examined,  and  the  fate  of  nations  and 
empires  to  be  determined.  The  imperious  pontiff  did  not  wholly 
succeed  in  his  ambitious  views,  for  had  his  success  been  equal  to 
his  plan,  all  the  kingdoms  of  Europe  would  have  been  this  day 
tributary  to  the  Roman  See,  and  its  princes,  the  soldiers  or  vassals 
of  St.  Peter,  in  the  person  of  his  pretended  vicar  upon  earth.  But 
though  his  most  important  projects  were  ineffectual,  yet  many  of 
his  attempts  were  crowned  with  a  favorable  issue  ;  for  from  the 
time  of  his  pontificate  the  face  of  Europe  underwent  a  considerable 
change,  and  the  prerogatives  of  the  emperors  and  other  sovereign 
princes  were  much  diminished.     It  was  particularly  under  the  ad- 


chap,  i.]       POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       241 

Pope  Gregory's  contest  with  Henry  IV.  Dispute  about  investitures. 

ministration  of  Gregory,  that  the  emperors  were  deprived  of  the 
privilege  of  ratifying,  by  their  consent,  the  election  of  the  Roman 
pontiff";  a  privilege  of  no  small  importance,  and  which  they  never 
recovered.    (Mosh.,  ii.,  484.) 

§  6. — The  contest  which  Gregory  carried  on  for  several  years 
with  the  unfortunate  emperor  Henry  IV.  affords  an  instructive  com- 
ment upon  the  deep-laid  plans  of  this  most  imperious  and  am- 
bitious pope.  Soon  after  his  election,  Gregory  was  informed  that 
Solomon,  king  of  Hungary,  dethroned  by  his  brother  Geysa,  had 
fled  to  Henry  for  protection,  and  renewed  the  homage  of  Hungary 
to  the  empire.  Gregory,  who  favored  Geysa,  exclaimed  against 
this  act  of  submission  ;  and  said  in  a  letter  to  Solomon,  "  You 
ought  to  know,  that  the  kingdom  of  Hungary  belongs  to  the  Roman 
church ;  and  learn  that  you  will  incur  the  indignation  of  the  Holy 
See,  if  you  do  not  acknowledge  that  you  hold  your  dominions  of 
the  Pope,  and  not  of  the  Emperor  /"  This  presumptuous  declaration, 
and  the  neglect  it  met  with,  brought  the  quarrel  between  the  em- 
pire and  the  church  to  a  crisis.  It  was  directed  to  Solomon,  but 
intended  for  Henry.  And  if  Gregory  could  not  succeed  in  one 
way,  he  was  resolved  that  he  would  in  another  :  he  therefore  re- 
sumed the  claim  of  investitures,  for  which  he  had  a  more  plausible 
pretence ;  and  as  that  dispute  and  its  consequences  merit  particular 
attention  we  shall  relate  briefly  the  origin  and  history  of  this 
protracted  quarrel  between  the  Pope  and  the  emperors. 

§  7. — The  investiture  of  bishops  and  abbots  commenced,  un- 
doubtedly, at  that  period  of  time  when  the  European  emperors, 
kings,  and  princes,  made  grants  to  the  clergy  of  certain  territories, 
lands,  forests,  castles,  &c.  According  to  the  laws  of  those  times, 
laws  which  still  remain  in  force,  none  were  considered  as  lawful 
possessors  of  the  lands  or  tenements  which  they  derived  from  the 
emperors  or  other  princes,  before  they  repaired  to  court,  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  their  respective  sovereigns  as  the  supreme 
proprietors,  and  received  from  their  hands  a  solemn  mark  by  which 
the  property  of  their  respective  grants  was  transferred  to  them. 
Such  was  the  manner  in  which  the  nobility,  and  those  who  had  dis- 
tinguished themselves  by  military  exploits,  were  confirmed  in  the 
possessions  which  they  owed  to  the  liberality  of  their  sovereigns. 
But  the  custom  of  investing  the  bishops  and  abbots  with  the  ring 
and  the  crosier,  which  are  the  ensigns  of  the  sacred  function,  is  of 
a  much  more  recent  date,  and  was  then  first  introduced,  when  the 
European  emperors  and  princes  assumed  to  themselves  the  power 
of  conferring  on  whom  they  pleased  the  bishoprics  and  abbeys  that 
became  vacant  in  their  dominions  ;  nay,  even  of  selling  them  to  the 
highest  bidder. 

This  power,  then,  being  once  usurped  by  the  kings  and  princes 
of  Europe,  they  at  first  confirmed  the  bishops  and  abbots  in  their 
dignities  and  possessions,  with  the  same  forms  and  ceremonies  that 
were  used  in  investing  the  counts,  knights,  and  others,  in  their 
feudal  tenures,  even  by  written  contracts,  and  the  ceremony  of 


242  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Ceremony  of  investing  bishops  with  the  ring  and  crosier. 


pres  siting  them  with  a  wand  or  bough.  And  this  custom  of  in- 
vesting the  clergy  and  the  laity  with  the  same  ceremonies  would 
have  undoubtedly  continued,  had  not  the  clergy,  to  whom  the  right 
of  electing  bishops  and  abbots  originally  belonged,  eluded  artfully 
the  usurpation  of  the  emperors  and  other  princes  by  the  following 
stratagem.  When  a  bishop  or  abbot  died,  they  who  looked  upon 
themselves  as  authorized  to  till  up  the  vacancy,  elected  immediately 
some  one  of  their  order  in  the  place  of  the  deceased,  and  were 
careful  to  have  him  consecrated  without  delay.  The  consecration 
being  thus  performed,  the  prince,  wdio  had  proposed  to  himself  the 
profit  of  selling  the  vacant  benefice,  or  the  pleasure  of  conferring 
it  upon  some  of  his  favorites,  was  obliged  to  desist  from  his  pur- 
pose, and  to  consent  to  the  election,  which  the  ceremony  of  conse- 
cration rendered  irrevocable.  No  sooner  did  the  emperors  and 
princes  perceive  this  artful  management,  than  they  turned  their  at- 
tention to  the  most  suitable  means  of  rendering  it  ineffectual,  and 
of  preserving  the  valuable  privilege  they  had  usurped.  For  this 
purpose  they  ordered,  that  as  soon  as  a  bishop  expired,  his  ring  and 
crosier  should  be  transmitted  to  the  prince  to  whose  jurisdiction  his 
diocese  was  subject.  For  it  was  by  the  solemn  delivery  of  the 
ring  and  crosier  of  the  deceased  to  the  new  bishop  that  his  election 
was  irrevocably  confirmed,  and  this  ceremony  was  an  essential  part 
of  his  consecration :  so  that  when  these  two  badges  of  the  episco- 
pal dignity  were  in  the  hands  of  the  sovereign,  the  clergy  could 
not  consecrate  the  person  whom  their  suffrages  had  appointed  to 
fill  the  vacancy. 

Thus  their  stratagem  was  defeated,  as  every  election  that  was 
not  confirmed  by  the  ceremony  of  consecration  might  be  lawfully 
annulled  and  rejected  ;  nor  was  the  bishop  qualified  to  exercise 
any  of  the  episcopal  functions  before  the  performance  of  that  im- 
portant ceremony.  As  soon  therefore  as  a  bishop  drew  his  last 
breath,  the  magistrate  of  the  city  in  which  he  had  resided,  or  the 
government  of  the  province,  seized  upon  his  ring  and  crosier,  and 
sent  them  to  court.*  The  emperor  or  prince  conferred  the  vacant 
See  upon  the  person  whom  he  had  chosen  by  delivering  to  him  these 
two  badges  of  the  episcopal  office,  after  which  the  new  bishop, 
thus  invested  by  his  sovereign,  repaired  to  his  metropolitan,  to 
whom  it  belonged  to  perform  the  ceremony  of  consecration,  and 
delivered  to  him  the  ring  and  crosier  which  he  had  received  from 
his  prince,  that  he   might  receive  it  again  from  his  hands,  and  be 

*  "  Nee  multo  post  annulus  cum  virga  pastorali  Bremensis  episcopi  ad  aiilam 
regiam  translata.  Eo  siquidem  tempore  ecclesia  liberam  electionem  non  habe- 
bant  .  .  .  sed  cum  quilibet  antistes  viam  universae  carnis  ingressus  fuisset,  mox 
capitanei  civitatis  illius  annulum  et  virgam  pastoralem  ad  Palatium  transmittebant, 
sicque  regia  auctoritate,  communicato  cum  aulicis  consilio,  orbata;  plebi  idoneum 
constituebat  prasulem  .  .  .  Post  paucos  vero  dies  rursum  annulus  et  virga  pas- 
toralis  Bambenbergensis  episcopi  Domino  imperatori  transmissa  est.  Quo  audito, 
multi  nobiles  ad  aulam  regiam  confluebant,  qui  alteram  barum  prece  vel  pretio 
eibi  comparare  tentabant."  (Ebbo's  Lile  of  Otbo,  bishop  of  Bamberg,  Lib.  i., 
J  8,  9,  in  Aclis  Sanclor.  mensis  Julii,  torn,  i.,  p.  426.) 


chap.  i.J      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.        243 

Gregory  VII.  anathematizes  lay  investitures.  Excommunicates  and  deposes  the  emperor  Henry  IV. 

thus  doubly  confirmed  in  his  sacred  function.  It  appears  therefore 
from  this  account,  that  each  new  bishop  and  abbot  received  twice 
the  ring  and  the  crosier ;  once  from  the  hands  of  the  sovereign,  and 
once  from  those  of  the  metropolitan  bishop,  by  whom  they  were 
consecrated.* 

§  8. — Considering  the  character  of  Gregory  VII.,  it  is  no  won- 
der that  he  could  ill  brook  this  conduct  of  the  emperors  in  thus  se- 
curing to  themselves  the  right  of  confirming  the  election  of  bishops 
by  the  ceremony  of  investing  them  with  the  ring  and  the  crosier. 
Accordingly,  we  find  that  in  1075,  Gregory  assembled  a  council  at 
Rome,  in  which  he  excommunicated  certain  favorites  of  Henry, 
and  pronounced  a  formal  "  anathema,  or  curse,  against  whoever 
received  the  investiture  of  a  bishopric  or  abbacy  from  the  hands  of 
a  layman,  as  also  against  those  by  wliom  the  investiture  should  be 
performed."  This  decree  was  doubtless  aimed  chiefly  at  the  Em- 
peror, who  strenuously  insisted  on  his  asserted  right  of  investiture, 
which  his  predecessors  had  enjoyed.  As  Henry  continued  to  dis- 
regard the  Pope's  decree,  Gregory  sent  two  legates  to  summon 
him  to  appear  before  him  as  a  delinquent,  because  he  still  con- 
tinued to  bestow  investitures,  notwithstanding  the  apostolic  decree 
to  the  contrary  ;  adding,  that  if  he  should  fail  to  yield  obedience  to 
the  church,  he  must  expect  to  be  excommunicated  and  dethroned. 
Incensed  at  that  arrogant  message  from  one  whom  he  considered  as 
his  vassal,  Henry  dismissed  the  legates  with  very  little  ceremony, 
and  convoked  an  assembly  of  all  the  German  princes  and  dignified 
ecclesiastics  at  Worms ;  where,  after  mature  deliberation,  they 
concluded,  that  Gregory  having  usurped  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  by 
indirect  means,  infected  the  church  of  God  with  many  novelties 
and  abuses,  and  deviated  from  his  duty  to  his  sovereign  in  several 
scandalous  attempts,  the  Emperor,  by  that  supreme  authority  de- 
rived from  his  predecessors,  ought  to  divest  him  of  his  dignity, 
and  appoint  another  in  his  place. 

§  9. — Henry  immediately  dispatched  an  ambassador  to  Rome 
with  a  formal  deprivation  of  Gregory  ;  who,  in  his  turn,  convoked 
a  council,  at  which  were  present  a  hundred  and  ten  bishops,  who 
unanimously  agreed,  that  the  Pope  had  just  cause  to  depose  Henry, 
to  dissolve  the  oath  of  allegiance  which  the  princes  and  states  had 
taken  in  his  favor,  and  to  prohibit  them  from  holding  any  cor- 
respondence with  him  on  pain  of  excommunication.  And  that  sen- 
tence was  immediately  fulminated  against  the  Emperor  and  his 
adherents.  "  In  the  name  of  Almighty  God,  and  by  your  author- 
ity," said  Gregory,  alluding  to  the  members  of  the  council,  "  I  pro- 
hibit Henry,  the  son  of  our  emperor  Henry,  from  governing  the 
Teutonic  kingdom  and  Italy  ;  /  release  all  Christians  from  their  oath 
of  allegiance  to  him  ;  and  /  strictly  forbid  all  persons  from  serving 
or  attending  him  as  king"     Thus,  says  Hallam,  Gregory  VII.  ob- 

*  For  a  full  and  learned  dissertation  on  the  subject  of  investitures,  see  Mosheim, 
vol.  ii.,  pp.  494-503,  with  references  to,  and  quotations  from,  original  authorities. 


244  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

The  Emperor  stands  three  days  at  the  gate  of  the  Pope's  palace,  before  he  is  admitted  to  his  presence. 

taincd  the  glory  of  leaving  all  his  predecessors  behind,  and  as- 
tonishing mankind  by  an  act  of  audacity  and  ambition  which  the 
most  emulous  of  his  successors   could  hardly   surpass. 

The  first  impulses  of  Henry's  mind  on  hearing  this  denunciation 
were  indignation  and  resentment.  But,  like  other  inexperienced 
and  misgUided  sovereigns,  he  had  formed  an  erroneous  calculation 
of  his  own  resources.  A  conspiracy  long  prepared,  of  which  the 
dukes  of  Swabia  and  Carinthia  were  the  chiefs,  began  to  manifest 
itself;  some  were  alienated  by  his  vices,  and  others  jealous  of  his 
family  ;  the  rebellious  Saxons  took  courage  ;  the  bishops,  intimidated 
by  excommunications,  withdrew  from  his  side  ;  and  he  suddenly 
found  himself  almost  insulated  in  the  midst  of  his  dominions.  In 
this  desertion  he  had  recourse,  through  panic,  to  a  miserable  ex- 
pedient. He  crossed  the  Alps  with  the  avowed  determination  of 
submitting,  and  seeking  absolution  from  the  Pope.  Gregory  was 
at  Canossa,  a  fortress  near  Reggio,  belonging  to  his  faithful  ad- 
herent, the  countess  Matilda.  (A.  D.  1077.)  It  was  in  a  winter  of 
unusual  severity.  The  Emperor  was  admitted,  without  his  guards, 
into  an  outer  court  of  the  castle,  and  three  successive  days  re- 
mained, from  morning  till  evening,  in  a  woollen  shirt  and  with 
naked  feet,  while  Gregory,  shut  up  with  the  tender  and  loving 
countess,  refused  to  admit  him  to  his  presence.  (See  Engraving.) 
At  length,  after  continuing  for  three  days  in  the  cold  month 
of  January,  barefoot  and  fasting,  the  humbled  Emperor  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  palace,  and  allowed  the  superlative  honor  of  kissing 
the  Pope's  toe !  The  haughty  pontiff  condescended  to  grant  him 
absolution,  but  only  upon  condition  of  appearing  on  a  certain  day 
to  learn  the  Pope's  decision,  whether  or  no  he  should  be  restored  to 
his  kingdom,  until  which  time  the  Pope  forbad  him  to  wear  the  orna- 
ments or  to  exercise  the  functions  of  royalty.  Intoxicated  with 
his  triumph,  Gregory  now  regarded  himself  as  lord  and  master  of 
all  the  crowned  heads  of  Christendom,  and  boasted  in  his  letters 
that  it  was  his  duty  "  to  pull  down  the  pride  of  kings  !" 

§  10. — The  pusillanimous  conduct  of  the  Emperor  excited  the 
indignation  of  a  large  portion  of  the  nobility  and  other  subjects  of 
the  empire,  and  they  would  probably  have  deposed  him  in  reality, 
if  he  had  not  softened  their  resentment  by  violating  his  promise  to 
the  imperious  pontiff,  and  immediately  resuming  the  title  and  the 
ensigns  of  royalty.  The  princes  of  Lombardy  especially  could 
never  forgive  cither  the  abject  humility  of  Henry,  or  the  haughty 
insolence  of  Gregory.  A  bloody  war  ensued  between  the  domestic 
German  enemies  of  Henry,  headed  by  Rodolph,  duke  of  Swabia, 
whom,  in  consequence  of  the  Pope's  sentence  of  deposition,  they 
had  crowned  as  Emperor  at  Mentz,  on  the  one  side  ;  and  the  Lom- 
bard  princes  who,  impelled  by  compassion  for  the  humbled  monarch, 
and  indignation  against  the  lordly  Pope,  had  rallied  round  the  Em- 
peror, on  the  other.  As  the  result  of  this  war  appeared  extremely 
doubtful  for  a  time,  Gr<  gory  assumed  an  appearance  of  neutrality, 
affected  to  be  displeased  that  Rodolph  had  been  consecrated  as  Em- 


Emperor  Henry  IV.  doing  Penance  at  the  Gate  of  the  Pope's  Palaee. 


chap,  i.]       POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       247 

Henry  retracts  his  submission  to  the  Pope.  Gregory  excommunicates  him  a  second  time. 

peror  without  his  order,  and  avowed  his  intention  of  acknowledging 
that  one  of  the  competitors  who  should  be  most  submissive  to  the 
Holy  See.  Henry  had  already  learned  too  much  of  the  character 
of  pope  Gregory  to  place  much  dependence  on  his  generosity,  and 
therefore,  with  renewed  courage  and  energy,  he  marched  against 
his  enemies,  and  defeated  them  in  several  engagements,  till  Gregory, 
seeing  no  hopes  of  submission,  thundered  out  a  second  sentence  of 
excommunication  against  him,  confirming  at  the  same  time  the 
election  of  Rodolph,  to  whom  he  sent  a  golden  crown,  on  which 
the  following  well  known  verse,  equally  haughty  and  puerile,  was. 
written : 

Petra  dedi  Petro,  petrus  diadema  Rodolpho. 

This  donation  was  also  accompanied  with  a  prophetic  anathema 
against  Henry,  so  wild  and  extravagant,  as  to  make  one  doubt 
whether  it  was  dictated  by  enthusiasm  or  priestcraft.  After  de- 
priving him  of  strength  in  combat,  and  condemning  him  never  to  be 
victorious,  it  concludes  with  the  following  remarkable  apostrophe 
to  St.   Peter  and  St.   Paul :  "  Make  all  men  sensible  that,  as 

YOU  CAN  BIND  AND  LOOSE  EVERYTHING  IN  HEAVEN,  YOU  CAN  ALSO  UPON 
EARTH  TAKE  FROM,  OR  GIVE  TO,  EVERY  ONE  ACCORDING  TO  HIS  DESERTS, 

EMPIRES,    KINGDOMS,    PRINCIPALITIES LET    THE    KINGS  AND    PRINCES  OF 

THE  AGE  THEN  INSTANTLY  FEEL  YOUR  POWER,  THAT  THEY  MAY  NOT 
DARE  TO  DESPISE  THE  ORDERS  OF  YOUR  CHURCH  ;  LET  YOUR  JUSTICE 
BE  SO  SPEEDILY  EXECUTED  UPON  HeNRY,  THAT  NOBODY  MAY  DOUBT 
BUT    THAT    HE   FALLS    BY    YOUR    MEANS,    AND    NOT    BY  CHANCE."       TllUS 

had  Popery  now  assumed  the  character  of  Despot  of  the  world. 

§  11. — Before  proceeding  to  relate  a  few  other  proofs  of  pope 
Gregory's  determination  to  reduce  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
and  their  sovereigns  under  his  absolute  sway,  we  will  dismiss  the 
case  of  Henry,  by  briefly  relating  the  sequel  of  his  remarkable  life. 
With  the  hopes  of  shielding  himself  from  the  effects  of  this  second 
excommunication,  the  Emperor  assembled  a  council  at  Brixen,  in 
the  Tyrol,  which  resolved  that  Hildebrand,  by  his  misconduct  and 
rebellion,  had  rendered  himself  unworthy  of  the  pontifical  throne, 
and  elected  in  his  stead,  Guibert,  archbishop  of  Ravenna,  who 
assumed  the  name  of  Clement  III.,  and  was  at  length  consecrated 
at  Rome,  but  is  not  reckoned  by  Romanists  in  the  line  of  popes. 
Notwithstanding  the  temporary  triumph  of  Henry  over  the  papal 
tyranny,  he  at  last  became  its  victim.  After  the  death  of  Gregory, 
the  succeeding  pope,  Urban  II.,  and  Paschal  II.,  unable  to  forgive 
or  forget  his  rebellion  against  the  holy  See,  seduced  two  sons  of  the 
unfortunate  emperor,  first  Conrad,  and  afterward  Henry,  to  take  up 
arms  against  their  father.  Paschal,  who  was  a  worthy  successor 
of  Hildebrand.  after  the  death  of  Conrad,  excited  the  young  Henry 
to  rebel  against  his  father,  under  pretence  of  defending  the  cause  of 
the  orthodox ;  alleging  that  he  was  bound  to  take  upon  himself  the 
reins  of  government,  as  he  could  neither  acknowledge  a  king  nor  a 
16 


248  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Papal  cruelty  to  Henry  IV.  Unnatural  conduct  of  his  son. 

father  that  was  excommunicated.*  In  vain  did  the  Emperor  use 
every  paternal  remonstrance  to  dissuade  his  son  from  proceeding  to 
extremities  :  the  breach  became  wider  and  wider,  and  both  pre- 
pared for  the  decision  of  the  sword.  But  the  son,  dreading  his 
lather's  military  superiority,  and  confiding  in  his  tenderness,  made 
use  of  a  stratagem  equally  base  and  effectual.  He  threw  himself 
unexpectedly  at  the  Emperor's  feet,  and  begged  pardon  for  his  un- 
dutiful  behavior,  which  he  imputed  to  the  advice  of  evil  counsellors. 
In  consequence  of  this  submission,  he  was  immediately  taken  into 
favor,  and  the  Emperor  dismissed  his  army.  The  ungrateful  youth 
iiow  bared  his  perfidious  heart :  he  ordered  his  father  to  be  confined ; 
while  he  assembled  a  diet  of  his  own  confederates,  at  which  the 
Pope's  legate  presided,  and  repeated  the  sentence  of  excommuni- 
cation against  the  emperor  Henry  IV.,  who  was  instantly  deposed, 
and  the  parricidous  usurper,  Henry  V.,  proclaimed  Emperor  in 
his  stead. 

§  12. — Upon  the  perpetration  of  this  unnatural  act,  two  worthy 
servants  of  the  church,  the  archbishops  of  Mentz  and  Cologne,  very 
readily  undertook  the  grateful  office  of  waiting  upon  the  old  Em- 
peror, and  demanding  his  crown  and  other  regalia.  The  unfortu- 
nate monarch  besought  them  not  to  become  abettors  of  those  who 
had  ungratefully  conspired  his  ruin,  but  finding  them  inexorable,  he 
retired  and  put  on  his  royal  ornaments  ;  then  returning  to  the 
apartment  he  had  left,  and  seating  himself  on  a  chair  of  state,  he 
renewed  his  remonstrance  in  these  words  :  "  Here  are  the  marks  of 
that  royalty,  with  which  we  were  invested  by  God  and  the  princes 
of  the  empire :  if  you  disregard  the  wrath  of  heaven,  and  the  eter- 
•  nal  reproach  of  mankind,  so  much  as  to  lay  violent  hands  on  your 
sovereign,  you  may  strip  us  of  them.  We  are  not  in  a  condition  to 
defend  ourselves."  This  speech  had  no  more  effect  than  the  former 
upon  the  unfeeling  prelates,  who  instantly  snatched  the  crown  from 
his  head ;  and,  dragging  him  from  his  chair,  pulled  off  his  royal 
robes  by  force.  While  they  were  thus  employed,  Henry  exclaimed, 
"  Great  God !" — the  tears  trickling  down  his  venerable  cheeks — 
"  thou  art  the  God  of  vengeance,  and  wilt  repay  this  outrage.  I 
have  sinned,  I  own,  and  merited  such  shame  by  the  follies  of  my 
youth  ;  but  thou  wilt  not  fail  to  punish  those  traitors,  for  their  per- 
jury, insolence,  and  ingratitude."  To  such  a  degree  of  wretched- 
ness was  this  unhappy  prince  reduced  by  the  barbarity  of  his  son, 
that,  destitute  of  the  common  necessaries  of  life,  he  entreated  the 
bishop  of  Spire,  who  owed  his  office  to  him,  to  grant  him  a  canoni- 
cate  for  his  subsistence,  representing  that  he  was  capable  of  per- 
forming the  office  of"  chanter  or  reader  !"  Being  denied  that  hum- 
ble request,  he  shed  a  flood  of  tears,  and  turning  to  those  who  were 
present,  said  with  a  deep  sigh,  "  My  dear  friends,  at  least  have  pity 
on  my  condition,  for  I  am  touched  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord  !"    The 

*  Dithmar.  Hist.  Bell,  inter  Imp.  et  Sacerdot. 


3HAP.  ii.]       POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      249 

Pope  Gregory  claims  Spain  as  belonging  to  St.  Peter. 

hand  of  man,  at  least,  was  heavy  upon  him,  for  he  was  not  only  in 
want,  but  under  confinement. 

After  the  death  of  the  unfortunate  and  deeply  afflicted  old  man, 
which  occurred  soon  after,  his  unnatural  son,  Henry  V.,  was  de- 
praved enough  to  gratify  the  papal  vengeance  still  further,  by  the 
barbarous  and  hypocritical  act  of  digging  up  the  dead  body  of  his 
poor  old  father,  from  consecrated  ground  in  the  cathedral  of  Spire, 
and  causing  it  to  be  cast  with  indignity  into  a  cave  at  Spire.  Such 
is  popish  morality,  and  such  is  the  terrible  vengeance  which  anti- 
Christian  Rome,  in  those  days  of  her  glory,  exhibited  toward  such 
as  resisted  her  authority,  or  disobeyed  her  mandates  !* 


CHAPTER  II. 

LIFE    OF    GREGORY    VII.    CONTINUED. OTHER    INSTANCES    OF    HIS    TY- 
RANNY   AND    USURPATION. 

§13. — The  life  of  Hildebrand  abounds  with  instances  of  his 
haughty  insolence  and  tyranny,  over  earthly  sovereigns  and  nations, 
almost  equalling  in  atrocity  the  above  related  history  of  his  conduct 
toward  Henry  IV.  We  shall  proceed  to  mention  a  few  of  these  as 
related  by  Bower,  upon  the  authorities  cited  at  the  foot  of  the  page. 

Not  satisfied  with  pulling  down  and  setting  up  princes,  kings, 
and  emperors,  at  his  pleasure,  Gregory,  as  King  of  Kings,  mo- 
narch of  the  world,  and  sole  lord,  both  spiritual  and  temporal, 
over  the  whole  earth,  claimed  the  sovereignty  of  all  the  kingdoms 
of  Europe,  as  having  once  belonged  to  St.  Peter,  whose  right  was 
unalienable.  Thus,  being  informed  in  the  very  beginning  of  his 
pontificate  that  count  Evulus,  a  man  of  wealth  and  power,  had 
formed  a  design  of  recovering  the  countries,  which  the  Moors  had 
seized  in  Spain,  and  was  levying  forces  with  that  view,  he  sent  car- 
dinal Hugh,  surnamed  the  White,  to  let  him  know  that  Spain  be- 
longed to  St.  Peter  before  it  was  conquered  by  the  Moors  ;  that 
though  the  infidels  had  subdued  that  country,  and  held  it  for  a  long 
course  of  years,  the  right  of  St.  Peter  still  subsisted,  there  being  no 
prescription  against  that  apostle  or  his  church,  and  that  he,  as 
supreme  lord  of  the  whole  kingdom,  not  only  approved  of  the  count's 
design,  but  granted  him  all  the  places  he  should  recover  from  the 
barbarians,  upon  condition  that  he  held  them  of  St.  Peter  and  his 
See.  In  the  letter  which  he  wrote  at  this  time,  addressed  to  all 
who  were  disposed  to  join  in  driving  the  Saracens  out  of  Spain,  he 

*  See  Russell's  Modern  Europe,  Part  i.,  Letter  22. 


250  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Claims  Peter-pence  in  France.  Claims  Hungary  also,  as  belonging  to  the  holy  See. 

forbids  any  to  enter  that  country,  who  is  not  resolved  to  hold  of  St. 
Peter  what  acquisitions  he  may  make,  as  he  had  rather  it  should 
remain  in  the  hands  of  the  infidels,  than  that  the  holy  Roman  and 
universal  church  should  be  robbed  of  her  undoubted  right  by  her 
own  children  ;*  that  is,  that  he  had  rather  Christians  in  Spain  should 
continue  under  the  oppressive  yoke  of  those  infidels,  than  be  rescued 
from  it  by  a  prince,  who  did  not  pay  homage,  as  a  vassal,  to  the 
apostolic  See.  This  letter,  dated  the  last  of  April,  1073,  and  con- 
sequently written  a  few  days  after  his  election,  shows  what  senti- 
ments Gregory  brought  with  him  to  the  pontifical  chair.  Four 
years  after  he  wrote  again  to  the  kings  and  princes  of  Spain,  re- 
newing his  claim  to  their  respective  kingdoms  and  principalities,  as 
having  belonged  to  his  See  when  the  Saracens  seized  them,  and 
requiring  those,  who  held  them,  to  pay  the  tribute  they  owed  to 
St.  Peter  as  their  sovereign  lord.f 

§  14  — With  reference  to  the  kingdom  of  France,  Gregory  pre- 
tended that  formerly  each  house  in  that  kingdom  paid  at  least  a  penny 
a  year  to  St.  Peter,  as  their  father  and  pastor,  and  that  this  sum  was, 
by  order  of  Charlemagne,  collected  yearly  at  Puy  in  Velai,  at  Aix 
la  Chapelle,  and  at  St.  Giles.  For  this  custom  the  Pope  quotes 
a  statute  of  that  Emperor,  lodged,  as  he  says,  in  the  archives  of  St. 
Peter's  church.  But  as  that  statute  is  to  be  found  nowhere  else,  it 
is  universally  looked  upon  as  a  forgery,  and  by  some  even  thought 
to  have  been  forged  by  Gregory  himself.  However,  he  ordered  his 
legates  in  France  to  exact  that  sum,  and  insist  upon  its  being  paid 
by  all,  as  a  token  of  their  subjection  to  St.  Peter  and  his  See.  J 

The  legitimate  sovereign  of  Hungary,  Solomon,  being  driven 
from  his  throne  by  Geisa,  his  cousin,  had  recourse  to  the  Emperor, 
whose  sister  he  had  married,  and  was  by  him  restored  to  his  king- 
dom, upon  condition  that  he  should  hold  it  of  him  as  h'.s  feudatory. 
This  Gregory  no  sooner  understood  than  he  wrote  to  Solomon, 
claiming  the  kingdom  of  Hungary  as  belonging  to  St.  Peter,  to 
whom  he  pretended  it  had  been  given  by  Stephen,  the  first  Christian 
king  of  the  country.  The  elders  of  your  country,  said  he,  in  his 
letter  to  the  king,  will  inform  you  that  the  kingdom  of  Hungary  is 
the  properly  of  the  holy  Roman  church,  '  sanctae  Romanse  ecclesiae 
proprium  est ;'  that  king  Stephen,  upon  his  conversion,  offered  it  to 
St.  Peter,  and  that  the  emperor  Henry,  of  holy  memory,  having 
conquered  the  country,  sent  the  lance  and  the  crown,  the  ensigns  of 
royalty,  to  the  body  of  St.  Peter.  If  it  be  true  therefore  that  you 
have  agreed  to  hold  your  kingdom  of  the  king  of  the  Germans,  and 
not  of  St.  Peter,  you  will  soon  feel  the  effects  of  the  apostle's  just 
indignation,  for  we,  who  are  his  servants  and  ministers,  cannot 
tamely  suffer  the  honor  that  is  due  to  him,  to  be  taken  from  him 
and  given  to  others.§     Solomon  was  again  driven  out  by  Geisa, 

*  Gregorii,  lib.  i.,  epist.  7. 
f  Gregorii,  lib.  iv.,  epist.  28. 
j  Gregorii,  lib.  viii.,  epist.  25. 
$  Gregorii,  lib.  ii.,  epist.  13. 


chap,  ii.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      251 


The  Pope  claims  Corsica  and  Sardinia  as  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter.  Dalmatia  and  Russia. 

which  Gregory  construed  into  a  judgment  for  the  injustice  he  had 
done  to  St.  Peter,  telling  the  usurper  that  the  prince  of  the  apostles 
had  given  the  kingdom  to  him,  as  Solomon  had  forfeited  all  right  to 
it  by  rebelling  against  the  holy  Roman  church,  and  paying  that 
homage  to  the  king  of  Germany,  which  was  due  to  none  but  her  and 
her  founder.*  Geisa,  thus  countenanced  by  the  Pope  in  his  usurpa- 
tion, held  the  kingdom  of  Germany  until  the  hour  of  his  death,  which 
happened  in  1077.  He  was  succeeded  by  Ladislaus,  who,  to  avoid 
the  disturbances  which  he  was  sensible  the  Pope  would  raise  and 
foment  among  his  subjects,  if  he  held  not  his  kingdom  of  him,  imme- 
diately acknowledged  himself  for  his  vassal,  declaring  that  he  owed 
his  power  to  God,  and  under  him  to  none  but  St.  Peter,  whose  com- 
mands he  should  ever  readily  obey,  when  signified  to  him  by  his 
successors  in  the  apostolic  See. 

§  15. — The  two  islands  of  Corsica  and  Sardinia  he  claimed  as 
the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  pretending  that  they  had  been  formerly 
given,  nobody  knows  when  nor  by  whom,  to  the  apostolic  See. 
Hence  he  no  sooner  heard  that  the  Christians  had  gained  consider- 
able advantages  in  Corsica  over  the  Saracens,  and  recovered 
great  part  of  that  island,  than  he  sent  a  legate  to  govern  the  coun- 
tries, which  they  had  recovered,  as  the  demesnes  of  his  See,  to  en- 
courage them  in  so  laudable  an  undertaking,  and  assure  them  that 
he  would  assist  them,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  with  men  as  well 
as  with  money,  till  they  had  reduced  the  whole  island,  provided 
they  engaged  to  restore  it  to  its  lawful  owner,  St.  Peter.f 

In  order  to  subject  Dalmatia  to  the  Roman  See,  Gregory  confer- 
red the  title  of  king  upon  Demetrius,  duke  of  that  country,  obliging 
him,  on  that  occasion,  to  swear  allegiance  to  him  and  his  successors 
in  the  See  of  St.  Peter.  That  oath  the  Pope's  legate  required  upon 
delivering  to  the  duke,  in  the  Pope's  name,  a  standard,  a  sword,  a 
sceptre,  and  a  royal  diadem.  The  new  king  at  the  same  time 
promised  to  pay  yearly  on  Easter-day  two  hundred  pieces  of  silver 
to  the  holy  pope  Gregory,  and  his  successors  lawfully  elected  as 
supreme  lords  of  the  kingdom  of  Dalmatia  ;  to  assist  them,  when 
required,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power ;  to  receive,  entertain,  and  obey 
their  legates  ;  to  reveal  no  secrets  that  they  should  trust  him  with, 
but  to  behave  on  all  occasions,  as  became  a  true  son  of  the  holy 
Roman  church,  and  a  faithful  vassal  of  the  apostolic  See.  J 

Demetrius  was  at  that  time  king  of  Russia,  and  his  son  coming 
to  Rome  to  visit  the  tombs  of  the  apostles,  Gregory  made  him 
partner  with  his  father  in  the  kingdom,  requiring  him  on  that  occa- 
sion, to  take  an  oath  of  fealty  to  St.  Peter,  and  his  successors.  This 
step  the  Pope  pretended  to  have  taken  at  the  request  of  the  son, 
who,  he  said,  had  applied  to  him,  being  desirous  to  receive  the  king- 
dom from  St.  Peter,  and  to  hold  it  as  a  gift  of  that  apostle.     The 

*  Gregorii,  lib.  ii.,  epist.  2. 
f  Gregorii,  lib.  v.,  epist.  24. 
X  Baron,  ad  An.  1076 


^52 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  LB00K  v- 


Gregory  Ies9  successful  with  king  William  of  England. 


Pope  added  in  his  letter  to  the  King,  that  he  had  complied  with  the 
request  of  his  son,  not  doubting  but  it  would  be  approved  of  by  him 
and  all  the  lords  of  his  kingdom,  since  the  prince  of  the  apostles 
would  thenceforth  bok  upon  their  country  and  defend  it  as  his  own.' 

The  despotic,  views  of  this  lordly  pontiff*  were  attended  with 
less  success  in  England,  than  in  any  other  country.  William  the 
Conqueror  was  a  prince  of  great  spirit  and  resolution,  extremely 
jealous  of  his  rights,  and  tenacious  of  the  prerogatives  he  enjoyed 
as  a  sovereign  and  independent  monarch,  and  accordingly,  when 
Gregory  wrote  him  a  letter  demanding  the  arrears  of  the  Peter- 
pence,  and  at  the  same  time  summoning  him  to  do  homage  for  the 
kingdom  of  England,  as  a  fief  of  the  apostolic  See,  William  granted 
thc^former,  but  refused  the  latter,  with  a  bold  obstinacy,  declaring 
that  he  held  his  kingdom  of  his  God  only,  and  his  own  sword.f 

§  16. — Mr.  Bower  relates  similar  instances  of  Gregory's  haughty 
assumption  toward  the  sovereigns  of  Denmark,  Poland,  Saxony,  as 
well  as  various  principalities  of  Italy,  who  were  compelled  by  the 
spiritual  tyrant  to  acknowledge  themselves  as  his  vassals,  but  the 
above  are  certainly  sufficient  to  demonstrate  the  all-grasping  ambi- 
tion of  this  pontiff/and  his  settled  plan  of  reducing  all  kingdoms  into 
one  vast  monarchy,  of  which  the  prince  of  the  apostles  should  be 
the  sovereign  and  head. 

"Gregory  was,"  remarks  the  same  historian,  "to  do  him  jus- 
tice, a  man  of  most  extraordinary  parts,  of  most  uncommon  abili- 
ties, both  natural  and  acquired,  and  would  have  had  at  least  as 
good  a  claim  to  the  surname  of  Great,  as  either  Gregory  or  Leo, 
had  he  not,  led  by  an  ambition  the  world  never  heard  of  before, 
grossly-  misapplied  those  great  talents  to  the  most  wicked  purposes. 
to  the  establishing  of  an  uncontrolled  tyranny  over  mankind,  of 
making  himself  the  sole  lord,  spiritual  and  temporal,  over  the  whole 
earth,  becoming  by  that,  means  sole  disposer,  not  only  of  all  ecclesi- 
astical dignities  and  preferments,  but  of  Empires,  States,  and  King- 
doms. That  he  had  nothing  less  in  his  view,  sufficiently  appears 
from  his  whole  conduct,  from  his  letters,  and  from  a  famous  piece 
entitle  Dictatus  Papae,  containing  his  maxims." J  This  piece,  which 
is  found  in  the  55th  letter  of  the  second  book  of  Gregory's  epistles, 
contains  his  twenty-seven  celebrated  propositions,  among  which  are 
the  following : 

The  Roman  pontiff  alone  should  of  right  be  styled  Universal 
Bishop. 

*  Gregorii,  lib.  ii.,  epist.  74. 

f  For  the  letter  of  William,  see  Collier's  Ecclesiastical  History,  in  the  Collec- 
tion of  Records,  at  the  end  of  the  first  volume,  p.  713,  No.  12.  "  Hubertus  legatas 
tuus,"  says  king  William,  to  the  audacious  pontiff,  ';  admonuit  me,  quatenus  tibi  et 
successoribus  tuis  fidelitatem  facerem,  et  de  pecunia,  quam  antecessores  mei  ad 
ecclesiam  mittere  solebant,  melius  cogitarem.  Unam  admisi,  alterum  non  admisi. 
Fidelitatem  facere  nolui  nee  volo,"  &c. 

X  Bower,  in  vita  Greg.  VII. 


chap,  n.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.   1073-1303.         253 


Dictates  of  Hildebrand.  Advocated  and  defended  by  Romanist  authors. 

No  man  ought  to  live  in  the  same  house  with  persons  excommu- 
nicated by  the  Pope. 

The  Pope  alone  can  wear  the  imperial  ornaments. 

All  princes  are  to  kiss  his  foot,  and  pay  that  mark  of  distinction 
to  him  alone. 

It  is  lawful  for  him  to  depose  emperors. 

No  general  council  is  to  be  assembled  without  his  order. 

His  judgment  no  man  can  reverse,  but  he  can  reverse  all  other 
judgments. 

He  is  to  be  judged  by  no  man. 

No  man  shall  presume  to  condemn  the  person  that  appeals  to  the 
apostolic  See. 

The  Roman  church  has  never  erred,  nor  will  she  ever  err,  ac- 
cording to  Scripture. 

He  can  depose  and  restore  bishops  without  assembling  a  synod. 

The  Pope  can  absolve  subjects  from  the  oath  of  allegiance  which 
they  have  taken  to  a  bad  prince. 

§  17. — The  genuineness  of  these  dictates  of  Hildebrand,  as  they 
are  called,  is  testified  by  several  of  the  most  famous  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  writers,  Harduin,  Baronius,  Lupus  and  others.  Cardinal 
Baronius  (An.  1076)  not  only  admits  the  genuineness  of  these  sen- 
tences, but  says  that  the  same  doctrine  was  received  in  the  Romish 
church  down  to  his  day  (about  1609).  His  words  are,  "  Istas 
hactenus  in  ecclesiae  catholicre  usu  receptas  fuisse."  Lupus, 
another  Romish  writer,  has  given  an  ample  commentary  on  them, 
and  regards  them  as  both  authentic  and  sacred.*  Whether,  how- 
ever, they  were  written  in  this  present  form  by  Gregory,  or  were 
extracted  by  some  other  author  from  his  epistles,  as  Mosheim  seems 
to  suppose,  is  a  matter  of  but  small  importance.  The  whole  life 
of  that  haughty  and  imperious  spiritual  and  temporal  despot,  is  a 
proof  that  he  believed  and  acted  upon  these  principles.  In  the 
epistles  of  Gregory,  he  more  than  once  undertakes  a  labored  de- 
fence of  the  doctrine  that  all  earthly  governments,  nations,  sove- 
reigns and  rulers  are  subject  to  the  Pope,  and  after  referring  to 
several  instances  in  which  he  asserts  this  subjection  had  been  pre- 
viously recognized  and  acted  upon,  he  proceeds  to  prove  it  by  the 
following  reasons  : 

(1.)  The  apostolic  See  has  received  of  our  Saviour  the  power  of 
judging  spiritual  matters,  and  consequently  that  of  judging  tem- 
poral concerns,  which  is  a  power  of  an  inferior  degree. 

(2.)  When  our  Saviour  said  to  St.  Peter.  Feed  my  sheep,  when 
he  granted  him  the  power  of  loosing  and  binding,  he  did  not  except 
kings. 

(3.)  The  episcopal  dignity  is  of  divine  institution  ;  the  royal  is 
the  invention  of  men,  and  owes  its  origin  to  pride  and  ambition. 
As  bishops  therefore  are  above  kings  as  well  as  above  all  other 
men,  they  may  judge  them  as  well  as  other  men.f 

*  Lupus — Note  et  Dissertationes  in  Concilia,  torn,  iv.,  p.  164. 
f  Greg,  epist.,  Lib.  ii.,  epist.  10,  11,  12. 


254  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


The  tyrannical  doctrines  of  Hildeurand  advocated  in  the  nineteenth  century. 


Many  popish  writers  of  eminence  have  advocated  these  doc- 
trines. Thus  Bellarmine  asserts  that  though  Christ  exercised  no 
temporal  power  himself,  yet  he  vested  St.  Peter,  the  prince  of  the 
apostles  and  his  successors,  with  all  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual 
power,  leaving  him  and  them  at  full  liberty  to  exert  it,  when  thought 
expedient  and  necessary  for  the  good  of  his  church.  Probably 
amidst  the  light  and  intelligence  of  the  nineteenth  century  it  is  not 
thought  expedient  for  the  good  of  the  church  to  advocate  or  prac- 
tise these  doctrines  of  the  infallible  pope  Gregory,  at  least  in  the 
United  States.  Yet  it  ought  to  be  known,  that  so  late  as  the  year 
1819,  a  volume  appeared,  from  the  pen  of  an  Italian  Catholic,  De 
Maistre,  which  has  since  often  been  reprinted,  advocating  to  the 
fullest  extent  the  doctrines  of  pope  Gregory,  maintaining  that  kings 
are  but  delegates  of  the  Holy  See  ;  that  the  Roman  pontiffs  have 
power  to  depose  them  at  will,  and  even  prescribing  a  form  of  peti- 
tion which  nations  should  address  to  his  holiness,  when  they  wish 
their  sovereign  to  be  dethroned.  It  is  worthy  to  be  known  also  by 
Americans,  that  this  spiritual  despot  who  maintained  the  right  of  the 
Roman  See  to  trample  at  will  upon  the  governments  of  the  earth 
is  enrolled  in  the  Roman  Catholic  calendar  as  a  Saint,  and  as 
such  reverenced  and  honored,  even  in  the  land  of  Washington, 
with  all  due  worship  on  a  day  annually  set  apart  for  that  purpose. 
In  an  edition  of  that  standard  popish  book  of  devotion,  called  "  the 
Garden  of  the  Soul,"  now  lying  before  me,  published  in  New  York, 
1844,  "  with  the  approbation  of  the  Right  Reverend  Dr.  Hughes, 
bishop  of  New  York,"  in  the  calendar  of  the  saints'  days,  I  find  the 
twenty-fifth  of  May  designated  as  the  day  set  apart  in  honor  of 
Saint  Gregory  VII  !* 

§  18. — We  have  now  traced  the  march  of  priestly  and  popish 
usurpation  from  the  earliest  attempts  of  ambitious  ecclesiastics  to 
domineer  over  their  brethren,  and  to  usurp  the  prerogatives  of  HIM 
who  has  said,  "  one  is  your  master,  even  Christ,  and  all  ye  are 
brethren."  We  have  seen  the  gradual  steps  by  which  the  power 
of  ambitious  prelates  in  general,  and  of  the  bishop  of  Rome  in 
particular,  was  increased,  till  the  spiritual  supremacy  of  the  Pope 
was  established  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventh  century.  We  have 
followed  these  haughty  tyrants  in  their  career  of  ambition,  till  a 
century  and  a  half  later  they  united  the  crown  to  the  mitre,  the 
sceptre  to  the  crosier,  and  took  their  place  among  the  temporal 
sovereigns  of  the  world,  till  at  last  in  the  eleventh  century  they 
reached  the  climax  of  their  power  and  usurpation,  under  the  reign 
of  Saint  Gregory  VII.  We  cannot  better  close  the  present  chap- 
ter than  by  quoting  from  the  learned  Deylingius  the  following 
eleven  propositions  in  relation  to  the  rise  of  this  power;  which  he 
has  sustained,  beyond  contradiction,  by  a  vast  amount  of  erudition 
and  research  in  a  disquisition  occupying  117  pages.  The  reader 
will  perceive,  that  though  quoted  in  the  language  of  another,  these 

*  See  also  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  Antwerp,  ad  d.  xxv.  Maii. 


chap,  ii.]       POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       255 


The  learned  Deylingius's  account  of  the  gradual  rise  of  the  popes'  tyrannical  power. 

propositions  constitute  a  comprehensive  summary  of  the  historical 
account,  which  we  have  given  in  the  preceding  pages,  of  the  gra- 
dual and  successive  steps  by  which  the  despotic  power  of  the  popes 
was  eventually  established. 

"  Proposition  1.  Christ  did  not  institute  in  his  church  any  sacred 
dominion,  and  much  less  a  monarchical  government,  such  as  the 
Roman  prelates  diwing  a  long  period  have  claimed  and  usurped. 

"2.  In  the  beginning,  all  the  ministers  of  the  church  were  equal ; 
and  bishops  before  the  second  century,  after  the  birth  of  Christ, 
were  not  exalted  above  presbyters  ;  nor  did  they  arrogate  to  them- 
selves any  peculiar  duties  or  privileges  of  the  sacred  office. 

"  3.  Although  the  government  and  the  jurisdiction  of  the  church 
at  that  period  were  not  in  bishops  alone,  but  the  presbyters  and 
deacons,  with  the  whole  assembly,  participated  in  the  rule  and  de- 
termination of  affairs ;  yet  the  authority  of  the  prelates  gradually 
and  rapidly  obtained  a  large  increase. 

"  4.  All  bishops  then  were  equal,  nor  had  the  Roman  bishop  or 
any  other  the  least  right  or  precedence  over  his  brethren. 

"  5.  In  the  third  century  after  the  Saviour,  metropolitans  arose  ; 
who  were  placed  in  the  principal  city  of  the  province,  so  that  the 
other  prelates  in  the  same  province  by  degrees  became  subject  to 
their  jurisdiction. 

"6.  Whatever  prerogatives  of  bishops,  and  distinction  of  au- 
thority and  power,  then  were  admitted,  were  derived  solely  from 
the  dignity  of  the  city  where  they  presided. 

"  7.  Although  the  metropolitan  dignity  was  supreme  after  the 
council  of  Nice  (in  325),  yet  there  were  three  chiefs,  the  Roman, 
Alexandrian,  and  the  Antiochian,  each  of  whom  ruled  his  own  dio- 
cese unrestricted,  and  neither  of  them  possessed  any  right  or  power 
more  than  the  others. 

"  8.  In  the  fourth  century  of  the  Christian  church,  the  Roman 
pontiff  was  not  patriarch  of  all  Western  Europe,  much  less  was  he 
head  and  monarch  of  the  whole  church ;  but  only  a  particular  pre- 
late, not  superior  to  other  metropolitans,  exarchs,  or  primates. 

"  9.  After  the  peace  granted  to  the  churches  by  Constantine,  the 
luxury  and  pomp  of  the  bishops  greatly  increased  ;  and  especially 
the  ambition,  authority,  and  power  of  the  Roman  prelate  were  ex- 
tended, so  that  they  could  not  be  restrained  within  the  limits  of  the 
suburban  cities ;  but  by  various  artifices,  they  continually  became 
more  amplified. 

"  10.  At  length  the  Roman  prelates,  not  content  with  having  ob- 
tained the  primacy  of  order  among  the  other  hierarchs,  endeavored 
to  establish  their  authority  in  both  divisions  of  the  empire.  After 
long  and  severe  strife  with  the  Constantinopolitan  patriarch,  by  the 
parricide  of  Phocas,  they  obtained  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop  ; 
and  extended  their  jurisdiction,  but  could  not  grasp  domination  over 
all  the  church,  because  they  were  opposed  by  the  authority  of  em- 
perors and  councils. 

"11.  Finally,  in  the  eleventh  century  after  Christ,  the  power  of 


256  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  Ibook  v. 

Sprinkling  with  ashes  on  Ash-Wednesday. 


the  Roman  pontiff,  by  the  ferocity  of  pope  Gregory  VIL,  was  car- 
ried to  its  utmost  extent :  and  the  nominal  Christian  church,  through 
the  debasement  of  the  imperial  and  royal  prerogatives,  were  forced 
to  submit  their  necks  to  the  yoke  of  the  despotic  court  of  Rome."* 


CHAPTER  III. 

POPE    URBAN    AND    THE    CRUSADES. 

§  19. — Upon  the  death  of  pope  Gregory,  which  took  place  at  Sa- 
lemum,  in  1085,  the  faction  which  supported  his  measures  proceeded 
to  the  election  of  a  successor,  who  assumed  the  title  of  Victor  III., 
while  Clement  III.,  who,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  had  been 
elected  by  the  Emperor's  party  at  the  council  of  Brixen,  was  ac- 
knowledged as  pope  by  a  great  part  of  Italy,  and  continued  to  main- 
tain his  pretensions  to  the  papal  throne  till  his  death,  in  1100,  that 
is,  during  the  whole  of  the  pontificates  of  Victor  III.  and  Urban  II. 
Thus,  as  in  many  other  instances,  both  in  earlier  and  later  times, 
were  there  rival  competitors  for  the  popedom,  hurling  defiance  and 
anathemas  at  each  other,  and  each  at  the  same  time  claiming  to  be 
the  vicegerent  of  God  upon  earth,  and  the  infallible  and  authoritative 
interpreter  of  the  will  of  God  to  man. 

During  the  pontificate  of  Urban,  in  the  year  1091,  it  was  enacted 
in  a  council  held  at  Benevento,  among  other  superstitious  ceremo- 
nies, that  on  the  Wednesday  which  was  the  first  day  of  the  fast  of 
Lent,  the  faithful  laymen  as  well  as  clerks,  women  as  well  as  men, 
should  have  their  heads  sprinkled  with  ashes,  "  a  ceremony,"  says 
Bower, "  that  is  observed  to  this  day."f  Ash-Wednesday,  so  called 
from  the  ceremony  of  giving  the  ashes,  is  the  fortieth  day  be- 
fore Easter  vSunday,  and  the  Romish  fast  of  Lent  continues 
during  the  whole  of  this  interval.  The  ashes  used  at  this  ceremony 
must  be  made  from  the  branches  of  the  olive  or  palm  that  was 
"blessed"  (to  use  the  unmeaning  language  of  Popery),  on  the  Palm 
Sunday  of  the  preceding  year.  The  priest  blesses  the  ashes  by 
making  on  them  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  perfuming  them  with 
incens<\  The  ashes  are  first  laid  on  the  head  of  the  officiating 
priest  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  by  another  priest.  After  he  has  re- 
ceived the  ashes  himself,  he  then  gives  them  to  his  assistants  and 
the  other  clergy  present,  after  which  the  congregation,  women  as 
well  as  men,  one  after  another,  approach  the  altar,  kneel  before  the 
priest,  and  receive  this  "  mark  of  the  beast "  on  their  foreheads. 
(See  Engraving.) 

*  Deylingii  Observationum  Sacrarum,  pars  i.,  exercit.  6. 
f  Bower,  in  vita  Urban  II. 


Marking  the 


foreheads  of  the  people  with  ashes  on  Ash -Wednesday 


The  ceremony  of  Incensing  a  Cross. 


chap,  in.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       259 


Ceremony  of  incensing  a  cross.  Councils  of  Piucenlia  and  Clermont,  in  1095. 

The  other  engraving  represents  the  popish  custom  of  incensing  a 
new  cross.  All  crosses  designed  for  public  places,  for  high  roads 
and  cross  ways,  as  they  are  seen  in  popish  countries,  and  for  the 
tops  of  Romish  chapels,  where  one  is  always  placed,  are  conse- 
crated with  much  ceremony.  Candles  are  first  lighted  at  the  foot 
of  the  cross,  after  which  the  celebrant,  having  on  his  pontifical  orna- 
ments, sits  down  before  the  cross,  and  makes  a  discourse  to  the 
people  upon  its  excellence  ;  after  which  prayers  and  anthems  fol- 
low. Then  he  sprinkles  and  afterward  incenses  the  cross,  as  repre- 
sented in  the  engraving  ;  which  being  performed,  candles  are  set 
upon  the  top  of  each  arm  of  the  cross.  In  the  engraving,  two  of 
the  attendants  are  seen  with  the  candles  lighted  and  prepared,  when 
the  childish  and  unmeaning  ceremony  is  over,  to  affix  them  on  the 
two  arms  of  the  cross.  How  long  the  candles  remain  there,  before 
the  piece  of  wood  is  regarded  as  sufficiently  holy  for  its  contem- 
plated destination,  I  am  unable  to  say. 

§  20. — Pope  Urban,  though  inferior  in  ability  and  courage  to  the 
imperious  Hildebrand,  was  yet  fully  equal  to  him  in  pride  and  arro- 
gance. At  a  council  held  at  Placentia,  in  1095,  he  confirmed  all 
the  laws  and  anathemas  enacted  by  Gregory,  to  terrify  and  to  crush 
the  rebels  to  the  holy  See,  and  at  the  council  of  Clermont,  held  in 
November  of  the  same  year,  Urban  proceeded  a  step  further  than 
even  Gregory  had  done,  by  enacting  a  decree  forbidding  the  bish- 
ops and  the  rest  of  the  clergy  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  their 
respective  kings  or  governments.  '  Ne  episcopus  vel  sacerdos  regi 
vel  alicui  laico  in  manibus  ligiam  fidelitatem  faciunt.'  The  council 
of  Clermont,  just  mentioned,  has  become  celebrated  in  history  from 
the  fact  that  through  the  persuasions  of  Peter  the  hermit,  pope  Urban 
resolved,  on  this  occasion,  upon  the  commencement  of  those  expe- 
ditions to  the  holy  land  called  the  Crusades. 

The  object  of  these  holy  wars,  which  occupy  so  conspicuous  a 
figure  in  the  history  of  the  period  of  which  we  are  now  treating,  was 
the  recovery  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  holy  sepulchre,  from 
the  hands  of  the  Turkish  infidels,  by  whom  it  had  been  taken  in  the 
year  1065.  For  centuries  past,  the  practice  had  prevailed  of  mak- 
ing pilgrimages  to  Jerusalem.  In  the  tenth  century,  this  custom 
had  much  increased,  and  had  become  almost  universal,  from  a  gen- 
eral belief  which  prevailed  of  the  near  approach  of  the  end  of  the 
world,  arising  from  a  misinterpretation  of  Rev.,  chap,  xx.,  2-5. 
Toward  the  conclusion  of  the  century,  crowds  of  men  and  women 
flocked  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  to  Jerusalem,  in  the  frantic  hope 
of  expiating  their  sins  by  the  long  and  painful  journey  to  the  Holy 
land.  When  the  dreaded  epoch  assigned  by  these  misguided  indi- 
viduals, for  the  end  of  the  world,  had  passed  by,  the  current  of 
pilgrimages  still  continued  to  flow  on  in  the  direction  it  had  taken, 
and  that  too  in  spite  of  the  heavy  tax  of  a  piece  of  gold  per  head 
laid  upon  the  pilgrims,  and  the  brutal  cruelties  and  indignities  to 
which  they  were  often  exposed,  from  the  barbarians  and  infidel 
conquerors  of  the  holy  city.  Thus  it  appears  that  among  the  causes 
which  eventually  gave  birth  to  the  Crusades,  was  the  wide-spread 


260  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Popular  anil  wide  spread  panic  of  the  end  of  the  world,  in  the  year  1000. 


delusion  of  the  immediate  conflagration  of  the  world,  in  the  year 
one  thousand  of  the  Christian  era.* 

*  The  language  in  which  Mosheim  relates  the  effects  of  tin's  wide-spread  delusion, 
is  so  striking,  and  the  lesson  it  teaches  so  important,  viz. :  the  lolly  of  attempting 
to  be  wise  above  what  is  written,  or  to  fathom  what  Cod  has  wisely  concealed, 
viz. :  the  time  of  the  end  of  the  world,  that  I  shall  embrace  the  opportunity  of 
quoting  it  in  the  present  note.  Speaking  of  the  darkness  of  the  tenth  century, 
when  this  opinion  was  propagated,  he  says,  "That  the  whole  Christian  world  was 
covered  at  this  time,  with  a  thick  and  gloomy  veil  of  superstition,  is  evident  from 
a  prodigious  number  of  testimonies  and  examples  which  it  is  needless  to  mention. 
This  horrible  cloud,  which  hid  almost  every  ray  of  truth  from  the  eyes  of  the  mul- 
titude, furnished  a  favorable  opportunity  to  the  priests  and  monks  of  propagating 
many  absurd  and  ridiculous  opinions,  which  dishonored  so  frequently  the  Latin 
church,  and  produced  from  time  to  time  such  violent  agitations.  None  occasioned 
such  a  universal  panic,  nor  such  dreadful  impressions  of  terror  and  dismay,  as  the 
notion  that  now  prevailed,  of  the  immediate  approach  of  the  day  of  judgment. 
Hence  prodigious  numbers  of  people  abandoned  all  their  civil  connexions,  and  their 
parental  relations,  and  giving  over  to  the  churches  or  monasteries  all  their  lands, 
treasures,  and  worldly  effects,  repaired  with  the  utmost  precipitation  to  Palestine, 
where  they  imagined  that  Christ  would  descend  from  heaven  to  judge  the  world. 
Others  devoted  themselves  by  a  solemn  and  voluntary  oath  to  the  service  of  the 
churches,  convents,  and  priesthood,  whose  slaves  they  became,  in  the  most  rigor- 
ous sense  of  that  word,  performing  daily  their  heavy  tasks ;  and  all  this  from  a 
notion  that  the  Supreme  Judge  would  diminish  the  severity  of  their  sentence,  and 
look  upon  them  with  a  more  favorable  and  propitious  eye,  on  account  of  their  hav- 
ing made  themselves  the  slaves  of  his  ministers.  When  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  or 
moon  happened  to  be  visible,  the  cities  were  deserted,  and  their  miserable  inhabit- 
ants fled  for  refuge  to  hollow  caverns,  and  hid  themselves  among  the  craggy 
rocks,  and  under  the  bending  summits  of  steep  mountains.  The  opulent  attempted 
to  bribe  the  Deity,  and  the  saintly  tribe,  by  rich  donations  conferred  upon  the 
sacerdotal  and  monastic  orders,  who  were  looked  upon  as  the  immediate  vicege- 
rents of  heaven.  In  many  places,  temples,  palaces,  and  noble  edifices,  both  public 
and  private,  were  suffered  to  decay,  nay,  were  deliberately  pulled  down,  from  a 
notion  that  they  were  no  longer  of  any  use,  since  the  final  dissolution  of  all  things 
was  at  hand.  In  a  word,  no  language  is  sufficient  to  express  the  confusion  and 
despair  that  tormented  the  minds  of  miserable  mortals  upon  this  occasion.  This 
general  delusion  was  indeed  opposed  and  combated  by  the  discerning  few,  who 
endeavored  to  dispel  these  groundless  terrors,  and  to  efface  the  notion  from  which 
they  arose,  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  But  their  attempts  were  ineffectual ;  nor 
could  the  dreadful  apprehensions  of  the  superstitious  multitude  be  entirely  removed 
before  the  conclusion  of  this  century."  As  an  undeniable  evidence,  both  of  the 
existence  of  this  panic,  and  of  its  profitable  results  to  its  artful  propagators  and 
fomenters,  may  be  mentioned  the  fact  that  almost  all  the  donations  that  were  made 
to  the  church  about  this  time,  assign  as  the  cause  of  the  donation,  and  the  motive 
of  the  donor,  the  fact  that  the  end  of  the  world  was  just  now  at  hand,  and  that 
therefore,  of  course,  the  property  would  be  no  longer  of  value.  They  generally 
commenced  with  these  words :  "  Appropim/unnle  rnundi  termino,  c^-c."  i.  e.,  the 
end  of  the  world  being  now  at  hand,  tj|-c.  {Mosheim,  ii.,  page  410.)  Similar  panics 
to  the  above,  originating  from  the  presumption  of  ignorant  and  visionary  men,  who 
have  predicted  the  day  and  the  hour,  or  at  least  the  year  of  the  world's  conflagra- 
tion, are  not  peculiar  to  the  dark  ages.  They  have  been  produced  to  a  more  limited 
extent  in  different  countries  and  in  various  ages  of  the  world,  but  in  no  one  in- 
stance on  record  has  the  delusion  been  so  universal  as  amid  the  gloom  of  this  mid- 
night of  the  world.  The  extent  to  which  such  infatuations  have  prevailed,  has  in- 
variably been  proportioned  to  the  degree  of  the  darkness  and  ignorance  existing  in 
the  field  of  their  propagation.  Amid  the  enlightenment  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
there  is  but  little  danger  of  delusions  of  this  kind  shaking  the  universal  foundations 
of  society  as  they  did  in  the  tenth,  or,  if  they  exist  at  all,  extending  beyond  the  very 
narrow  circle  of  the  credulous  and  unenlightened  portion  of  the  community. 


chap,  m.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.         261 


Peter  the  hermit  returns  from  Palestine,  and  engages  pope  Urban  to  sanction  a  Crusade. 

Of  many  thousands  who  passed  into  Asia,  says  a  recent  histo- 
rian of  the  Crusades,*  a  few  isolated  individuals  only  returned  ;  but 
these  every  day,  as  they  passed  through  the  different  countries  of 
Europe,  on  their  journey  back,  spread  indignation  and  horror  by 
their  account  of  the  dreadful  sufferings  of  the  Christians  in  Judea 
Various  letters  are  reported  as  having  been  sent  by  the  emperors  o 
the  East,  to  the  different  princes  of  Europe,  soliciting  aid  to  repel 
the  encroachments  of  the  infidel ;  and  if  but  a  very  small  portion  of 
the  crimes  and  cruelty  attributed  to  the  Turks  by  these  epistles,  were 
believed  by  the  Christians,  it  is  not  at  all  astonishing  that  wrath  and 
horror  took  possession  of  every  chivalrous  bosom.  The  lightning 
of  the  crusade  was  in  the  people's  hearts,  and  it  wanted  but  one 
electric  touch  to  make  it  flash  forth  upon  the  world. 

§21. — At  this  time  a  man,  of  whose  early  days  we  have  no 
authentic  knowledge,  but  that  he  was  born  at  Amiens,  and  from  a 
soldier  had  become  a  priest,  after  living  for  some  time  a  hermit, 
became  seized  with  the  desire  of  visiting  Jerusalem.  Peter  the 
hermit  was,  according  to  all  accounts,  small  in  stature  and  mean  in 
person  ;  but  his  eyes  possessed  a  peculiar  fire  and  intelligence,  and 
his  eloquence  was  powerful  and  flowing.  Peter  accomplished  in 
safety  his  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  paid  the  piece  of  gold  demanded 
at  the  gates,  and  took  up  his  lodging  in  the  house  of  one  of  the 
pious  Christians  of  the  holy  city.  Here  his  first  emotion  seems  to 
have  been  indignant  horror  at  the  barbarous  and  sacrilegious  bru- 
tality of  the  Turks.  The  venerable  prelate  of  Tyre  represents 
him  as  conferring  eagerly  with  his  host  upon  the  enormous  cru- 
elties of  the  infidels,  even  before  visiting  the  general  objects  of 
devotion.  Doubtless  the  ardent,  passionate,  enthusiastic  mind  of 
Peter  had  been  wrought  upon  at  every  step  he  took  in  the  holy 
land,  by  the  miserable  state  of  his  brethren,  till  his  feelings  and 
imagination  became  excited  to  almost  frantic  vehemence. 

Upon  the  return  of  Peter  to  Italy,  he  immediately  sought  the  pon- 
tiff Urban,  and  laid  before  him  such  a  touching  recital  of  the  suffer- 
ing pilgrims  in  the  holy  land,  as  brought  tears  from  his  eyes ;  the 
general  scheme  of  the  crusade  was  sanctioned  instantly,  by  his 
authority  ;  and,  promising  his  quick  and  active  concurrence,  he  sent 
the  pilgrim  to  preach  the  deliverance  of  the  holy  land,  through  all 
the  countries  of  Europe.  Peter  wanted  neither  zeal  nor  activity — 
from  town  to  town,  from  province  to  province,  from  country  to 
country,  he  spread  the  cry  of  vengeance  on  the  Turks,  and  deliver- 
ance to  Jerusalem  !  The  warlike  spirit  of  the  people  was  at  its 
height ;  the  genius  of  chivalry  was  in  the  vigor  of  its  early  youth ; 
the  enthusiasm  of  religion  had  now  a  great  and  terrible  object  be- 
fore it,  and  all  the  gates  of  the  human  heart  were  open  to  the  elo- 
quence of  the  preacher.  That  eloquence  was  not  exerted  in  vain  ; 
nations  arose  at  his  word,  and  grasped  the  spear,  and  it  only  want- 
ed some  one  to  direct  and  point  the  great  enterprise  that  was 

*  James,  in  his  History  of  Chivalry  and  the  Crusades. 


262  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Pope  Urban's  eloquent  speech,  urging  the  people  to  engage  in  the  Cr'tsr.des. 

already  determined,  and  this  was  accomplished  by  the  eloquence 
and  zeal  of  pope  Urban,  at  the  council  of  Clermont. 

&  22. — The  following  account  of  the  address  which  the  Pope 
delivered  on  this  occasion,  is  derived  from  the  relation  given  by 
Rob  rt  the  monk,  who  was  present.  After  having  completed 
the  other  business  of  the  council,  and  which  occupied  the  delibera- 
tions of  seven  days,  pope  Urban  came  forth  from  the  church  into 
one  of  the  public  squares,  as  no  public  building  was  large  enough  to 
hold  the  immense  concourse  of  people,  and  addressing  the  multitude 
as  the  peculiarly  favored  of  God,  in  the  gifts  of  courage,  strength, 
and  the  true  faith,  he  began  to  depict  in  glowing  terms  the  miseries 
of  the  Christian  pilgrims  in  the  holy  land.  He  told  them  that  their 
brethren  there  were  trampled  under  the  feet  of  the  infidels,  to  whom 
God  had  not  granted  the  light  of  his  Holy  Spirit — that  fire,  plunder, 
and  the  sword,  had  desolated  the  fair  plains  of  Palestine — that  her 
children  were  led  away  captive,  or  enslaved,  or  died  under  tortures 
too  horrible  to  recount — that  the  Christian  females  were  subjected 
to  the  impure  passions  of  the  pagans,  and  that  God's  own  altar,  the 
symbols  of  salvation,  and  the  precious  relics  of  the  saints,  were  all 
desecrated  by  the  gross  and  filthy  abomination  of  a  race  of  heathens. 
To  whom,  then,  he  asked — to  whom  did  it  belong  to  punish  such 
crimes,  to  wipe  away  such  impurities,  to  destroy  the  oppressors 
and  to  raise  up  the  oppressed  ?  To  whom,  if  not  to  those  who  heard 
him,  who  had  received  from  God  strength,  and  power,  and  great- 
ness of  soul ;  whose  ancestors  had  been  the  prop  of  Christendom, 
and  whose  kings  had  put  a  barrier  to  the  progress  of  infidels  ? 
"  Think  !"  he  cried,  "  of  the  sepulchre  of  Christ,  our  Saviour,  pos- 
sessed by  the  foul  heathen  ! — think  of  all  the  sacred  places  dishon- 
ored by  their  sacrilegious  impurities  !  That  land,  too,  the  Redeemer 
of  the  human  race  rendered  illustrious  by  his  advent,  honored  by 
his  residence,  consecrated  by  his  passion,  re-purchased  by  his  death, 
signalized  by  his  sepulture.  That  royal  city,  Jerusalem — situated 
in  the  centre  of  the  world — held  captive  by  infidels,  who  deny  the 
God  that  honored  her — now  calls  on  you  and  prays  for  her  deliver- 
ance. From  you — from  you,  above  all  people,  she  looks  for  comfort, 
and  she  hopes  for  aid  ;  since  God  has  granted  to  you,  beyond  other 
nations,  glory  and  might  in  arms.  Take,  then,  the  road  before  you 
in  expiation  of  your  sins,  and  go,  assured  that,  after  the  honor  of 
this  world  shall  have  passed  away,  imperishable  glory  shall  await 
you  even  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  !" 

§  23. — At  this  point  in  the  oration  of  the  Pope,  loud  shouts  are 
said  to  have  burst  simultaneously  from  the  assembled  multitude,  as 
if  impelled  by  inspiration,  "It  is  the  will  of  God!  It  is  the  will  of 
God!" — words  regarded  as  so  remarkable,  that  they  were  employed 
as  the  signal  of  rendezvous,  and  the  watchword  of  battle  in  their 
future  adventures.  Skilfully  seizing  upon  this  simultaneous  burst 
of  enthusiasm,  and  turning  it  to  good  account,  the  pontiff  proceeded, 
as  soon  as  silence  was  obtained,  "  Brethren,  if  the  Lord  God  had  not 
been  in  your  souls,  you  would  not  all  have  pronounced  the  same 


chap,  in.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.        263 

The  Crusades  resolved  on.  General  enthusiasm  of  the  people,  and  desire  to  engage  in  them. 

words ;  or,  rather,  God  himself  pronounced  them  by  your  lips,  for 
he  it  was  that  put  them  in  your  hearts.  Be  they,  then,  your  war- 
cry  in  the  combat,  for  those  words  came  forth  from  God.  Let  the 
army  of  the  Lord,  when  it  rushes  upon  his  enemies,  shout  but  that 
one  cry, '  God  wills  it !  God  wills  it /' "  Then  exhorting  them  to 
engage  in  this  holy  crusade,  he  exclaimed,  "  Let  the  rich  assist  the 
poor,  and  bring  with  them,  at  their  own  charge,  those  who  can 
bear  arms  to  the  field.  Still,  let  not  priests  nor  clerks,  to  whatever 
place  they  may  belong,  set  out  on  this  journey,  without  the  permis- 
sion of  their  bishop  ;  nor  the  layman  undertake  it  without  the  bless- 
ing of  his  pastor,  for  to  such  as  do,  their  journey  shall  be  fruitless. 
Let  whoever  is  inclined  to  devote  himself  to  the  cause  of  God,  make 
it  a  solemn  engagement  and  bear  the  cross  of  the  Lord  either  on  his 
breast  or  on  his  brow  till  he  set  out ;  and  let  him  who  is  ready  to 
begin  his  march  place  the  holy  emblem  on  his  shoulders,  in  mem- 
ory of  that  precept  of  the  Saviour — '  He  who  does  not  take  up  his 
cross  and  follow  me,  is  not  worthy  of  me.'  "* 

When  Urban  had  concluded  his  oration,  the  vast  multitude  pros- 
trated themselves  before  him,  and  repeated,  after  one  of  the  cardi- 
nals, the  general  confession  of  sins  ;  upon  which  the  Pope  pronounc- 
ed absolution  of  their  sins,  and  bestowed  on  them  his  benediction. 
The  people  then  returned  to  their  homes,  to  prepare  immediately 
for  the  expedition  to  the  holy  land,  to  which  they  had  thus  solemnly 
devoted  themselves. 

§  24. — "  As  soon  as  the  council  of  Clermont  was  concluded,"  says 
Guibert  of  Nogent,  another  cotemporary  writer  and  eye-witness  of 
these  scenes,  "  a  great  rumor  spread  through  the  whole  of  France, 
and  as  fame  brought  the  news  of  the  orders  of  the  pontiff  to  any 
one,  he  went  instantly  to  solicit  his  neighbors  and  his  relations  to 
engage  with  him  in  the  way  of  God,  for  so  they  designated  the  pur- 
posed expedition.  The  counts  Palestine  were  already  full  of  the 
desire  to  undertake  this  journey,  and  all  the  knights  of  an  inferior 
order  felt  the  same  zeal.  The  poor  themselves  soon  caught  the 
flame  so  ardently,  that  no  one  paused  to  think  of  the  smallness  of 
his  wealth,  or  to  consider  whether  he  ought  to  yield  his  house,  and 
his  fields,  and  his  vines  ;  but  each  one  set  about  selling  his  property, 
at  as  low  a  price  as  if  he  had  been  held  in  some  horrible  captivity, 
and  sought  to  pay  his  ransom  without  loss  of  time.  At  this  period, 
too,  there  existed  a  general  dearth.  The  rich  even  felt  the  want  of 
corn  ;  and  many,  with  everything  to  buy,  had  nothing,  or  next  to 
nothing,  wherewithal  to  purchase  what  they  needed.  The  poor 
tried  to  nourish  themselves  with  the  wild  herbs  of  the  earth  ;  and, 
as  bread  was  very  dear,  sought  on  all  sides  food  heretofore  un- 
known, to  supply  the  place  of  corn.  The  wealthy  and  powerful 
were  not  exempt ;  but  finding  themselves  menaced  with  the  famine 
which  spread  around  them,  and  beholding  every  day  the  terrible 
wants  of  the  poor,  they  contracted  their  expenses,  and  lived  with 

*  Robertus  Monachus,  lib.  i.,  as  cited  in  James'  History  of  Chivalry  and  the 
Crusades,  chap.  iii.     See  also  Mill's  History  of  the  Crusades. 


264  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Guibert's  account  of  the  multitudes  that  engaged  in  the  Crusades. 

the  most  narrow  parsimony,  lest  they  should  squander  the  riches 
that  now  became  so  necessary. 

"  The  ever  insatiable  misers  rejoiced  in  days  so  favorable  to  their 
covetousness ;  and  casting  their  eyes  upon  the  bushels  of  grain 
which  they  had  hoarded  long  before,  calculated  each  day  the  profits 
of  their  avarice.  Thus  some  struggled  with  every  misery  and 
want,  while  others  revelled  in  the  hopes  of  fresh  acquisitions.  No 
sooner,  however,  had  Christ  inspired,  as  I  have  said,  innumerable 
bodies  to  seek  a  voluntary  exile,  than  the  money  which  had  been 
hoarded  so  long,  was  spread  forth  in  a  moment ;  and  that  which 
was  horribly  dear  while  all  the  world  was  in  repose,  was  on  a  sud- 
den sold  for  nothing,  as  soon  as  every  one  began  to  hasten  toward 
their  destined  journey.  Each  man  hurried  to  conclude  his  affairs, 
and,  astonishing  to  relate,  we  then  saw — so  sudden  was  the  diminu- 
tion in  the  value  of  everything — we  then  saw  seven  sheep  sold  for 
five  deniers.  The  dearth  of  grain,  als*o,  was  instantly  changed  into 
abundance,  and  every  one,  occupied  solely  in  amassing  money  for 
his  journey,  sold  everything  that  he  could,  not  according  to  its  real 
worth,  but  according  to  the  value  set  upon  it  by  the  buyer. 

"  In  the  mean  while,  the  greater  part  of  those  who  had  not  deter- 
mined upon  the  journey,  joked  and  laughed  at  those  who  were  thus 
selling  their  goods  for  whatever  they  could  get ;  and  prophesied 
that  their  voyage  would  be  miserable,  and  their  return  worse.  Such 
was  ever  the  language  of  one  day  ;  but  the  next — suddenly  seized 
with  the  same  desire  as  the  rest — those  who  had  been  most  forward 
to  mock,  abandoned  everything  for  a  few  crowns,  and  set  out  with 
those  whom  they  had  laughed  at,  but  a  day  before.  Who  shall  tell 
the  children  and  the  infirm,  that,  animated  with  the  same  spirit, 
hastened  to  the  war  ?  Who  shall  count  the  old  men  and  the  young 
maids  who  hurried  forward  to  the  fight  ? — not  with  the  hope  of 
aiding,  but  for  the  crown  of  martyrdom  to  be  won  amid  the  swords 
of  the  infidels.  '  You,  warriors,'  they  cried, '  you  shall  vanquish  by 
the  spear  and  brand ;  but  let  us,  at  least,  conquer  Christ  by  our 
sufferings.'  At  the  same  time,  one  might  see  a  thousand  things 
springing  from  the  same  spirit,  which  were  both  laughable  and 
astonishing  :  the  poor  shoeing  their  oxen,  as  we  shoe  horses,  and 
harnessing  them  to  two-wheeled  carts,  in  which  they  placed  their 
scanty  provisions  and  their  young  children  ;  and  proceeding  on- 
ward, while  the  babes,  at  each  town  or  castle  they  saw,  demanded 
eagerly  whether  that  was  Jerusalem."* 

§  25. — The  history  and  exploits  of  the  vast  multitudes  who  ad- 
vanced like  clouds  of  locusts,  over  Hungary,  Thrace,  and  Asia, 
under  the  fanatical  Peter  the  hermit,  or  the  more  disciplined  troops 
that  were  led  to  the  scene  of  conflict,  by  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  Bald- 
win, Raimond,  and  other  leaders  in  successive  expeditions,  of  the 
taking  of  Jerusalem  in  1099,  and  the  establishment  of  a  Christian 
kingdom  in  that  city,  are  too  well  known,  and  besides,  are  too  re- 

*  Guibert  of  Nogent,  see  Jamee,  chap.  iv. 


chap,  m.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.        265 


Effects  of  the  Crusades.  Enriched  the  clergy.  Introduced  vast  quantities  of  pretended  relics. 

motely  connected  with  the  history  of  Romanism,  to  demand  a  place 
in  the  present  work.  Whatever  were  the  motives  which  prompted 
Urban  II.  and  other  pontiffs  to  engage  in  these  holy  wars,  whether 
of  superstition,  of  policy,  of  avarice,  or  ambition,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  they  tended  vastly  to  increase  the  influence  and  authority 
of  the  Roman  pontiffs  ;  they  also  contributed,  in  various  ways,  to 
enrich  the  churches  and  monasteries  with  daily  accessions  of  wealth, 
and  to  open  new  sources  of  opulence  to  all  the  sacerdotal  orders. 
For  they  who  assumed  the  cross  disposed  of  their  possessions,  as  if 
they  were  at  the  point  of  death,  on  account  of  the  imminent  and 
innumerable  dangers  they  were  to  be  exposed  to  in  their  passage 
to  the  holy  land,  and  the  opposition  they  were  to  encounter  there 
upon  their  arrival.  They,  therefore,  for  the  most  part  made  their 
wills  before  their  departure,  and  left  a  considerable  part  of  their 
possessions  to  the  priests  and  monks,  in  order  to  obtain,  by  these 
pious  legacies,  the  favor  and  protection  of  the  Deity.  Nor  were 
these  the  only  pernicious  effects  of  these  holy  expeditions.  For 
while  whole  legions  of  bishops  and  abbots  girded  the  sword  to  their 
thigh,  and  went  as  generals,  volunteers,  or  chaplains  into  Palestine, 
the  priests  and  monks  who  had  lived  under  their  jurisdiction,  and 
were  more  or  less  awed  by  their  authority,  threw  off  all  restraint, 
lived  the  most  lawless  and  profligate  lives,  and  abandoning  them- 
selves to  all  sorts  of  licentiousness,  committed  the  most  flagitious 
and  extravagant  excesses  without  reluctance  or  remorse. 

§  26. — Another  effect  of  the  expeditions  to  the  holy  land,  was 
the  introduction  of  vast  quantities  of  old  bones  of  saints  and  other 
reputed  relics.  The  inhabitants  of  the  country  were  aware  of  the 
passion  of  the  crusaders  for  these  articles,  and  strove  to  make  the 
gullibility  of  Christians  as  large  a  source  of  profit  as  possible  to 
themselves.  Upon  their  return  from  Palestine,  after  the  taking  of 
Jerusalem,  they  brought  with  them  a  vast  number  of  pretended  relics, 
which  they  bought  at  a  high  price  from  the  cunning  Greeks  and 
Syrians,  and  which  they  considered  as  the  noblest  spoils  that 
could  crown  their  return  from  the  holy  land.  These  they  com- 
mitted to  the  custody  of  the  clergy  in  the  churches  and  monas- 
teries, or  ordered  them  to  be  most  carefully  preserved  in  their  fami- 
lies from  generation  to  generation. 

Among  others  of  these  pretended  relics,  Matthew  Paris  relates 
that  the  Dominican  friars  brought  a  white  stone  in  which  they 
asserted  Jesus  Christ  had  left  the  impression  of  his  feet.  A  hand- 
kerchief said  to  have  been  Christ's  is  worshipped  at  Bezancon, 
which  was  brought  by  the  crusaders  from  the  holy  land ;  and  the 
Genoese  pretend  to  have  received  from  Baldwin,  second  king  of 
Jerusalem,  the  very  dish  in  which  the  paschal  lamb  was  served  up 
to  Christ  and  his  disciples,  at  the  last  supper,  though  this  famous 
dish  excites  the  laughter  of  even  father  Labat  in  his  travels  in  Spain 
and  Italy.*     The  Greeks  and  Syrians,  whose  avarice  and  fraud 

*  Labat,  Voyages  en  Espagne  et  en  Italic     Tom  ii.,  p.  63. 
17 


26G  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Popery  in  England.  William  of  Normandy 

were  excessive,  imposed  upon  the  credulity  of  the  simple  and 
ignorant  Latins,  and  often  sold  them  fictitious  relics  at  enormous 
prices.  The  sacred  treasures  of  musty  bones  and  rags  which 
the  French,  German,  and  other  European  nations  preserved  for- 
merly with  so  much  care,  and  show  "  even  in  our  times  with  such 
pious  ostentation,"  says  Mosheim  (ii.,  441),  "  are  certainly  not  more 
ancient  than  these  holy  wars,  but  were  then  purchased  at  a  high 
rate  from  these  cunning  traders  in  superstition."  There  arc  other 
incidents  in  the  life  of  pope  Urban,  which  are  worthy  of  relation,  as 
exhibiting  the  pomp  and  pride  of  the  popes  in  this  age  of  the  world, 
but  as  they  are  chiefly  connected  with  the  history  of  Popery  in 
England,  the  relation  of  them  will  be  deferred  to  the  next  chapter, 
which  is  to  be  devoted  to  that  department  of  our  subject. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

POPERY     IN      ENGLAND     AFTER     THE     CONQUEST.        ARCHBISHOPS    ANSELM 
AND    THOMAS    A    BECKET. 

§  27. — The  successors  of  Hildebrand,  as  we  have  seen,  were  by 
no  means  slow  to  copy  the  example  left  by  him  of  tyrannizing  over 
the  sovereigns  and  governments  of  the  earth.  As  several  of  the 
most  remarkable  instances  of  papal  assumption,  during  the  eleventh 
and  two  following  centuries,  occurred  in  Great  Britain,  we  shall 
again  invite  the  attention  of  the  reader  for  a  chapter  or  two  to  the 
history  of  affairs  in  that  island.  About  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 
century,  a  most  important  revolution  occurred  in  the  government 
of  England.  William,  duke  of  Normandy,  afterwards  surnamed 
the  Conqueror,  had  long  looked  with  a  greedy  eye  upon  England. 
Before  undertaking  its  conquest,  however,  William  thought  it  pru- 
dent to  secure  the  powerful  alliance  of  the  Pope,  who,  says  Hume, 
in  his  History  of  England,  "  had  a  mighty  influence  over  the  an- 
cient barons,  no  less  devout  in  their  religious  principles  than  valor- 
ous in  their  military  enterprises.  It  was  a  sufficient  motive  to 
Alexander  II.,  the  reigning  Pope,  for  embracing  William's  quarrel, 
that  he  alone  had  made  an  appeal  to  his  tribunal,  but  there  were 
other  advantages  which  that  pontiff  foresaw  must  result  from  the 
conquest  of  England  by  the  Normans.  That  kingdom  maintained 
still  a  considerable  independence  in  its  ecclesiastical  administration, 
and  forming  a  world  within  itself,  entirely  separated  from  the  rest 
of  Europe,  it  had  hitherto  proved  inaccessible  to  those  exorbitant 
claims  which  supported  the  grandeur  of  the  papacy.  Alexander 
therefore  hoped  that  the  French  and  Norman  barons,  if  successful 


chap,  iv.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       267 

A  ring  with  one  of  St.  Peter's  liairs.  King  William's  resistance  to  priestly  usurpation. 

in  their  enterprise,  might  import  into  that  country  a  more  devoted 
reverence  for  the  Holy  See.  He,  therefore,  declared  immediately 
in  favor  of  William's  claim,  pronounced  the  leg'timate  king  Harold 
a  perjured  usurper,  denounced  excommunication  against,  him  and 
his  adherents,  and  the  more  to  encourage  the  duke  of  Normandy  in 
his  enterprise,  sent  him  a  consecrated  banner,  and  a  ring  with  one. 
of  St.  Peter's  hairs  (!)  in  it."* 

§  28. — Upon  the  accession  of  Gregory  VIL,  that  imperious  pon- 
tiff' wrote  to  king  William,  requiring  him  to  fulfil  his  promise  of 
doing  homage  lor  the  kingdom  of  England  to  the  See  of  Home, 
and  to  send  him  over  that  tribute  which  his  predecessors  had  been 
accustomed  to  pay  to  the  vicar  of  Christ  (meaning  Peter's  Pence, 
a  charitable  donation  of  the  Saxon  princes,  which  the  court  of 
Rome  construed  into  a  badge  of  subjection  acknowledged  by  the 
kingdom).  William  coolly  replied,  that  the  money  should  be  remitted 
as  formerly,  but  that  he  neither  had  promised  to  do  homage  to 
Rome,  nor  entertained  any  thoughts  of  imposing  that  servitude  on 
his  kingdom.  Nay,  he  went  so  far  as  to  refuse  the  English  bishops 
liberty  to  attend  a  general  council,  which  Gregory  had  summoned 
against  his  enemies.  The  following  anecdote  shows,  in  a  still 
stronger  light,  the  contempt  of  this  prince  for  ecclesiastical  do- 
minion. Odo,  bishop  of  Bayeux,  the  king's  maternal  brother,  whom 
he  had  created  earl  of  Kent,  and  intrusted  with  a  great  share  of 
power,  had  amassed  immense  riches  ;  and,  agreeable  to  the  usual 
progress  of  human  wishes,  he  began  to  regard  his  present  eminence 
as  only  a  step  to  future  grandeur.  He  aspired  at  nothing  less  than 
the  papacy,  and  had  resolved  to  transmit  all  his  wealth  to  Italy,  and 
go  thither  in  person,  accompanied  by  several  noblemen,  whom  he 
had  persuaded  to  follow  his  example,  in  hopes  of  establishments 
under  the  future  pope.  William,  from  whom  this  object  had  been 
carefully  concealed,  was  no  sooner  informed  of  it  than  he  accused 
Odo  of  treason,  and  ordered  him  to  be  arrested  ;  but  nobody  would 
lay  hands  on  the  bishop.  The  king  himself  was  therefore  obliged 
to  seize  him  ;  and  when  Odo  insisted,  that,  as  a  prelate,  he  was  ex- 
empted from  all  temporal  jurisdiction,  William  boldly  replied,  "  / 
arrest  not  the  bishop,  I  arrest  the  earl  /"  and  accordingly  sent  him 
prisoner  into  Normandy,  where  he  was  detained  in  custody,  during 
this  whole  reign,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  and  menaces 
of  Gregory. 

The  fact  is,  that  the  haughty  Pope  found  it  a  more  difficult 
matter  to  break  down  the  proud  spirit  of  these  sturdy  Normans, 
than  of  any  of  the  monarchs  whom  he  aimed  to  reduce  to  his  sway. 
In  the  following  reign,  William  Rufus,  the  son  and  successor  of  the 
Conqueror,  upon  the  death  of  Lanfranc,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
in  1089,  refused  for  five  years  to  appoint  a  successor,  and  kept  the 
temporalities  of  the  archbishopric  in  his  own  hands.  During  this 
interval  the  bishops  and  clergy  tried  various  methods  to  prevail 

*  Hume's  History  of  England,  p.  42 ;  one  vol.  edition,  London. 


268  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Anselm  fleeted  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  His  quarrel  with  the  King. 


upon  the  king  to  appoint  a  primate,  in  vain.  At  one  time,  when 
they  presented  a  petition,  that  he  would  give  them  leave  to  issue  a 
form  of  prayer,  to  be  used  in  all  the  churches  of  England — that 
God  would  move  the  heart  of  the  king  to  choose  an  archbishop,  he 
returned  this  careless  answer: — miYou  may  pray  as  you  please ;  I 
will  do  as  I  please." 

§  29. — At  length,  in  a  fit  of  sickness,  the  king  consented  to  the 
election  of  Anselm,  who  soon  after  requested  permission  to  go  to 
Rome  to  receive  his  pall,  or  robe  of  office,  from  the  Pope.  Angry 
at  this  request,  William  summoned  a  council  to  consider  of  it, 
which,  after  due  deliberation,  returned  for  an  answer,  that  "  unless 
he  yielded  obedience  to  the  king,  and  retracted  his  submission  to 
pope  Urban,  they  would  not  acknowledge  or  obey  him  as  their  pri- 
mate." On  hearing  this  sentence,  the  archbishop  lifted  up  his  eyes 
and  hands  to  heaven,  and  with  great  solemnity,  appealed  to  St. 
Peter,  whose  vicar  he  declared  he  was  determined  to  obey,  rather 
than  the  king ;  and  upon  the  bishops  declining  to  report  his  words, 
he  rushed  into  the  council,  and  pronounced  them  before  the  king 
and  his  nobility. 

This  was  the  time  of  schism  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter, 
between  the  two  rival  popes,  Urban  and  Clement,  and  king  Wil- 
liam hoping  to  conquer  the  obstinacy  of  Anselm  by  violence,  had 
recourse  to  stratagem,  and  privately  dispatched  two  of  his  chap- 
lains to  Rome,  with  an  offer  to  Urban,  of  acknowledging  him  as 
Pope,  if  he  would  consent  to  the  deposition  of  Anselm,  and  send  a 
pall  to  the  King,  to  be  bestowed  on  whom  he  pleased.  Urban, 
transported  with  joy  at  the  accession  of  so  powerful  a  prince, 
promised  everything,  and  sent  Walter,  bishop  of  Alba,  his  legate, 
into  England  with  a  pall.  The  legate  passed  through  Canterbury, 
without  seeing  the  archbishop ;  and  arriving  at  court,  prevailed 
upon  the  King  to  issue  a  proclamation,  commanding  all  his  subjects 
to  acknowledge  Urban  II.  as  lawful  Pope.  But  no  sooner  had  the 
King  performed  his  engagements,  and  began  to  speak  of  proceeding 
to  the  deposition  of  the  archbishop,  and  demanded  the  pall,  that  he 
might  give  it  to  the  prelate  who  should  be  chosen  in  his  room,  than 
the  legate  changed  his  tone,  and  with  a  perfidiousness  characteristic 
of  Popery,  declared  plainly,  that  the  Pope  would  not  consent  to 
the  deposition  of  so  great  a  saint,  and  so  dutiful  a  son  of  the  church 
of  Rome  :  and  moreover,  that  he  had  received  orders  to  deliver 
the  pall  to  Anselm ;  which  he  accordingly  performed,  with  great 
pomp,  in  the  cathedral  church  of  Canterbury. 

§  30. — During  the  absence  of  Anselm  on  a  visit  to  Rome,  the 
King  seized  all  his  estates  and  revenues,  but  the  most  extraordinary 
honors  were  paid  to  the  Archbishop  on  his  arrival  in  that  city. 
The  Pope  addressed  him  in  a  long  speech  before  the  whole  court, 
in  which  he  lavished  the  highest  encomiums  upon  him,  called  him 
the  pope  of  another  world,  and  commanded  all  the  English  who 
should  come  to  Rome  to  kiss  his  toe.  He  further  promised  to  sup- 
port him  with  all  his  power,  in  his  disputes  with  the  king  of  Eng- 


chap,  iv.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.        269 

Honors  paid  to  Anselm  at  Rome  by  the  Pope.  Henry  I.  succeeds  William  Rufus. 

land,  to  whom  he  wrote  a  letter,  commanding  him  to  restore  all 
that  he  had  taken  from  Anselm.  While  at  Rome,  the  Archbishop 
was  present  at  a  papal  council,  held  in  1098,  in  which  it  was  de- 
clared by  pope  Urban,  that  the  king  of  England  deserved  to  be  ex- 
communicated for  his  conduct  towards  Anselm  ;  but,  at  the  request 
of  that  prelate,  the  execution  of  the  sentence  was  postponed.  At 
this  council,  the  famous  canon  against  lay-investitures  was  con- 
firmed, denouncing  excommunication  against  all  laymen  who  pre- 
sumed to  grant  investitures  of  any  ecclesiastical  benefices,  and 
against  all  clergymen  who  accepted  of  such  investitures,  or  did 
homage  to  temporal  princes.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  canon 
by  the  Pope,  as  related  by  one  who  was  present  in  the  council,  and 
heard  his  speech,  is  horrid  and  impious  in  the  highest  degree.  "  It 
is  execrable,"  said  his  holiness,  "  to  see  those  hands  which  create 
God,  the  Creator  of  all  things — a  power  never  granted  to  angels — 
and  offer  Him  in  sacrifice  to  the  Father,  for  the  redemption  of  the 
whole  world — put  between  the  hands  of  a  prince,  stained  with 
blood,  and  polluted  day  and  night  with  obscene  contacts !"  To 
which  all  the  fathers  of  the  council  responded,  "  Amen  ! — Amen  !" 
"  At  these  transactions,"  said  Eadmer,  "  I  was  present,  and  all  these 
things  I  saw  and  heard." 

§  31. — William  Rufus  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  of  England 
in  1 100  by  Henry  I.,  whose  reign  extended  to  the  long  period  of 
five-and-thirty  years.  He  was  the  youngest  son  of  William  the 
Conqueror,  and  got  the  reins  of  government  into  his  hands  by  sup- 
planting his  elder  brother  Robert ;  but,  having  succeeded,  he  set 
himself  with  all  his  might  to  conciliate  all  those  who  were  likely 
either  to  support  or  disturb  him  in  the  possession  of  the  prize  he 
had  obtained,  and  especially  the  Pope  and  court  of  Rome.  With 
a  view  to  this,  he  recalled  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  from  his 
exile ;  and  accordingly  Anselm  landed  at  Dover  on  the  23d  Sep- 
tember, a.  d.  1100.  A  few  days  after,  he  was  introduced  to  the 
King,  at  Salisbury,  who  received  him  with  every  possible  mark  of 
affection  and  respect.  But  the  cordiality  was  of  short  continuance. 
The  King  was  far  from  being  of  an  amiable  character  :  Anselm, 
too,  was  the  same  unbending  prelate  still ;  and  the  instant  he  was 
called  upon  to  do  homage  to  the  King  for  the  temporalities  of  his 
See,  he  met  it  with  a  flat  refusal,  and  produced  the  canon  of  the  late 
council  of  Rome  in  vindication  of  his  conduct,  at  the  same  time 
declaring,  that,  if  the  King  insisted  on  his  pretensions  to  the  homage 
of  the  clergy,  he  could  hold  no  communion  with  him,  and  would 
inimediately'leave  the  kingdom.  This  threw  the  King  into  great 
perplexity ;  for,  on  the  one  hand,  he  was  very  reluctant  to  resign 
the  right  of  bestowing  ecclesiastical  benefices,  and  of  receiving  the 
homage  of  the  prelates,  and,  on  the  other,  he  dreaded  the  departure 
of  the  Archbishop,  who  might  take  part  with  his  brother  Robert, 
then  in  Normandy,  and  preparing  to  assert  his  right  to  the  throne 
of  England.  In  this  critical  conjuncture,  the  King  proposed,  or 
rather  begged,  a  truce,  till  both  parties  could  send  ambassadors  to 


27(j  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Pope  r.isc;il'.s  loft)  prctrnsions.  Anselni's  opposition  to  the  will  of  the  Kin;;. 

the  Pope,  to  know  his  final  determination;  to  which  Anselm,  at  the 
solicitations  of  the  nobility,  consented. 

§  32. —  In  due  tunc  the  messengers  who  had  been  despatched  to 
Rome  returned  with  letters  from  pope  Pascal  II.,  who  had  suc- 
(ve  led  Urban,  in  which  his  holiness  asserted  in  the  strongest  terms, 
that  the  church  and  all  its  revenues  belonged  to  St.  Peter  and  his 
successors  ;  and  that  emperors,  kings,  and  princes  had  no  right  to 
confer  the  investiture  of  benefices  on  the  clergy,  or  to  demand 
h  image  from  them.  This  he  endeavored  to  prove  by  several  texts 
of  Scripture,  most  grossly  misapplied,  and  by  other  arguments, 
which  are  either  blasphemous  or  nonsensical,  of  which  take  this 
specimen: — "  How  abominable  is  it  for  a  son  to  beget  his  father, 
and  a  man  to  create  his  God  I  and  are  not  priests  your  fathers  and 
your  Gods  ?*  The  effect  of  this  curious  piece  of  papal  reasoning 
was  not  precisely  such  as  his  holiness  anticipated.  The  King  was 
rather  irritated  than  convinced  by  it.  For,  the  first  time  Anselm 
appeared  at  court,  Henry,  in  a  somewhat  peremptory  tone,  required 
him  to  do  homage  to  him  for  the  revenues  of  his  See,  and  to  con- 
secrate certain  bishops  and  abbots,  according  to  ancient  custom,  or 
to  quit  the  kingdom ;  adding,  "  I  will  suffer  no  subject  to  live  in  my 
dominions  who  refuses  to  do  me  homage."  The  Archbishop  boldly 
replied,  "  I  am  prohibited  by  the  canons  of  the  council  of  Rome  to 
do  what  you  require.  I  will  not  leave  the  kingdom,  but  stay  in  my 
province,  and  perform  my  duty ;  and  let  me  see  who  dares  to  do  me 
an  injury  ;"  on  saying  which,  he  abruptly  quitted  the  court,  and 
returned  to  Canterbury. 

The  King  had  suffered  so  much  from  the  opposition  and  ob- 
stinacy of  Anselm,  that  upon  the  death  of  that  prelate,  which  took 
place  in  1109,  he  was  in  no  haste  to  appoint  a  successor,  but  kept 
the  See  of  Canterbury  vacant  no  less  than  five  years.  At  length, 
after  a  warm  contest  between  the  monks  of  the  cathedral  and  the 
prelates  of  the  province,  Radulphus,  bishop  of  Rochester,  was 
elected  primate,  2Gth  April,  1114.  As  all  this  had  been  done 
without  consulting  the  Pope,  the  latter  was  not  a  little  enraged,  and 
wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  King  and  bishops,  in  which  many  texts  of 
Scripture  are  quoted  to  prove  that  no  business  of  any  importance 
ought  to  be  transacted  in  any  nation  of  Europe  without  the  know- 
ledge and  direction  of  the  Pope ;  it  also  contained  the  strongest  ex- 
pressions of  resentment  against  the  King  and  prelates  of  England 
for  their  late  neglect  of  the  Holy  See,  with  threats  of  excommuni- 
cation if  they  did  not  behave  in  a  more  dutiful  manner  in  time  to 
come.  The  King  was  not  a  little  offended  with  the  insolent  strain 
of  this  epistle,  and  sent  the  bishop  of  Exeter  to  Rome  to  expostu- 
late with  the  Pope  on  that  and  some  other  subjects. 

One  of  the  most  specious  and  successful  arts  employed  by  the 
court  of  Rome  to  subject  the  several  churches  of  Europe  to  her 
dominion,  was  that  of  sending  legates  into  all  countries,  with  com- 

*  Eadmer,  p.  61. 


chap,  iv.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       271 

National  councils.  Cardinal  Crema,  the  Pope's  legate  to  England,  detected   in  gross  licentiousness. 

missions  to  hold  national  councils,  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority 
of  the  Pope.  Hitherto  the  kings  of  England  had  successfully  re- 
sisted this  ;  but  the  policy  of  Rome  was  still  upon  the  watch  to 
seize  the  first  favorable  opportunity  for  renewing  these  attempts. 
Such  an  opportunity  presented  itself  at  this  time,  when  the  king  of 
England  was  engaged  in  a  dangerous  war  upon  the  continent,  and 
stood  in  need  of  the  favor  of  the  court  of  Rome  ;  and  it  was  not 
neglected. 

§  33. — Honorius  II.,  who  then  filled  the  papal  chair,  granted  a 
commission,  April  13th,  1126,  to  John  de  Crema,  a  cardinal  priest, 
to  be  his  legate  in  England  and  Scotland.*  The  Legate,  in  passing 
through  France,  waited  on  king  Henry,  then  in  Normandy,  and  at 
length,  with  much  difficulty,  obtained  his  permission  to  pass  over 
into  England,  where  he  gratified  his  pride  and  avarice,  with  little 
regard  to  decency.  Among  other  things,  he  presided  in  a  national 
council  at  Westminster,  on  the  9th  of  September,  in  which  both 
the  archbishops,  twenty  bishops,  forty  abbots,  and  an  innumerable 
multitude  both  of  the  clergy  and  people  were  present.  In  this 
council  no  fewer  than  seventeen  canons  were  made,  in  the  name 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  Pope  alone!  In  these  canons  there 
was  little  new,  except  the  edicts  enjoining  the  strictest  celibacy  to 
the  clergy  of  every  order.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  council,  the 
legate  summoned  the  archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York  to  re- 
pair immediately  to  Rome  to  plead  the  cause  about  the  preroga- 
tives of  their  respective  Sees,  which  was  depending  before  the 
Pope.  To  such  a  height  had  the  usurpations  of  Rome,  and  the  in- 
solence of  the  papal  legates,  then  arrived  ! 

In  the  night  which  succeeded  the  conclusion  of  this  council, 
an  incident  occurred  which  made  a  prodigious  noise  throughout 
England,  and  brought  no  little  scandal  on  the  Roman  clergy.  John 
de  Crema,  the  Pope's  legate,  who  had  declaimed  with  great  warmth 
in  the  council,  the  day  before,  in  honor  of  immaculate  chastity,  and 
inveighed,  with  no  less  vehemence,  against  the  horrid  impurity  of 
the  married  clergy,  was  actually  detected  in  bed  with  a  common 
prostitute  !  The  detection  was  so  undeniable,  and  soon  became  so 
public,  that  the  Legate  was  both  ashamed  and  afraid  to  show  his 
face ;  but  sneaked  out  of  England  with  all  possible  secrecy  and 
precipitation.-)-  This  incident  gave  a  temporary  triumph  to  the 
married  clergy,  who  had  probably  been  the  detectors,  and  thus 
rendered  the  canon  of  the  late  council  against  them  abortive  and 
contemptible. 

§  34. — Yet  so  intent  was  the  court  of  Rome  on  making  good  its 

*  Spelman,  Concil.,  t.  ii.,  pp.  32,  33. 

f  R.  Hoveden,  p.  274  ;  H.  Knyghton,  col.  2382  ;  Chron.  Homingford,  1.  i.,  c. 
48.  J.  Brompt.,  col.  1015;  Hen.  Hunt.,  1.  vii.,  p.  219.  It  is  remarkable,  says 
Mr.  Hume,  referring  to  this  disgraceful  occurrence,  that  the  last  cited  author,  H. 
Huntingdon,  who  was  a  clergyman,  makes  an  apology  for  using  such  freedom 
with  the  fathers  of  the  church,  but  says  that  the  fact  was  notorious,  and  ought  not 
to  be  concealed.     (Hist,  of  Eng.,  p.  68.) 


272  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Cruel  measures  against  the  married  clergy.  The  Pope  gives  Ireland  to  king  Hei.'ry. 

right  to  the  character  of  anti-Christ  by  prohibiting  marriage,  that, 
in  the  following  year  (1127),  a  national  .synod  was  convened  at 
Westminster,  on  the  17th  May,  in  the  canons  of  which  the  marriage 
of  the  clergy  is  styled  "  the  plague  of  the  church,"  and  all  digni- 
taries are  commanded  to  exert  their  most  zealous  efforts  to  root  it 
out.  The  wives  of  priests  and  canons  were  not  only  to  be  sepa- 
rated from  them,  but  to  be  banished  out  of  the  parish ;  and  if  they 
ever  after  conversed  with  their  husbands,  they  were  to  be  seized  by 
the  ministers  of  the  church,  and  subjected  to  ecclesiastical  disci- 
pline, or  reduced  to  servitude,  at  the  discretion  of  the  b.shop  ;  and 
if  any  persons,  great  or  small,  attempted  to  deliver  these  unhappy 
victims  out  of  the  hands  of  the  ministers  of  the  church,  they  were 
to  be  excommunicated.  Such  were  the  violent  and  cruel  measures 
necessary  to  be  employed  in  order  to  compel  the  clergy  to  do  vio- 
lence to  the  laws  of  nature,  and  by  breaking  up  all  the  domestic 
relations,  to  render  them  the  more  willing,  subservient,  and  devoted 
tools  of  Rome. 

In  the  year  1156,  which  was  the  year  after  the  accession  of 
Henry  II.  to  the  throne  of  England,  that  monarch  inadvertently 
contributed  to  exalt  the  power  and  pretensions  of  the  Pope,  under 
which  he  and  his  successors  so  severely  smarted,  by  accepting  a 
grant  of  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  from  pope  Adrian  IV.  Little  was 
Henry  aware  of  what  he  was  doing  in  this  instance  ;  for  the  solicit- 
ing, or  even  accepting  this  grant,  was  a  plain  and  virtual  acknow- 
ledgment, that  the  Pope  had  a  right  to  deprive  the  Irish  princes  of 
their  dominions,  and  bestow  them  upon  whom  he  pleased  ;  and  in 
the  body  of  the  grant,  his  holiness  takes  care  to  mention  this  ac- 
knowledgment. "  For  it  is  undeniable,"  says  he,  "  and  your  majesty 
acknowledges  it,  that  all  islands  on  which  Christ,  the  sun  of  righte- 
ousness, hath  shined,  and  which  have  received  the  Christian  faith, 
belong  of  right  to  St.  Peter,  and  the  most  holy  Roman  church."* 

§  35. — Shortly  after  this,  at  the  instigation  of  the  popish  priests, 
king  Henry  was  prevailed  upon  to  disgrace  his  reign  by  the  first 
instances  of  death  for  heresy  that  ever  occurred  in  England  from 
the  landing  of  the  emissaries  of  Rome  on  her  shores.  There  ex- 
isted, at  that  dark  period,  when  "  all  the  world  wondered  after  the 
beast,"  a  numerous  body  of  the  disciples  of  Christ,  who  took  the 
New  Testament  for  their  guidance  and  direction  in  all  the  affairs  of 
religion,  rejecting  doctrines  and  commandments  of  men.  Their 
appeal  was  from  the  decisions  of  councils,  and  the  authority  of 
popes,  cardinals,  and  prelates,  to  the  law  and  the  testimony — the 
words  of  Christ  and  his  holy  apostles.  Egbert,  a  monkish  writer 
of  that  age,  speaking  of  them,  says,  that  he  had  often  disputed  with 
these  heretics,  whom  he  terms  cathari,  or  puritans  ;  "  a  sort  of  peo- 
ple," he  adds,  "  who  are  very  pernicious  to  the  catholic  faith,  which, 
like  moths,  they  corrupt  and  destroy.  They  are  armed,"  says  he, 
"with  the  words  of  Scripture  which  in  any  way  seem  to  favor  their 

*  M.  Paris,  Hist.  p.  67. 


chap,  iv.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      273 

First  instances  of  death  for  heresy  in  England. 

sentiments,  and  with  these  they  know  how  to  defend  their  errors, 
and  to  oppose  the  catholic  truth.  They  are  increased  to  great  mul- 
titudes throughout  all  countries,  to  the  great  danger  of  the  church 
(of  Rome) ;  for  their  words  eat  like  a  canker,  and,  like  a  flying 
leprosy,  run  every  way,  infecting  the  precious  members  of  Christ."* 

These  people  went  under  different  mimes  in  different  countries  ; 
but  their  faith  was  substantially  one  and  the  same.  They  invaria- 
bly protested  against  the  corruptions  of  the  church  of  Rome ;  such 
as  the  doctrine  of  purgatory,  offering  alms  for  the  dead,  and  cele- 
brating masses,  the  ringing  of  bells,  and  praying  for  the  dead,  &c, 
&c.  Throughout  the  whole  of  the  twelfth  century,  they  were  ex- 
posed to  severe  persecution;  and  in  the  year  1159,  a  company  of 
them,  amounting  to  thirty  in  number,  partly  men  and  partly  women, 
all  of  whom  spoke  the  German  language,  made  their  appearance  in 
England,  hoping,  no  doubt,  to  find  an  asylum  here  from  the  rage  of 
bigotry  and  intolerance  to  which  they  were  exposed  in  their  own 
country.  They  appear  to  have  constituted  a  small  Christian  church, 
in  their  native  place ;  and  their  pastor,  whose  name  was  Gerard, 
was  a  person  of  some  learning  and  talent.  They  are  said  to  have 
been  the  disciples  of  Arnold,  of  Brescia.  Taking  up  their  resi- 
dence in  the  neighborhood  of  Oxford,  they  were  not  long  in  attract- 
ing notice,  by  the  strangeness  of  their  language,  and  the  singularity 
of  their  religious  practices.  They  were,  consequently,  taken  up, 
and  brought  before  a  council  of  the  clergy  at  Oxford.  When  in- 
terrogated as  to  who  and  what  they  were,  their  leader  answered  in 
their  name,  that  they  were  Christians,  and  believed  the  doctrines 
of  the  apostles.  On  a  more  particular  inquiry,  it  was  found  that 
they  denied  several  of  the  received  doctrines  of  the  Catholic 
church ;  such  as  purgatory,  prayers  for  the  dead,  and  the  invoca- 
tion of  saints :  and  refusing  to  abandon  these  '■  damnable  heresies/' 
as  the  clergy  were  pleased  to  call  them,  they  were  condemned  as 
incorrigible  heretics,  and  delivered  to  the  civil  magistrates  to  be  pun- 
ished. The  King,  at  the  instigation  of  the  clergy,  commanded 
them  to  be  branded  with  a  red-hot  iron  on  the  forehead  ;  to  be 
whipped  through  the  streets  of  Oxford  ;  and,  having  their  clothes 
cut  short  by  the  girdles,  to  be  turned  into  the  open  fields  ;  all  per- 
sons being  forbidden  to  afford  them  either  shelter  or  relief,  under 
the  severest  penalties.  This  cruel  sentence  was  executed  in  its  ut- 
most rigor ;  and  taking  place  in  the  depth  of  winter,  they  all  per- 
ished through  cold  and  famine  !  Would  that,  as  these  instances  of 
popish  persecution  were  the  first  that  had  ever  been  witnessed  in 
England,  they  had  also  been  the  last !  then  we  might  be  spared  the 
task,  painful  though  necessary,  of  tracing  the  blood-red  footsteps 
of  the  Babylonish  "  mother  of  harlots  "  (Rev.  xvii.,  5),  as  she  has 
reeled  on  in  the  career  of  ages  over  the  fair  fields  of  Britain, 
"  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints." 

§  36. — A  disagreement  occurred  A.  D.  1161,  between  king  Henry 

*  Serm.  I.  in  Bib.  Patrum,  p.  898,  Cologne  edit. 


274  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Two  kinn-  lead  the  Pope's  horse.  Quarrel  between  king  Henry  and  Thomas  a  Bucket. 

II.  of  England,  and  Louis  VII.  of  France,  which  would  proba- 
bly have  resulted  in  a  war,  had  it  not  been  for  the  mediation 
and  authority  of  pope  Alexander  III.,  at  that  time  residing  in 
France,  having  been  driven  from  Rome  by  the  successful  rival- 
pope,  Victor  IV.  "  That  we  may  form  an  idea,"  says  Hume,  "  of 
the  authority  possessed  by  the  Roman  pontiffs  during  those  ages,  it 
may  be  proper  to  observe,  that  the  two  kings  had,  the  year  before, 
met  the  Pope  at  the  castle  of  Toici,  on  the  Loire  ;  and  they  gave 
him  such  marks  of  respect,  that  they  both  dismounted  to  receive 
him,  and  holding,  each  of  them,  one  of  the  reins  of  his  bridle, 
walked  on  foot  by  his  side,  and  conducted  him  in  that  submissive 
manner  into  the  castle."*  In  relating  this  circumstance,  Cardinal 
Baronius  is  in  ecstasies  of  delight ;  "  a  spectacle  this,"  says  he,  "  to 
God,  to  angels,  and  to  men  ;  and  such  as  had  never  before  been  ex- 
hibited in  the  world  !"f    (See  Engraving.) 

§  37. — The  submissive  homage  of  king  Henry  on  this  occasion  did 
not  prevent  pope  Alexander  from  engaging  in  a  warm  dispute 
with  him  soon  after,  which  was  occasioned  by  the  arrogance  of 
Thomas  a  Becket,  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  In  the  year  1163, 
the  hostilities  commenced  between  the  Sovereign  and  the  Primate. 
Vrarious  instances  of  the  most  scandalous  impunity  of  atrocious 
crimes,  perpetrated  by  the  clergy,  had  recently  occurred.  Some 
of  these  had  reached  the  King's  ears,  before  he  returned  to  Eng- 
land, and  he  was  greatly  incensed  at  them.  One  abominable  in- 
stance brought  the  King  and  Becket  into  direct  collision  on  this 
point.  A  clergyman  in  Worcester  had  debauched  the  daughter  of 
a  respectable  man,  and,  for  her  sake,  had  murdered  the  father.  The 
King  demanded  that  he  should  be  brought  before  his  tribunal,  to 
answer  for  the  horrible  act.  Becket  resisted  this,  and  gave  him 
into  the  custody  of  his  Bishop,  that  he  might  not  be  delivered  to 
the  King's  justice.  The  King,  who  had  seen  repeated  instances  of 
the  clergy  permitting  their  offending  brethren  to  escape  with  im- 
punity, and  as  their  crimes,  instead  of  being  repressed,  became 
daily  more  flagrant,  was  the  more  intent  upon  accomplishing  his 
important  object.  He  justly  imputed  these  atrocities  to  the  ex- 
emption of  the  clergy  from  trial  before  the  secular  courts,  while 
the  ecclesiastical  tribunals,  to  whom  they  were  subject,  had  no 
power  to  inflict  capital,  or,  indeed,  any  adequate  punishment.  With 
a  view  to  redress  this  crying  evil,  king  Henry  summoned  a  great 
council  at  Westminster,  which  he  opened  with  an  excellent  speech, 
in  which  he  complained  of  the  mischiefs  occasioned  by  the  thefts, 
robberies,  and  even  murders  committed  by  the  clergy,  who  were 
suffered  to  go  unpunished ;  and  he  concluded  with  requiring,  that 
the  Archbishop  and  the  other  bishops  would  consent  that  when  a 
clergyman  was  degraded  for  any  crime,  he  should  be  immediately 
delivered  up  to  the  civil  power,  that  he  might  be  punished  for  the 

*  History  of  England,  reign  of  Henry  II.,  An.  1161. 
(■  Baronius's  Annals,  Ann.  1160. 


Two  Kmss  leading  the  Pope's  Horse,  at  the  Casllo  of  Toici.  in  France. 


chap,  iv.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.         277 

Becket  swears  to  obey  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon.  The  Pope  absolves  him  from  his  oath. 

crime,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  land.  Becket,  at  first,  refused 
to  comply  with  this  reasonable  demand,  but  in  the  following* year 
he  solemnly  swore  to  obey  the  "  Constitutions  of  Clarendon,"  by 
which  all  clergymen  guilty  of  criminal  offences  were  rendered 
amenable  to  the  civil  law. 

/As  it  was  with  manifest  reluctance  that  Becket  had  sworn  to 
obey  those  hated  Constitutions,  so  he  soon  began  to  give  indications 
of  his  repentance,  by  extraordinary  acts  of  mortification,  and  by 
refraining  from  performing  the  sacred  offices  of  his  function.  He 
dispatched  a  special  messenger  to  the  Pope,  apprising  him  of  what 
had  been  done.  The  latter  sent  him  a  bull,  releasing  him  from  the 
obligation  of  his  oath,  and  enjoining  him  to  resume  the  duties  of 
his  sacred  office.  But  though  this  bull  reconciled  his  conscience  to 
the  violation  of  his  oath,  it  did  not  dispel  his  fears  of  the  Kings  in- 
dignation— to  avoid  which,  he  determined  to  retire  privately  out 
of  the  kingdom.  With  this  intention  he  went  down  to  Romney, 
accompanied  by  two  of  his  friends,  and  there  embarked  for  France  ; 
but  being  twice  put  back  by  contrary  winds,  he  landed,  and  re- 
turned to  Canterbury.  About  the  same  time  the  King's  officers 
came  to  that  city  with  orders  to  seize  his  possessions  and  revenues ; 
but  on  his  showing  himself,  they  retired,  without  executing  their 
orders.  Conscious  that  he  had  transgressed  those  laws  which  he 
had  sworn  to  observe,  by  attempting  to  leave  the  kingdom  without 
permission,  he  waited  upon  the  King  at  Woodstock,  who  received 
him  without  any  other  expression  of  displeasure  than  merely  ask- 
ing him  if  he  had  left  England  because  he  thought  it  too  little  to 
contain  them  both. 

§  38. — Soon  after  this  interview,  fresh  misunderstandings  arose 
between  the  King  and  the  Primate,  who  publicly  protected  the  clergy 
from  those  punishments  which  their  crimes  deserved,  and  flatly  re- 
fused to  obey  a  summons  to  attend  the  King's  court.  Henry  was 
so  much  enraged  at  these  daring  insults  on  the  laws  and  the  royal 
authority,  that  he  determined  to  call  him  to  account  before  his  peers, 
in  a  parliament  which  he  summoned  to  meet  at  Northampton,  on 
the  17th  October,  1164.  This  parliament  was  unusually  full,  the 
whole  nation  being  now  deeply  interested  in  the  issue  of  this  con- 
test between  the  crown  and  the  mitre.  On  the  first  day,  the  King 
in  person  accused  the  Archbishop  of  contumacy,  in  refusing  to  at- 
tend his  court  when  he  was  summoned  ;  against  which  accusation, 
having  made  only  a  very  weak  defence,  he  was  unanimously  found 
guilty  by  the  bishops,  as  well  as  by  the  temporal  barons,  and  all  his 
goods  and  chattels  were  declared  to  be  forfeited.  Many  of  the 
bishops  waited  upon  Becket,  and  earnestly  entreated  him  to  resign 
his  office,  assuring  him  that  if  he  did  not  he  would  be  tried  for  per- 
jury and  high  treason.  Becket,  however,  was  made  of  sterner 
stuff — he  reproached  them  bitterly  for  deserting  him  in  his  contest 
— charged  them  not  to  presume  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  their  Pri- 
mate— and  declared,  that  though  he  should  be  burnt  alive,  he  would 
not  abandon  his  station,  nor  forsake  his  flock  !     Having  celebrated 


278  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Boldness,  obstinacy,  and  rebellion  of  Becket. 

mass,  lie  set  out  from  his  residence,  dressed  in  his  pontifical  robes, 
with  :i  consecrated  host  in  one  hand  ;  and  when  he  approached  the 
hall  where  the  King  and  parliament  sat,  he  took  the  cross  from  the 
bearer,  and  carried  it  in  the  other  hand.  When  the  King  was  in- 
formed of  the  posture  in  which  Becket  was  advancing,  he  retired 
hastily  into  an  inner  room,  command. ng  all  the  bishops  and  barons 
to  follow  him.  Here  he  complained  of"  the  insufferable  annoyance 
of  Becket ;  and  was  answered  by  the  barons,  "  That  he  had  always 
been  a  vain  and  obstinate  man,  and  might  never  to  have  been  raised 
to  so  high  a  station  ;  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  high  treason,  both 
against  the  King  and  the  kingdom  ;  and  they  demanded  that  he 
should  be  immediately  punished  as  a  traitor."  The  clamors  of 
the  barons  against  Becket  became  so  loud  and  vehement,  that  the 
archbishop  of  York,  fearing  they  would  proceed  to  acts  of  violence, 
hastily  retired,  that  he  might  not  be  a  spectator  of  the  tragical 
scene.  The  bishop  of  Exeter  went  into  the  great  hall,  where  the 
Primate  sat  almost  alone,  and,  falling  at  his  feet,  conjured  him  to 
take  pity  on  himself  and  on  his  brethren,  and  preserve  them  all 
from  destruction,  by  complying  with  the  king's  will.  But,  with  a 
stern  countenance,  he  commanded  them  to  begone. 

§  39. — The  bishops,  apprehensive  of  incurring  the  indignation  of 
the  Pope  if  they  proceeded  to  sit  in  judgment  on  their  Primate,  and 
of  the  King  and  barons  if  they  refused,  begged  that  they  might  be 
allowed  to  hold  a  private  consultation,  which  was  granted.  After 
deliberating  some  time,  they  agreed  to  renounce  all  subjection  to 
Becket  as  their  Primate  ;  to  prosecute  him  for  perjury  before  the 
Pope  ;  and,  if  possible,  to  procure  his  deposition.  This  resolution 
they  reported  to  the  King  and  barons,  who,  not  knowing  that 
Becket  had  already  obtained  a  bull  from  the  Pope,  absolving  him 
from  h's  oath,  too  rashly  gave  their  consent ;  and  the  bishops  went 
into  the  hall  in  a  body,  and  intimated  their  resolutions  to  the  Arch- 
bishop. The  latter  not  deigning  to  give  them  any  answer,  except 
•'  I  hear."  a  profound  silence  ensued.  In  the  mean  time  the  King 
and  barons  came  to  a  resolution,  that  if  the  Primate  did  not  give  in 
his  accounts  without  delay,  they  would  declare  him  guilty  of  perjury 
and  treason,  and  deputed  certain  barons  to  communicate  this  reso- 
lution. The  carl  of  Leicester,  who  was  at  the  head  of  these 
barons,  addressing  himself  to  Becket,  said,  "  The  King  commands 
you  to  come  immediately,  and  give  in  your  accounts,  or  else  hear 
your  sentence."  "  My  sentence  !"  exclaimed  Becket,  starting  on 
his  feet,  "  No  !  my  son,  hear  me  first.  I  was  given  to  the  church 
free,  and  discharged  from  all  claims  when  I  wTas  elected  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  therefore  I  never  will  render  any  ac- 
count. Besides,  my  son,  neither  law  nor  reason  permits  sons  to 
judge  their  father.  I  decline  the  jurisdiction  of  the  King  and 
barons,  and  appeal  to  God,  and  my  lord  the  Pope,  by  whom  alone 
I  am  to  be  judged.  For  you.  my  brethren  and  fellow  bishops,  I 
summon  you  to  appear  before  the  Pope,  to  be  judged  by  him  for 
having  obeyed  man  rather  than  God.     I  put  myself,  the  church  of 


chap,  v.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.         279 

Becket's  violent  death.  Pretended  miracles  at  his  shriue. 

Canterbury,  and  all  that  belongs  to  it,  under  the  protection  of  God 
and  the  Pope  ;  and  under  their  protection  I  depart  hence."  Having 
said  this,  he  walked  out  of  the  hall  in  great  state,  leaving  the 
spectators  so  much  disconcerted  by  his  boldness,  that  not  an  indi- 
vidual had  the  courage  to  stop  him. 

§  40. — The  tragical  result  of  this  controversy  is  well  known.  The 
haughty  but  courageous  Primate  was  assassinated  December  29th, 
1171,  by  four  gentlemen  of  king  Henry's  court,  in  consequence  of 
a  passionate  exclamation  they  had  heard  drop  from  the  lips  of 
their  royal  master,  and  was  soon  after  his  death  canonized  as  a 
saint  of  the  very  highest  rank.  Endless  were  the  panegyrics  pro- 
nounced on  his  virtues  ;  and  the  miracles  wrought  by  his  relics, 
according  to  the  popish  historians,  were  more  numerous,  more  non- 
sensical, and  more  impudently  attested,  than  those  which  ever  filled 
the  legend  of  any  saint  or  martyr.  His  shrine  not  only  restored 
dead  men  to  life  ;  it  also  restored  cows,  dogs,  and  horses.  Presents 
were  sent,  and  pilgrimages  performed,  from  all  parts  of  Christen- 
dom, in  order  to  obtain  his  intercession  with  Heaven :  and  it  was 
computed  that,  in  one  year,  above  a  hundred  thousand  pilgrims  ar- 
rived at  Canterbury,  and  paid  their  devotions  at  his  tomb.* 

The  following  quaint  verse  in  relation  to  the  throngs  of  pilgrims 
that  came  to  pay  their  devotions  at  the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas  a 
Becket,  in  Canterbury  Cathedral,  is  from  Chaucer,  one  of  the  most 
ancient  of  our  English  poets,  who  was  born  about  a  century  and  a 
half  after  the  death  and  canonization  of  the  saint. 

"  And  specially  from  every  shire's  end 
Of  Engle-land  to  Canterbury  they  wend, 
The  holy  blissful  martyr  for  to  seek, 
That  them  hath  holpen  when  that  they  were  sick." 


CHAPTER  V. 

POPERY    IN    ENGLAND    CONTINUED POPE    INNOCENT    AND    KING   JOHN. 

§  41. — The  most  remarkable  exhibition  of  priestly  tyranny  and 
successful  papal  arrogance  that  has  ever  occurred  in  Great  Britain, 
and  perhaps  in  the  world,  was  that  which  signalized  the  pontificate 
of  Innocent  III.,  a  pope  that  carried  out  the  policy  of  Hikiebrand 
to  an  unprecedented  extent  in  his  treatment  of  the  kingdom  of 
England,  and  its  weak  and  contemptible  king  John,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  thirteenth  century.     It  is  justly  remarked  by  the  his- 

*  Russell's  Modern  Europe,  i.,  168. 


280  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v 

The  Pope  and  the  King  compared  to  the  Sun  and  the  Moon.      Impertinent  interference  of  Innocent  III. 

lorian  of  the  middle  ages,  that  "  the  pontificate  of  Innocent  III.  may 
De  regarded  as  the  meridian  or  noonday  of  papal  usurpation."  In 
each  of  the  three  leading  objects  which  Rome  had  pursued — name- 
ly, independent  sovereignty,  supremacy  over  the  Christian  church, 
and  control  over  the  princes  of  the  earth — it  was  the  fortune  of 
this  pontiff  to  conquer.  The  maxims  of  Gregory  VII.  were  now 
matured  by  more  than  a  hundred  years,  and  the  right  of  trampling 
upon  the  necks  of  kings  had  been  received,  at  least  among  church- 
men, as  an  inherent  attribute  of  the  papacy.  "  As  the  sun  and  the 
moon  are  placed  in  the  firmament,"  says  the  pontiff,  "  the  greater 
as  the  light  of  the  day,  and  the  lesser  of  the  night ;  thus  are  there 
two  powers  in  the  church — the  pontifical,  which,  as  having  the 
charge  of  souls,  is  the  greater  ;  and  the  royal,  which  is  the  less, 
and  to  which  the  bodies  of  men  only  are  intrusted."*  Intoxicated 
with  these  conceptions,  the  result  of  successful  ambition,  he  thought 
no  quarrel  of  princes  beyond  the  sphere  of  his  jurisdiction.  On 
every  side  the  thunders  of  Rome  broke  over  the  heads  of  princes. 
At  his  pleasure,  he  would  place  a  kingdom  under  an  interdict,  and 
instantly  public  worship  is  suspended,  and  the  dead  lie  unburied. 
If  the  clergy  complain  to  him  that  the  people,  cut  off  from  the 
offices  of  religion,  refuse  to  pay  tithes,  and  go  to  hear  the  sectaries, 
he  consents  that  divine  service  shall  be  performed  with  closed  doors, 
but  denies  them  the  rites  of  sepulture. f 

§  42. — Pope  Innocent  commenced  his  course  of  lordly  arrogance 
towards  England  almost  as  soon  as  he  ascended  the  papal  throne, 
and  during  the  reign  of  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  the  predecessor  of 
John.  In  order  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the  monks  of  Can- 
terbury in  the  election  of  the  primates,  and  to  place  future  elections 
more  under  the  royal  influence,  king  Richard  authorized  the  erec- 
tion of  an  episcopal  palace  at  Lambeth,  intending  to  remove  the 
place  of  election  in  future  from  Canterbury  to  that  place.  The 
suspicious  monks,  jealous  of  the  exclusive  right  which  they  had 
claimed  of  electing  the  archbishops  of  Canterbury,  secretly  dis- 
patched a  messenger  to  pope  Innocent  at  Rome,  from  whom  they 
obtained  a  bull,  addressed  to  the  archbishop  Hubert,  who  was  him- 
self in  favor  of  the  change,  commanding  him,  within  thirty  days,  to 
demolish  the  works  at  Lambeth,  and  threatening  him  with  suspen- 
sion from  his  office  in  case  of  disobedience ;  for,  says  the  insolent 
Pope,  "  it  is  not  fit  that  any  man  should  have  any  authority  who 
docs  not  revere  and  obey  the  apostolic  See."J 

The  King  was  enraged  at  the  conduct  of  the  monks  in  apply- 
ing to  Rome  without  his  permission,  and  the  Archbishop  dispatched 
his  agents  to  Rome,  who  were  admitted  to  an  audience  of  the 
Pope  on  one  day,  and  the  monks  of  Canterbury  were  permitted 
to  reply  on  the  next.     The   result  of  these  proceedings  was,  that 

*  Vita  Tnnocentii  III.,  St.  Marc,  torn,  v.,  p.  325.     This  life  of  pope  Innocent 
was  written  by  a  contemporary, 
f  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  chap.  vii. 
|  Gervas.  Chron.,  col.  1602,  &c. 


CHAP,  v.]       POPERY  THE  WORLDS  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       281 


The  Pope  orders  the  works  of  Lambeth  Palace  to  be  demolished.  The  King  obliged  to  obey. 

the  Pope  confirmed  his  former  sentence  against  the  Archbishop, 
which  he  intimated  to  him  by  a  bull,  dated  November  20th,  threat- 
ening him  with  the  highest  censure  of  the  church,  if  he  did  not  im- 
mediately demolish  the  works  at  Lambeth.  His  Holiness,  at  the 
same  time,  directed  another  bull  to  the  King,  commanding  him,  in 
a  magisterial  tone,  to  see  the  sentence  of  the  apostolic  See  exe- 
cuted ;  and  telling  him  further,  that  if  he  presumed  to  oppose  its 
execution,  he  would  soon  convince  him,  by  the  severity  of  his  pun- 
ishment, how  hard  it  was  "  to  kick  against  the  pricks  !"  In  another 
bull,  which  he  addressed  to  the  King,  dictated,  if  possible,  in  a  still 
higher  strain,  he  commands  him  immediately  to  restore  to  the 
monks  of  Canterbury  all  their  possessions  ;  for  "  he  would  not  en- 
dure the  least  contempt  of  himself,  or  of  God,  whose  place  he  held 
upon  earth ;  but  would  punish,  without  delay,  and  without  respect  of 
persons,  every  one  who  presumed  to  disobey  his  commands,  in  order 
to  convince  the  whole  world  that  he  was  determined  to  act  in  a  royal 
manner."*  These  bulls  had  the  desired  effect ;  the  King  and  the 
Archbishop,  terrified  at  the  thunders  of  Rome,  submitted  to  the 
commands  of  the  Pope,  and  the  pertinacious  monks  had  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  the  obnoxious  buildings  razed  to  the  foundation  in 
the  months  of  January  and  February,  1199,  a  short  time  before  the 
death  of  king  Richard,  which  took  place  on  the  6th  of  April,  of  the 
same  year. 

§  43. — In  the  course  of  the  following  century,  however,  consider- 
able progress  was  made  in  the  erection  of  the  venerable  and  remark- 
able pile  of  buildings,  so  well  known  to  visitors  in  London  as  Lambeth 
Palace,  and  which  possesses  such  painful  interest  to  the  protestant 
descendants  of  British  martyrs,  on  account  of  that  single  melan- 
choly room  called  Lollard's  Tower,  where  many  of  the  noblest  of 
their  protestant  forefathers,  victims  of  popish  oppression  and  cruelty, 
breathed  their  sighs  to  the  cold  stone  walls  and  iron-barred  doors ; 
sent  up  their  prayers  to  the  God  of  the  oppressed  ;  held  sweet  com- 
munion with  that  Saviour  for  whose  cause  they  were  languishing 
in  chains,  and  in  many  instances  left  behind  them  the  now  time- 
worn  memorials  of  their  suffering,  in  rude  inscriptions  upon  its  walls. 

Lambeth  Palace  exhibits  specimens  of  the  architecture  of  differ- 
ent ages.  The  venerable  apartment  called  the  Chapel,  and  the 
crypt  beneath,  were  probably  built  by  archbishop  Boniface,  as  early 
as  1282.  It  is  seventy-five  feet  in  length,  twenty-five  in  breadth, 
and  thirty  feet  in  height,  and  is  divided  in  the  middle  by  a  richly 
ornamented  screen.  There  is  another  magnificent  and  more  spa- 
cious apartment  built  at  a  later  period,  called  the  Great  Hall.  It 
stands  on  the  right  of  the  principal  court-yard,  and  is  built  of  fine 
red  brick,  the  walls  being  supported  by  stone  buttresses,  and  also 
coped  with  stone,  and  surmounted  by  large  balls  or  orbs.  The 
length  of  this  noble  room  is  ninety-three  feet,  its  breadth  thirty-eight, 
and  its  height  fifty.     The  roof,  which  is  of  oak  and  elaborately 

•Gervas.  Chron.,  col.  1616-1624. 


282  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Lambeth  Palace  and  Lollard's  tower.  Commencement  of  king  John's  quarrel  with  pope  Innocent. 


carved,  is  particularly  splendid  and  imposing.  The  Gate-house, 
which  forms  the  principal  entry  to  the  Palace,  and  is  the  prominent 
object  in  the  engraving,  was  erected  by  Cardinal  Morton,  about  the 
year  L 490,  and  is  a  very  beautiful  and  magnificent  structure.  It 
consists  of  two  lofty  towers,  from  the  summits  of  which  is  one  of 
the  finest  views  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  metropolis. 

But  of  all  the  parts  of  this  venerable  and  imposing  pile,  there  is 
a  single  contracted  room,  cold,  dark  and  dreary,  twelve  feet  by 
nine,  with  two  holes  called  windows,  fourteen  inches  by  seven, 
measured  on  the  outside,  but  enlarging,  by  a  funnel-shaped  cavity 
through  thick,  stone  walls,  to  about  double  the  size  on  the  inside, 
which  possesses  a  deeper  and  more  tender  interest  than  any,  or  than 
all  the  rest.  I  need  not  add,  it  is  Lollard's  Tower.  This  gloomy 
apartment  was  erected  by  Archbishop  Chichely,  in  the  early  part  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  as  a  place  of  confinement  for  the  unhappy  he- 
retics from  whom  it  derives  its  name.  Under  the  tower  is  an  apart- 
ment of  somewhat  singular  appearance,  called  the  post  room,  from 
a  large  post  in  the  middle  of  it,  by  which  its  flat  roof  is  partly  sup- 
ported. The  prison  in  which  the  poor  Lollards  were  confined  is  at 
the  top  of  the  tower,  and  is  reached  by  a  very  narrow  winding 
staircase.  Its  single  doorway,  which  is  so  narrow-  as  only  to  admit 
one  person  at  a  time,  is  strongly  barricaded  by  both  an  outer  and 
an  inner  door  of  oak,  each  three  inches  and  a  half  thick,  and  thickly 
studded  with  iron.  Both  the  walls  and  roof  of  the  chamber  are 
lined  with,  oaken  planks  an  inch  and  a  half  thick ;  and  eight  large 
iron  rings  still  remain  fastened  to  the  wood,  the  melancholy  memo- 
rials of  the  barbarous  popish  tyranny  whose  victims  formerly  pined 
in  this  dismal  prison-house.  Many  names,  and  fragments  of  sen- 
tences, are  rudely  cut  out  on  various  parts  of  the  walls.  (See  En- 
graving.) 

§  1 1.'__ To  return  to  the  thread  of  our  history.  A  few  years  after  the 
accession  of  king  John  the  brother  of  Richard,  the  violent  dispute  be- 
tween him  and  pope  Innocent  commenced,  which  has  rendered  so 
memorable  the  history  of  the  reign  of  that  weak  and  contemptible 
sovi  rei .  n.  The  occasion  of  it  was  as  follows.  After  the  death  of 
Hubert,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  1205,  a  contest  arose  between 
two  individuals  who  each  claimed  to  have  been  elected  to  that  dig- 
nity by  the  monks.  The  bishops  who  had  not  been  consulted  in 
either,  formed  a  third  party,  and  dispatched  their  agents  to  Rome 
to  protest  against  both  elections.  Pope  Innocent,  to  whom  nothing 
c  >iill  be  more  grateful  than  these  clashing  claims  and  appeals.,  de- 
cided against  b  >th  elections,  declared  the  See  of  Canterbury  vacant, 
and  resolved,  like  one  of  his  predecessors,  six  centuries  before  (see 
above,  j  ;  _  •  135),  to  raise  a  creature  of  his  own  to  the  dignity  of 
primate  of  England. 

To  give  this  assumption  at  least  a  semblance  of  regularity, 
however  slight,  the  Pope  s  nt  for  some  monks  of  Canterbury,  four- 
teen in  number,  who  happened  at  that  time  to  be  in  Rome  as  agents 
for  the  bishop  of  Norwich,  one  of  the  rejected  competitors,  and 


chap,  v.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       285 

Langton,  by  the  Pope's  orders,  appointed  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  King  John's  useless  anger. 

commanded  them,  under  penalty  of  excommunication,  immediately 
to  choose  for  their  archbishop,  cardinal  Stephen  Langton.  The 
monks  in  vain  protested  that  they  were  incompetent  to  elect  an  arch- 
bishop without  the  consent  of  the  whole  convent,  and  that  they  had 
been  entrusted  with  no  such  authority ;  but  the  Pope  hastily  and 
sternly  replied  that  his  authority  was  sufficient  to  supply  all  defects. 
They  urged,  too,  that  before  leaving  England,  they  had  solemnly 
sworn  to  the  King  that  they  would  acknowledge  no  person  for  pri- 
mate except  the  bishop  of  Norwich,  who  was  a  personal  favorite  of 
the  sovereign.  This  obstacle,  however,  was  soon  removed  by  the 
plenitude  of  papal  authority,  which  had  long  since  assumed  the 
blasphemous  power  of  annulling  the  laws  of  God,  and  sanction- 
ing the  most  deliberate  perjury  by  absolving  from  the  obligation  of 
oaths.  Having,  therefore,  removed  this  obstacle  by  absolving  them 
from  their  solemn  oath  to  king  John,  the  monks  at  length  overcome 
by  the  menaces  and  authority  of  the  Pope,  proceeded,  with  the 
single  exception  of  Elias  de  Brantefield,  to  comply  with  his  de- 
mands and  elected  Langton  archbishop,  who  was  consecrated  by 
the  Pope  himself  on  the  37th  of  June,  1207. 

§  45. — Pope  Innocent,  well  aware  that  this  flagrant  usurpation 
would  be  highly  resented  by  the  court  of  England,  wrote  to  John  a 
mollifying  letter,  accompanied  by  four  golden  rings  set  with  precious 
stones,  and  endeavored  to  enhance  the  value  of  the  present  by  in- 
forming him  of  the  mysteries  implied  in  it.  Their  round  form,  he 
said,  shadowed  forth  eternity  without  beginning  or  end,  and  should 
teach  him  to  aspire  from  temporal  to  eternal  things  ;  their  number, 
four,  being  a  square,  denoted  steadiness  of  mind  ;  their  matter,  gold, 
the  most  precious  of  metals  signified  wisdom.  The  blue  color  of 
the  sapphire,  represented  Faith ;  the  green  of  the  emerald,  Hope  ; 
the  redness  of  the  ruby,  Charity ;  and  the  splendor  of  the  topaz, 
good  works.*  King  John,  who,  like  most  weak  minds,  was  fond 
both  of  trinkets  and  flattery,  wTas  much  gratified  by  this  papal  pre- 
sent, but  his  satisfaction  only  continued  during  his  ignorance  of  the 
means  by  which  the  artful  Pope  had  sought  to  deprive  him  of  what 
he  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  valuable  prerogatives  of  his  crown. 
A  few  days  after  the  reception  of  the  present,  the  Pope's  bull  ar- 
rived announcing  the  election  and  consecration  of  cardinal  Langton, 
which  threw  the  King  into  a  violent  rage  against  both  the  Pope  and 
the  monks  of  Canterbury.  As  these  last  were  most  within  his 
reach,  they  felt  the  first  effects  of  his  indignation.  He  dispatched 
two  officers,  with  a  company  of  armed  men,  to  Canterbury,  who 
took  possession  of  the  convent  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  banished  the 
monks  out  of  the  kingdom,  and  seized  all  their  estate. 

John  next  wrote  a  spirited  and  angry  letter  to  the  Pope,  in 
which  he  accused  him  of  injustice  and  presumption,  in  raising  a 
stranger  to  the  highest  dignity  in  the  kingdom,  without  his  know- 
ledge.    He  reproached  the  Pope  and  court  of  Rome  with  ingrati- 

*  Rymer,  vol.  i.,p.  139.    Matth.  Paris,  p.  155. 
18 


286  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Pope  Innocent  lays  Knuland  under  an  interdict.  Terrific  consequences  of  that  sentence. 

tiidc,  in  behaving  as  they  had  done  towards  a  country  from  which 
they  derived  more  money  than  from  all  the  other  kingdoms  on  this 
side  the  Alps.  He  declared  that  he  was  determined  to  sacrifice  h  s 
life  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  his  crown;  and  that,  if  his  Holiness 
did  not  immediately  repair  the  injury  he;  had  done  him,  he  would 
break  off  all  communication  with  Home.  This  letter,  though 
written  in  a  strain  very  becoming  a  king  of  England,  was  quite 
intolerable  to  the  pride  of  the  haughty  pontiff,  who  had  been  long 
accustomed  to  trample  on  the  majesty  of  kings.  Innocent  was  not 
tardy  in  returning  an  answer,  in  which,  after  many  expressions  of 
displeasure  and  resentment,  he  plainly  tells  the  King,  that  if  he  per- 
sisted in  this  dispute,  he  would  plunge  himself  into  inextricable 
difficulties,  and  at  length  be  crushed  by  him,  before  whom  every 
knee  must  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  on  earth,  and 
things  under  the  earth.* 

§  4G. — These  letters  might  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  formal  de- 
claration of  war  between  the  Pope  and  the  king  of  England  ;  but 
the  contest  was  very  unequal.  The  former  had  now  attained  that 
extravagant  height  of  power  which  made  the  greatest  monarch s 
tremble  upon  their  thrones ;  and  the  latter  had  sunk  very  low  in 
both  his  reputation  and  authority,  having  before  this  time  lost  his 
foreign  dominions  by  Irs  indolence,  and  the  esteem  and  affection  of 
his  subjects  at  home  by  his  follies  and  his  crimes.  Indeed,  the  Pope 
was  not  ignorant  of  the  advantage  he  possessed  in  the  contest ;  and 
consequently,  without  delay,  he  laid  all  the  dominions  of  king  John 
under  an  interdict ;  and  this  sentence  was  published  in  England,  at 
the  Pope's  command,  March  23d,  a.  d.  1208,  by  the  bishops  of  Lon- 
don, Ely,  and  Worcester,  though  the  King  endeavored  to  deter 
them  from  it  by  the  most  dreadful  threats. 

The  consequences  of  this  terrific  sentence  are  thus  described 
by  Mr.  Hume :  "  The  execution,"  says  he,  "  was  calculated  to 
strike  the  senses  in  the  highest  degree,  and  to  operate  with  irresisti- 
ble force  on  the  superstitious  minds  of  the  people.  The  nation  was, 
of  a  sudden,  deprived  of  all  exterior  exercise  of  its  religion  ;  the 
altars  were  despoiled  of  their  ornaments  ;  the  crosses,  the  relics, 
the  images,  the  statues  of  the  saints,  were  laid  on  the  ground  ;  and 
as  if  the  air  itself  were  profaned,  and  might  pollute  them  by  its 
contact,  the  priests  carefully  covered  them  up,  even  from  their  own 
approach  and  veneration.  The  use  of  bells  entirely  ceased  in  all 
the  churches  :  the  bells  themselves  were  removed  from  the  steeples, 
and  laid  on  the  ground  with  the  other  sacred  utensils.  Mass  was 
celebrated  with  closed  doors,  and  none  but  the  priests  were  admit- 
ted to  that  holy  institution.  The  laity  partook  of  no  religious  rite, 
except  the  communion  to  the  dying  ;  the  dead  were  not  interred  in 
consecrated  ground  ;  they  were  thrown  into  ditches,  or  buried  in 
common  fields,  and  their  obsequies  were  not  attended  with  prayers 
or  any   hallowed   ceremony.      Marriage   was   celebrated  in    the 

*  Matt.  Paris,  pp.  156,  157. 


chap,  v.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.        287 


King  John  excommunicated.  Deposed,  and  his  subjects  absolved  from  their  allegiance. 

churchyard,  and  that  every  action  in  life  night  bear  the  marks  of 
this  dreadful  situation,  the  people  were  prohibited  the  use  of  meat, 
as  in  Lent,  or  times  of  the  highest  penance  ;  were  debarred  from 
all  pleasures  and  entertainments,  and  were  forbidden  even  to  salute 
each  other,  or  so  much  as  to  shave  their  beards,  and  give  any  de- 
cent attention  to  their  apparel.  Every  c.rcumstance  carried  symp- 
toms of  the  deepest  distress,  and  of  the  most  immediate  apprehen- 
sion of  divine  vengeance  and  indignation."* 

When  this  interdict  had  continued  about  two  years,  the  Pope 
proceeded  a  step  farther,  and  pronounced  the  awful  sentence  of  ex- 
communication against  king  John,  which  he  commanded  the  bishops 
of  London,  Ely,  and  Worcester,  his  most  obsequious  tools,  to  pub- 
lish in  England.  These  prelates,  who  then  resided  on  the  continent, 
sent  copies  of  the  sentence,  and  of  the  Pope's  commands  to  publish 
it  in  their  churches,  to  the  bishops  and  clergy  who  remained  in 
England.  But  such  was  their  dread  of  the  royal  indignation,  that 
none  of  them  had  the  courage  to  execute  these  commands.  Geof- 
frey, archdeacon  of  Norwich,  one  of  the  King's  judges,  when  sit- 
ting on  the  bench  in  the  Exchequer,  at  Westminster,  declared  to 
the  other  judges,  that  the  King  was  excommunicated,  and  that  he 
did  not  think  it  lawful  for  him  to  act  any  longer  in  his  name ;  for 
which  declaration  he  was  thrown  into  prison,  where  he  soon  died.f 

§47. — In  the  year  1211,  the  Pope  sent  two  legates  into  England, 
whose  names  were  Pandulph  and  Durand.  These  legates  were 
admitted  to  an  audience,  at  a  parliament  which  was  held  at  North- 
ampton, when  a  most  violent  altercation  took  place  between  them 
and  the  King.  Pandulph  plainly  told  the  King,  even  in  the  face  of 
his  parliament,  that  he  was  bound  to  obey  the  Pope  in  temporals  as 
well  as  in  spirituals  !  and  when  John  refused  to  submit  to  the  will  of 
his  Holiness  without  reserve,  the  Legate,  with  shameless  effrontery, 
published  the  sentence  of  excommunication  against  him,  with  a 
loud  voice,  absolving  all  his  subjects  from  their  oaths  of  allegiance, 
degraded  him  from^his  royal  dignity,  and  declared  that  neither  he 
nor  any  of  his  posterity  should  ever  reign  in  England.%  This  was 
certainly  carrying  clerical  insolence  to  the  height  of  extravagance. 
But  in  those  unhappy  times  the  meanest  agents  of  the  Pope  insulted 
the  greatest  princes  with  impunity. 

On  the  return  of  the  legates  to  Rome,  in  the  following  year, 
pope  Innocent  solemnly  ratified  all  their  proceedings  against  the 
king  of  England  ;  and  finding  that  all  the  success  which  he  ex- 
pected from  them  had  not  ensued,  he  proceeded  to  more  violent 
measures  ;  he  pronounced  with  great  solemnity  a  sentence  of  deposi- 
tion against  king  John,  and  of  excommunication  against  all  who 
should  obey  him,  or  have  any  connection  with  him.§  When  these 
sentences  were  known  in  England,  they  began  to  excite  the  super- 

*  Hume's  Hist,  of  England,  p.  110. 

f  Matt.  Paris,  pp.  158,  159. 

%  Annal.  Monast.  Burton,  apud  Rerum  Anglican.  Script.,  t.  i.,  pp.  165,  166. 

\  Matt.  Paris,  p.  161. 


288  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


The  Pope  offers  England  to  king  Philip  of  France.  King  John's  degrading  submission. 

stitious  fears  of  some  of  the  barons,  who  were  at  the  same  time 
much  dissatisfied  with  the  prince,  for  his  imprudent,  illegal,  and 
oppressive  government.  John,  having  received  intimations  of  this 
from  various  quarters,  became  not  a  little  alarmed,  and  began  to 
stagger  in  his  resolution. 

§  48. — To  render  the  sentence  of  deposition  against  king  John 
effectual,  the  Pope  appointed  Philip,  king  of  France,  to  put  it  in 
execution,  and  promised  him  the  pardon  of  all  his  sins,  and  the 
kingdom  of  England  for  his  reward — a  temptation  which  that 
prince  had  neither  the  wisdom  nor  virtue  to  resist.  Blinded  by  his 
ambition,  he  commanded  a  large  army  to  assemble  at  Rouen,  and 
prepared  a  fleet  of  seventeen  hundred  vessels,  to  convey  them  to 
England.  All  these  preparations,  however,  only  served  to  promote 
thepurposes  of  the  court  of  Rome ;  for  as  soon  as  John  was  suffi- 
ciently intimidated  by  his  dread  of  the  French  army,  and  his  sus- 
picions of  his  own  subjects,  to  induce  him  to  make  an  ignominious 
surrender  of  his  crown  and  kingdom  to  the  Pope,  the  French  king 
was  obliged  to  abandon  his  enterprise  against  England,  to  avoid 
the  thunders  of  the  church,  the  dreadful  effects  of  which  he  had 
before  his  eyes. 

The  trembling  John  now  implored  the  protection  of  Rome, 
whatever  submission  it  might  cost.  The  Legate  assured  him  that 
the  supreme  pontiff  would  require  nothing  which  was  not  abso- 
lutely necessary  either  to  the  honor  of  the  church  or  the  safety  of 
the  King  himself.  He  proposed,  therefore,  to  withdraw  the  excom- 
munication immediately,  on  condition  of  John's  promising  to  receive 
Langton  as  archbishop,  whose  promotion  to  the  primacy  had  been 
the  occasion  of  all  this  furious  contest,  with  all  the  bishops  and  cler- 
gy who  acknowledged  him,  and  to  indemnify  them  for  all  the  damage 
they  had  sustained.  To  all  this  the  king  of  England  consented  ;  but 
the  consummation  of  ignominy  was  yet  to  come.  Under  the  spe- 
cious pretext  of  securing  England  from  attacks  by  Philip,  it  was 
suggested  to  John  to  surrender  his  kingdoms  to  the  Pope,  as  to  a 
lord-paramount — to  swear  fealty  to  him — to  receive  the  British 
islands  back  as  fiefs  of  the  holy  See  ;  and  to  pay  an  annual  tribute 
for  them  of  700  marks  of  silver  for  England,  and  300  for  Ireland. 
On  the  12th  of  May,  1213,  John  performed  all  the  degrading  cere- 
monials of  resignation,  homage  and  fealty.  On  his  knees  he  hum- 
bly offered  his  kingdoms  to  the  Pope,  and  put  them  into  the  hands 
of  the  Legate,  Pandulph,  who  retained  them  for  five  days.  He  of- 
fered his  tribute,  which  the  Legate  threw  down  and  trampled  on, 
but  afterwards  condescended  to  gather  up  again  ! 

In  the  engraving,  which  is  a  representation  of  this  scene,  the 
humbled  monarch  is  seen  on  his  knees  before  the  Pope's  legate, 
who  has  just  received  the  crown  from  the  hands  of  the  King,  and 
is  trampling  upon  the  gold,  with  the  gift  of  which  John  accom- 
panied his  submission.  Some  of  the  barons  of  England  are  look- 
ing on,  grieved  and  indignant  alike  at  the  degradation  of  their 
weak-minded  sovereign,  and  the  haughty  and  contemptuous  inso- 
lence of  the  triumphant  priest.     (See  Engraving.) 


chap,  v.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.        291 

Deed  of  surrender  of  England  to  the  Pope.  Haughty  insolence  of  the  papal  legate. 

The  nuncio  immediately  went  to  France,  to  announce  to  Philip, 
that  he  must  no  longer  molest  a  prince  who  was  a  penitent  son  and 
a  faithful  vassal  of  the  Holy  See,  nor  presume  to  molest  a  kingdom 
which  was  now  part  of  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter. 

§  49. — The  language  of  the  deed  of  surrender  which  king  John 
delivered  to  Pandulph,  and  which  had  doubtless  been  dictated  to 
him  by  the  haughty  legate,  is  so  remarkable,  that  I  shall  subjoin  a 
copy  of  it,  as  a  monument  of  the  unbounded  arrogance  and  tyranny 
of  the  apostate  church  of  Rome,  and  of  the  heads  of  that  false 
church,  the  pretended  successors  of  St.  Peter,  and  disciples  of  him 
who  said,  "  my  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world."  The  follow- 
ing are  the  words  of  this  document : — "  I,  John,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  king  of   England,  &c,   freely  grant  unto  God,  and  the 

HOLY  APOSTLES,  PeTER  AND  PAUL,  AND  TO  THE  HOLY  RoMAN  CHURCH, 
OUR  MOTHER,  AND  UNTO  THE  LORD,  POPE  INNOCENT,  AND  TO  HIS  CATHO- 
LIC   SUCCESSORS,    THE    WHOLE    KINGDOM    OF    ENGLAND,  AND  THE  WHOLE 

kingdom  of  Ireland,  with  all  the  rights  and  all  the  appurtenances 
of  the  same,  for  the  remission  of  our  sins,  and  of  all  our  genera- 
tion, both  for  the  living  and  the  dead,  that  from  this  time  forward 
we  may  receive  and  hold  them  of  him,  and  of  the  Roman  church, 
as  second  after  him,  &c.  We  have  sworn,  and  do  swear,  unto  the 
said  lord,  pope  Innocent,  and  to  his  catholic  successors,  and  to  the 
Roman  church,  a  liege  homage,  in  the  presence  of  Pandulphus.  If 
we  can  be  in  the  presence  of  the  lord  pope,  we  will  do  the  same  ; 
and  to  this  we  oblige  our  heirs  and  successors  for  ever,  &c.  And 
for  the  sign  of  this  our  perpetual  obligation  and  concession,  we  will 
and  ordain,  that  out  of  our  proper  and  especial  revenues  from  the 
said  kingdoms,  for  all  our  service  and  custom  which  we  ought  to 
render,  the  Roman  church  receive  a  thousand  marks  sterling  yearly, 
without  diminution  of  St.  Peter's-pence  ;  that  is,  five  hundred  marks 
at  the  feast  of  St.  Michael,  and  five  hundred  at  Easter,  &c.     And 

IF  WE,  OR  ANY  OF  OUR  SUCCESSORS,  PRESUME  TO  ATTEMPT  AGAINST 
THESE    THINGS,    LET    HIM    FORFEIT    HIS    RIGHT    TO    THE    KINGDOM,  &C." 

Matthew  Paris  tells  us,  that,  on  delivering  this  letter,  the  King 
placed  a  sum  of  money  at  the  feet  of  Pandulph,  the  Pope's  legate, 
which  the  former  trode  upon  with  his  foot,  in  token  of  the  subjection 
of  the  country  to  the  Roman  See.  "  Pandulphus  pecuniam,  quam  in 
arcem  subjectionis  rex  contulerat,  sub  pede  suo  conculcavit  archie- 
piscope  dolente  et  reclamante." 

§  50  — King  John  having  made  this  ignoble  submission  to  the 
will  of  pope  Innocent,  he  was  soon  after  absolved  from  the  sentence 
of  excommunication  by  the  new  primate,  Langton,  who  imme- 
diately came  to  England,  and  took  possession  of  his  See  of  Can- 
terbury, and  after  a  short  interval,  upon  the  King's  sending  to  In- 
nocent a  large  sum  of  money,  and  renewing  his  promise  of  obedi- 
ence, his  Holiness  gave  a  commission  to  his  legate  in  England  to 
remove  the  interdict,  which  was  accordingly  done  in  St.  Paul's  ca- 
thedral, on  the  29th  of  June,  1214. 

Henceforward  king  John  conducted  himself  as  an  obedient  vas- 


292  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Innocent  excommunicates  the  barons  of  England.       Popery  at  present  feeble,  contrasted  with  the  past. 

sal  of  his  sovereign  lou!)  the  Pope,  who,  in  return,  condescended, 
in  all  the  future  quarrels  of  John  with  his  barons,  to  spread  over 
the  humbled  monarch  the  shield  of  his  apostolic  protection.  The 
violent  disputes  that  arose,  after  John's  submission  to  the  Pope,  be- 
twe  11  him  and  the  barons  of  England,  arc  familiar  to  every  reader 
of  English  history.  In  the  council  of  Lateran,  in  1215,  pope  Inno- 
cent hurled  the  thunders  of  excommunication  at  these  sturdy  barons, 
and  in  a  letter  written  to  certain  ecclesiastics  soon  after,  he  alludes 
to  this  event  in  the  following  pompous  language: — "We  will  have 
you  to  know  that  in  the  general  council  we  have  excommunicated 
and  anathematized,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  name  of  the  holy  apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
and  in  our  own  name,  the  barons  of  England,  with  their  partizans 
and  abettors,  for  persecuting  John,  the  illustrious  king  of  England, 
who  has  taken  the  cross,  and  is  a  vassal  of  the  Roman  church, 
and  for  striving  to  deprive  him  of  a  kingdom  that  is  known  to 
belong  to  the  Roman  church."*  These  barons,  however,  were 
less  terrified  by  the  spiritual  thunders  of  Innocent  than  their  weak- 
minded  King  had  been,  and,  as  is  well  known,  pursued  their  object 
with  a  steady  aim,  till  they  finally  extorted  from  the  King  that  char- 
ter of  English  liberty,  Magna  Charta. 

Before  dismissing  the  subject  of  the  present  chapter,  I  will  re- 
mind the  reader  that  one  of  the  proudest  boasts  of  Popery  is,  that 
it  is  unchangeable.  Hence,  there  can  be  no  possible  doubt  that  the 
principles  of  Rome  are  the  same  now  as  they  were  in  the  days  of 
Innocent  and  John,  those  days  of  darkness,  when  she  reigned 
Despot  of  the  World  ;  and  the  only  reason  why  her  sovereign 
pontiffs  do  not  now  renew  their  claim  to  reign  as  universal  monarchs 
with  all  the  nations  at  their  feet,  is  that  they  are  destitute  of  the 
power  to  enforce  such  claims.  Should  the  present  imbecile  and 
contemptible  occupantf  of  the  throne  of  Hildebrand  only  breathe 
the  thought  of  ever  renewing  such  pretensions,  he  would  be  pointed 
at  with  scorn,  as  the  laughing-stock  of  the  world.  Thanks  to  God, 
the  dark  ages  are  passed  !  Popery  has  still  the  same  mind  and 
heart,  but  it  is  quaking  with  the  decrepitude  of  age.  The  strong 
men  have  bowed  themselves,  the  keepers  of  the  house  are  trem- 
bling. Its  power  to  tyrannize  is  gone ! — gone,  if  the  protestant 
world  is  faithful,  never,  never  to  return  ! 

*  Matthew  Paris,  p.  192. 

f  Pope  Gregory  XVI.— A.  D.  1845. 


293 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MORE    INSTANCES    OF    PAPAL    DESPOTISM.       POPES    ADRIAN    IV.,    ALEXAN- 
DER   III.,    AND    INNOCEVT    III. 

§  51. — The  extravagant  pretensions  of  the  pontiffs  of  this  age 
to  the  supreme  dominion  of  the  world,  and  to  an  authority  over  all 
emperors,  kings,  and  governments,  were  maintained  without  inter- 
ruption by  the  whole  line  of  popes,  from  Hildcbrand  to  Boniface 
VIII.,  who  died  in  1303,  that  is,  from  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh 
through  all  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  They  inculcated 
and  acted  upon  that  pernicious  and  extravagant  maxim,  "  That 

THE  BISHOP  OF  RoME  IS  THE  SUPREME  LORD  OF  THE  UNIVERSE,  AND 
THAT  NEITHER  PRINCES  NOR  BISHOPS,  CIVIL  GOVERNORS  NOR  ECCLE- 
SIASTICAL RULERS,  HAVE  ANY  LAWFUL  POWER  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE 
BUT    WHAT    THEY    DERIVE    FROM    HIM." 

We  have  already  shown  in  the  history  of  Popery  in  England,  as 
given  in  the  last  two  chapters,  a  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which 
two  of  the  most  famous  of  the  successors  of  Hildebrand  claimed 
and  exercised  this  monstrous  power  in  the  affairs  of  our  father 
land.  We  shall  now  proceed  to  relate  the  acts  of  the  most  cele- 
brated of  these  spiritual  tyrants,  during  this  noontide  of  their 
power  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

After  the  death  of  pope  Urban,  the  originator  of  the  crusades, 
which  took  place  in  1098,  there  was  no  pontiff  of  much  importance 
in  history,  till  the  accession  of  pope  Adrian  IV.,  by  birth  an  Eng- 
lishman, which  occurred  in  1154.  During  his  pontificate  the  an- 
cient contest  between  the  Pope  and  the  empire  was  renewed. 
Frederic  I.,  surnamed  Barbarossa,  was  no  sooner  seated  on  the  im- 
perial throne,  than  he  publicly  declared  his  resolution  to  maintain 
the  dignity  and  privileges  of  the  Roman  empire  in  general,  and 
more  particularly  to  render  it  respectable  in  Italy  ;  nor  was  he 
at  all  studious  to  conceal  the  design  he  had  formed  of  reducing  the 
overgrown  power  and  opulence  of  the  pontiffs  and  clergy  within 
narrower  limits.  Adrian  perceived  the  danger  that  threatened  the 
majesty  of  the  church,  and  the  authority  of  the  clergy,  and  pre- 
pared himself  for  defending  both  with  vigor  and  constancy.  The 
first  occasion  of  trying  their  strength  was  offered  at  the  coronation 
of  the  Emperor  at  Rome,  in  the  year  1155,  when  the  pontiff  in- 
sisted upon  Frederic's  performing  the  office  of  equerry,  and  hold- 
ing the  stirrup  to  his  Holiness.  After  some  objection,  Frederic  sub- 
mitted to  lead  the  Pope's  white  mule,  though  with  an  ill  grace,  for, 
mistaking  the  stirrup,  he  apologised  by  remarking  that  he  had 
never  learned  the  trade  of  a  groom.  For  many  years  this  act  of 
constrained  humiliation  galled  the  proud  spirit  of  the  Emperor,  and 
led  him  to  seize  every  opportunity  in  his  power  to  humble  the 
overgrown  power  of  the  popes. 


294  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Submission  of  ihe  emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa  to  pope  Alexander  III. 

§  52. — Adrian  died  in  1159,  and  the  next  pope  acknowledged  by 
the  Romish  annalists,  was  Alexander  III.,  though  he  had  two  or 
three  rivals,  who  successively  disputed  with  him  the  papal  throne, 
and  were  sustained  by  the  emperor  Frederic  and  others,  and  suc- 
ceeded for  a  time  in  chasing  him  from  Rome.  In  1107,  Alexander 
held  a  council  at  Rome,  in  which  he  solemnly  deposed  the  Em- 
peror (whom  he  had,  upon  several  occasions  before  this  period, 
loaded  publicly  with  anathemas  and  execrations),  dissolved  the  oath 
of  allegiance  which  his  subjects  had  taken  to  him  as  their  lawful 
sovereign,  and  encouraged  and  exhorted  them  to  rebel  against  his 
authority,  and  to  shake  off  his  yoke.  But  soon  after  this  audacious 
proceeding,  the  Emperor  made  himself  master  of  Rome,  upon 
which  the  insolent  pontiff  fled  to  Benevento.  Ten  years  later,  the 
Emperor,  dejected  at  the  difficulties  which  encompassed  him,  was 
glad  most  humbly  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  peace  with  pope  Alex- 
ander at  Venice,  and  a  truce  with  the  rest  of  his  enemies.  The 
account  given  by  Voltaire,  and  confirmed  by  other  historians,  of 
this  reconciliation,  is  as  follows: — "  Every  point  being  settled,  the 
Emperor  goes  to  Venice.  The  doge  of  Venice  carries  him  in  his 
gondola  to  St.  Mark's.  The  Pope  waits  for  him  at  the  gate  with 
the  Tiara  upon  his  head.  The  Emperor,  Barbarossa,  having  laid 
aside  his  mantle,  leads  him  to  the  chair  with  a  beadle's  staff  in  his 
hand.  The  Pope  preaches  in  Latin,  which  Frederic  does  not  un- 
derstand. After  sermon,  the  Emperor  goes  and  kisses  the  Pope's 
feet,  receives  the  communion  from  him,  and  coming  from  church 
leads  the  Pope's  white  mule  through  St.  Mark's  Square."*  The 
accompanying  engraving  is  an  accurate  representation  of  this  oc- 
currence, and  of  St.  Mark's  Square,  Venice,  where  it  transpired. 
(See  Engraving.) 

Besides  thus  humbling  the  pride  of  monarchs,  not  sufficiently 
obsequious  to  the  Holy  See,  Alexander  taught  that  the  popes  have 
power  to  set  up  kings,  as  well  as  to  pull  them  down,  and  gave  a  prac- 
tical illustration  of  the  same  shortly  after  the  submission  of  the  em- 
peror Frederic,  by  conferring,  in  the  year  1 179,  the  title  of  King,  upon 
Adolphus  I.,  duke  of  Portugal,  who  had  rendered  his  province 
tributary  to  the  Roman  Sec  under  pope  Lucius  Il.f 

§  53. — But  the  Pope  that  carried  out  the  doctrines  of  Hildebrand 
most  fully  in  his  treatment  of  earthly  sovereigns  and  worldly  go- 
vernments, was  Innocent  III.,  whom  we  have  already  seen  tyran- 
nizing over  the  kingdom  of  England,  and  by  his  haughty  legate 

*  Voltaire's  Annals  of  the  Empire,  An.  1177.  I  do  not  find  sufficient  authority 
for  what  is  related  by  some  historical  writers,  that  on  this  occasion,  while  the  Em- 
peror kissed  the  foot  of  the  haughty  pontiff',  the  latter  trod  upon  the  neck  of  the 
suppliant  monarch,  at  the  same  time  repeating  the  words  of  the  Psalmist.  "Thou 
shalt  tread  upon  the  lion  and  the  adder ;  the  young  lion  and  the  dragon  shalt  thou 
trample  under  feet."  The  humiliation  of  the  Emperor  was  certainly  sufficiently 
abject  without  this  (probe bly)  apocryphal  addition.  I  do  not  assert  that  such  an 
event  never  occurred,  bu,  as  I  have  adopted  in  the  present  work  the  principle  of 
omitting  a  probable  fact  rather  than  inserting  a  doubtful  relation,  I  have  chosen  to 
omit  this  incident  in  the  text. 

\  Baronius,  Annal.,  An.  1179,  Epist.  Innocentii  III.,  Epist.  xlix. 


The  Emperor  Frederick  Rarburossa  leading  the  Pope'*  Mule  ibrough  St.  Mark's  Square,  Venice.. 


chap,  vi.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       297 

Instances  of  the  despotism  of  pope  Innocent  III.  towards  various  sovereigns. 

literally  trampling  under  foot  the  crown  of  its  contemptible  sove- 
reign John.  Innocent  ascended  the  papal  throne  in  the  year  1198, 
and  continued  to  claim  and  to  exercise  universal  sovereignty  for 
the  first  sixteen  years  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  very  day 
after  his  consecration,  he  compelled  the  prefect  of  the  city  of  Rome 
and  other  magistrates  to  take  that  oath  of  allegiance  to  him  as  their 
lawful  sovereign,  which  they  had  formerly  taken  to  the  Emperor. 
He  soon  after  compelled  several  cities  of  Tuscany  who  threw  them- 
selves upon  his  protection,  to  swear  that  they  would  receive  no 
one  as  emperor  unless  he  was  acknowledged  as  such  by  the  Pope. 
This  was  in  consequence  of  the  different  claims  that  were  at  that 
time  set  up  to  the  empire  by  Otho,  duke  of  Brunswick,  and  Philip, 
duke  of  Swabia.  He  compelled  Philip,  by  threatening  him  with 
excommunication  and  interdict  if  he  refused,  to  liberate  the  arch- 
bishop of  Salerno,  confined  in  prison  on  a  charge  of  treason.  In 
the  same  year  he  excommunicated  Alphonsus,  king  of  Galicia  and 
Leon,  for  refusing  to  dismiss  his  wife  Tarsia,  daughter  of  Sanctius, 
king  of  Portugal,  whom  Innocent  pronounced  to  be  within  the  de- 
grees of  affinity  forbidden  by  the  church  ;  and  threatened  her  father, 
Sanctius  himself,  with  the  same  spiritual  thunders,  unless  he  should 
promptly  pay  up  the  yearly  tribute  which  his  father,  Alphonso,  had 
promised  to  the  successors  of  St.  Peter,  upon  receiving  the  title  of 
king  from  pope  Alexander.* 

§  54. — Innocent  soon  after  conferred  the  title  of  King  upon  Prem- 
islaus,  duke  of  Bohemia,  in  consequence  of  his  forsaking  the  party 
of  Philip,  who  aspired  to  the  empire,  and  joining  that  of  Otho,  who 
at  this  time  was  supported  by  the  Pope.  The  next  year,  1201,  the 
lordly  pontiff  issued  his  anathemas  against  Philip  II.,  king  of  France, 
and  laid  his  kingdom  under  an  interdict,  till  he  compelled  him  to 
receive  back  Ingelburga,  his  wife,  whom  he  had  put  away,  and  taken 
in  her  stead  Mary,  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Bohemia.  In  this  instance, 
doubtless,  king  Philip  was  compelled  by  the  terrors  of  excommuni- 
cation and  interdict,  to  perform  an  act  of  justice ;  but  our  object  in 
relating  these  instances  of  papal  authority  over  the  kings  of  the 
earth,  is  not  so  much  to  examine  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  those  who 
were  the  subjects  of  them,  as  to  illustrate  the  enormous  and  over- 
grown power  of  the  popes  during  this  period. 

The  following  year,  Calo-Johannes,  a  descendant  of  the  ancient 
kings  of  Bulgaria,  having  expelled  the  Greeks  from  that  country, 
wrote  a  submissive  letter  to  pope  Innocent,  beseeching  his  Holiness 
to  send  him  a  crown.  With  this  the  Pope  complied,  and  sent  Leo, 
his  legate,  with  a  crown  and  other  ensigns  of  royalty,  into  Bulgaria. 
After  the  king  had  taken  an  oath  of  "perpetual  obedience  to  Inno- 
cent and  his  successo?-s,  lawfully  elected"  he  was  solemnly  crowned 
by  the  Legate,  who  on  this  occasion,  to  show  the  entire  vassalage 
of  the  kingdom  of  Bulgaria  to  the  apostolic  See,  pretended  to  grant, 
in  the  Pope's  name,  the  privilege  of  coining  money,  a  right  which 

*  Epist.  Innoc.  III.,  L.  i.  ep.  91,  92.     Bower,  vi.,  187. 


298  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Peter,  king  of  Anagon,  and  the  emperor  Otho  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  pope  Innocent. 


had  alvvavs  been  regarded  as  inherent  in  the  crown  of  all  kings  and 
emperors. 

§  55. In  the  year  1204,  Peter  II.,  king  of  Arragon,  travelled  ex- 

pressly  to  Rome,  to  enjoy  the  honor  of  being  crowned  by  the  Pope 
himself.  He  was  received  with  honors  suitable  to  his  rank,  and, 
on  the  11th  November,  solemnly  crowned  by  the  Pope,  who,  with 
his  own  hand,  placed  the  crown  upon  his  head,  after  extracting  from 
him  the  following  extraordinary  oath:  "  I,  Peter,  king  of  Arragoni- 
ans,  profess  and  promise  to  be  ever  faithful  and  obedient  to  my 
lord,  roPE  Innocent,  to  his  Catholic  successors,  and  the  Roman 
church,  and  faithfully  to  preserve  my  kingdom  in  his  obedience, 
defending  the  Catholic  faith,  and  persecuting  heretical  pravity. 
I  shall  maintain  the  liberty  and  immunity  of  the  churches,  and 
defend  their  rights.  I  shall  strive  to  promote  peace  and  justice 
throughout  my  dominions.  So  help  me  God,  and  these  his  holy 
gospels."  The  King,  thus  crowned,  returned  with  the  Pope  to  the 
church  of  St.  Peter,  and  there  laying  his  crown  and  his  sceptre 
upon  the  altar  of  that  saint,  he  received  a  sword  from  his  Holiness, 
and  in  return  made  his  kingdom  tributary  to  the  apostolic  See, 
binding  himself,  his  heirs,  and  successors  for  ever,  to  pay  yearly  to 
Innocent  and  his  successors,  two  hundred  and  fifty  pieces  of  gold. 
This  grant  was  signed  by  the  King,  and  is  dated  as  we  read  it  in 
the  Acts  of  Innocent,  at  St.  Peter's,  the  11th  of  November,  the 
eighth  year  of  king  Peter's  reign,  and  of  our  Lord,  1204.* 

§  56. — A  few  years  later,  upon  the  death  of  Philip,  the  competitor 
of  Otho  in  the  empire,  the  latter  was  solemnly  crowned  anew  at  Rome, 
upon  the  invitation  of  pope  Innocent.  The  legates  whom  Innocent 
sent  to  Germany  to  tender  this  invitation  to  Otho,  were  charged  by 
their  master  with  the  form  of  an  oath,  to  be  taken  by  the  Emperor, 
before  setting  out  for  Rome.  This  oath  was  accordingly  taken  at 
Spire,  on  the  22d  of  March,  1208.  The  form  of  the  oath  was  as 
follows  :  "  I  promise  to  honor  and  obey  pope  Innocent  as  my  pre- 
decessors have  honored  and  obeyed  him.  The  elections  of  bishops 
shall  be  free,  and  the  vacant  Sees  shall  be  filled  by  such  as  have 
been  elected  by  the  whole  chapter,  or  by  a  majority.  Appeals  to 
Rome  shall  be  made  freely,  and  freely  pursued.  I  promise  to  sup- 
press and  abolish  the  abuse  that  has  obtained  of  seizing  the  effects 
of  deceased  bishops,  and  the  revenue  of  vacant  Sees.  I  promise  to 
extirpate  all  heresies,  to  restore  to  the  Roman  church  all  her 
possessions,  whether  granted  to  her  by  my  predecessors,  or  by 
others,  particularly  the  march  of  Ancona,  the  dukedom  of  Spoleti, 
and  the  territories  of  the  countess  Matilda,  and  inviolately  maintain 
all  the  rights  and  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  apostolic  See  in  the 
kingdom  of  Sicily."f 

Upon  Innocent  receiving  intelligence  that  Otho  had  taken  the 
prescribed  oath,  he  caused  a  copy  of  it  to  be  lodged  in  the  archives 

*  Acta  Innocentii. — Bower,  vi.,  192,  193. 
f  Acta  Innocentii  et  Epist.,  189. 


chap.  vii.  J      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      299 


The  Waldenses.  Testimony  of  Evervinus,  a  zealous  papist,  to  their  character. 

of  the  Roman  church,  as  a  pattern  of  the  oath  to  be  taken  by  all 
future  emperors.  He  then  wrote  a  letter  to  Otho,  inviting  him  to 
receive  the  crown  from  his  hands,  and  commending  him  for  his  filial 
submission  and  obedience  to  the  holy  See.  Otho,  after  some  delay, 
accepted  the  invitation,  and  was  solemnly  crowned  by  the  Pope, 
in  the  church  of  St.  Peter's,  on  the  17th  of  September,  1209.  Thus 
we  perceive  that  Popery  maintained  in  the  thirteenth  century,  as  it 
had  in  the  twelfth,  its  character  of  desfot  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    WALDENSES    AND    ALBIGENSES. 

§  57. — The  spiritual  tyrants  who  thus  domineered  over  the  sove- 
reigns and  governments  of  the  earth,  could  not  brook  the  idea  that 
any  should  be  found  so  daring  as  to  refuse  obedience  to  their  man- 
dates, or  to  question  the  right  by  which  they  claimed  thus  not  only 
to  "  lord  it  over  God's  heritage,  but  also  to  reduce  the  whole  world 
to  their  sovereign  sway.  Hence  it  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  the 
bitter  and  unrelenting  hostility  with  which  the  popes  of  this  period 
pursued  and  persecuted  the  harmless  and  interesting  people,  who, 
under  the  name  of  Cathari  (i.  e.  puritans),  Gazari,  Paulicians  or 
Publicans,  Petrobrussians,  poor  men  of  Lyons,  Lombards,  Albi- 
genses,  Waldenses,  Vaudois,  &c,  offered  a  noble  resistance  to  the 
usurped  tyranny  of  the  self-styled  successors  of  St.  Peter,  and  pretend- 
ed vicars  of  Christ  upon  earth.  The  testimony  given  by  Evervinus,  a 
zealous  papist,  in  a  letter  he  wrote  to  the  celebrated  Bernard,  abbot 
of  Clairvaux,  at  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  relative  to  the 
doctrine  and  manners  of  these  heretics  is  exceedingly  valuable. 
The  following  is  the  substance  of  this  letter :  "  There  have  lately 
been,"  says  he,  "  some  heretics  discovered  among  us,  near  Cologne, 
of  whom  some  have,  with  satisfaction,  returned  again  to  the  church. 
One  that  was  a  bishop  among  them,  and  his  companions,  openly 
opposed  us,  in  the  assembly  of  the  clergy  and  laity,  the  lord  arch- 
bishop himself  being  present,  with  many  of  the  nobility,  maintaining 
their  heresy  from  the  words  of  Christ  and  his  apostles.  But,  finding 
that  they  made  no  impression,  they  desired  that  a  day  might  be 
fixed,  upon  which  they  might  bring  along  with  them  men  skilful  in 
their  faith,  promising  to  return  to  the  church,  provided  their  teach- 
ers were  unable  to  answer  their  opponents ;  but  that  otherwise, 
they  would  rather  die  than  depart  from  their  judgment.  Upon  this 
declaration,  having  been  admonished  to  repent,  and  three  days 
allowed  them  for  that  purpose,  they  were  seized  by  the  people,  in 


300  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


The  morality  and  holiness  of  the  Waldenaea  testified  by  their  persecutors. 


their  excess  of  zeal,  and  committed  to  the  flames!  And,  what  is 
most  astonishing,  they  came  to  the  stake  and  endured  the  torment 
not  only  with  p  itience,  but  even  with  joy.  In  this  case,  O  holy 
father,  were  I  present  with  you,  I  should  be  glad  to  ask  you,  how 
these  members  of  Satan  could  persist  in  their  heresy  with  such  con- 
stancy and  courage  as  is  rarely  to  be  found  among  the  most  reli- 
gious'in  the  faith  of  Christ  ?"  He  then  proceeds,  "  Their  heresy  is 
this  :  they  say  that  the  church  (of  Christ)  is  only  among  themselves, 
because  they  alone  follow  the  ways  of  Christ,  and  imitate  the 
apostles, — not  seeking  secular  gains,  possessing  no  property,  follow- 
ing the  example  of  Christ,  who  was  himself  poor,  nor  permitted  his 
disciples  to  possess  anything.  Whereas,  say  they  to  us,  •  ye  join 
house  to  house,  and  field  to  field,  seeking  the  things  of  this  world, — 
yea,  even  your  monks  and  regular  canons  possess  all  these  things.' 
They  represent  themselves  as  the  poor  of  Christ's  flock,  who  have 
no  certain  abode,  fleeing  from  one  city  to  another,  like  sheep  in  the 
midst  of  wolves,  enduring  persecution  with  the  apostles  and  martyrs: 
though  strict  in  their  manner  of  life — abstemious,  laborious,  devout, 
and  holy,  and  seeking  only  what  "is  needful  for  bodily  subsistence, 
living  as  men  who  are  not  of  the  world.  But  you,  they  say,  lovers 
of  the  world,  have  peace  with  the  world,  because  ye  are  in  it. 
False  apostles,  who  adulterate  the  word  of  God,  seeking  their  own 
things,  have  misled  you  and  your  ancestors.  Whereas,  we  and  our 
fathers,  having  been  born  and  brought  up  in  the  apostolic  doctrine, 
have  continued  in  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  shall  continue  so  to  the 
end.  '  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,'  saith  Christ ;  '  and  our 
fruits  are.  walking  in  the  footsteps  of  Christ.'     They  affirm  that 

THE  APOSTOLIC  DIGNITY  IS  CORRUPTED  BY   ENGAGING  ITSELF  IN  SECULAR 

affairs,  while  it  sits  in  St.  Peter's  chair.  They  do  not  hold 
with  the  baptism  of  infants,  alleging  that  passage  of  the  gospel — 
*  He  that  believeth,  and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved.'  They  place  no 
confidence  in  the  intercession  of  saints;  and  all  things  observed  in 
the  church,  which  have  not  been  established  by  Christ  himself,  or 
his  apostles,  they  pronounce  to  be  superstitious.  They  do  not 
admit  of  any  purgatory  fire  after  death,  contending,  that  the  souls 
of  men,  as  soon  as  they  depart  out  of  the  bodies,  do  enter  into  rest 
or  punishment  ;  proving  it  from  the  words  of  Solomon, '  Which 
way  soever  the  tree  falls,  whether  to  the  South  or  to  the  North, 
there  it  lies ;'  by  which  means  they  make  void  all  the  prayers  and 
oblations  of  the  faithful  for  the  deceased. 

"  We,  therefore,  beseech  you,  holy  father,  to  employ  your  care 
and  watchfulness  against  these  manifold  mischiefs ;  and  that  you 
would  be  pleased  to  direct  your  pen  against  those  wild  beasts  of 
the  roads ;  not  thinking  it  sufficient  to  answer  us,  that  the  tower  of 
David,  to  which  we  may  betake  ourselves  for  refuge,  is  sufficiently 
fortified  with  bulwarks — that  a  thousand  bucklers  hang  on  the  walls 
of  it,  all  shields  of  mighty  men.  For  we  desire,  father,  for  the  sake 
of  us  simple  ones,  and  who  are  slow  of  understanding,  that  you 
would  be  pleased,  by  your  study,  to  gather  all  these  arms  into  one 


chap,  vil]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       301 

Testimony  of  Bernard,  Claudius,  and  Thuanus,  relative  to  the  doctrines  of  the  VValdenses. 


place,  that  they  might  be  the  more  readily  found,  and  more  powerful 
to  resist  these  monsters.  I  must  inform  you  also,  that  those  of  them 
who  have  returned  to  our  church,  tell  us  that  they  had  great  num- 
bers of  their  persuasion,  scattered  almost  everywhere  ;  and  that 
amongst  them  were  many  of  our  clergy  and  monks.  And,  as  for 
those  who  were  burnt,  they,  in  the  defence  they  made  of  themselves 
told  us  that  this  heresy  had  been  concealed  from  the  time  of  the 
martyrs  ;  and  that  it  had  existed  in  Greece  and  other  countries." 
(Quoted  by  Jones,  lect.  xl.) 

§  58. — Bernard,  though  he  immediately  commenced  a  strenuous  op- 
position to  these  rebels  against  the  Pope,  is  yet  compelled  by  truth 
to  give  the  following  testimony  to  their  irreproachable  life  and  man- 
ners. "  If,"  says  he,  "  you  ask  them  of  their  faith,  nothing  can  be 
more  Christian-like ;  if  you  observe  their  conversation,  nothing  can 
be  more  blameless,  and  what  they  speak  they  make  good  by  their 
actions.  You  may  see  a  man  for  the  testimony  of  his  faith  frequent 
the  church,  honor  the  elders,  offer  his  gift,  make  his  confession, 
receive  the  sacrament.  What  more  like  a  Christian  ?  As  to  life 
and  manners,  he  circumvents  no  man,  over-reaches  no  man,  does 
violence  to  no  man.  He  fasts  much  and  eats  not  the  bread  of  idle- 
ness ;  but  works  with  his  hands  for  his  support."*  Other  Roman 
Catholic  writers  give  the  same  testimony  to  the  irreproachable  lives 
and  morals  of  the  Waldenses.  Thus  Claudius,  archbishop  of  Turin, 
writes,  "  their  heresy  excepted,  they  generally  live  a  purer  life  than 
other  Christians."  And  again,  "  in  their  lives  they  are  perfect, 
irreproachable,  and  without  reproach  among  men,  addicting  them- 
selves, with  all  their  might,  to  the  service  of  God."  This  testimony 
is  the  more  valuable  from  the  fact  that  the  prelate  who  wrote  it, 
notwithstanding  the  acknowledged  excellent  characters  of  these 
heretics,  joined  in  hunting  and  persecuting  them  to  death,  because 
they  would  neither  submit  to  the  absurdities  and  impieties  of  Rome, 
nor  acknowledge  the  usurped  authority  of  the  popes.  The  sum  and 
substance  of  their  offence  is  mentioned  by  Cassini,  a  Franciscan 
friar,  where  he  says  "  that  all  the  errors  of  these  Waldenses  con- 
sisted in  this,  that  they  denied  the  church  of  Rome  to  be  the  holt 

MOTHER  CHURCH,  AND  WOULD  NOT  OBEY  HER  TRADITIONS." 

§  59. — Thuanus,  a  celebrated  Roman  Catholic  historian,  enume- 
rates their  heresy  more  at  length  ;  he  says  they  were  charged  with 
these  tenets,  viz. :  "  that  the  church  of  Rome,  because  it  renounced 
the  true  faith  of  Christ,  was  the  whore  of  Babylon,  and  the 
barren  tree  which  Christ  himself  cursed,  and  commanded  to  be 
plucked  up  ;  that  consequently  no  obedience  was  to  be  paid  to  the 
Pope,  or  to  the  biskops  who  maintain  her  errors  ;  that  a  monastic 
life  was  the  sink  and  dungeon  of  the  church,  the  vows  of  which 
[relating  to  celibacy]  were  vain,  and  served  only  to  promote  the 
vile  love  of  boys  [or  uncleanness] ;  that  the  orders  of  the  priest- 
hood were  marks  of  the  great  beast  mentioned  in  the  Apocalypse ; 

*  Bernard  on  the  Canticles,  Senno  Ixv.   "  Si  fidem  interroges,"  &c.   Perrin,  vi. 


302  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Bloody  decree  of  pope  Alexander  III  ,  against  the  heretical  Waldenses. 


that  the  fire  of  purgatory,  the  solemn  mass,  the  consecration  days 
of  churches,  the  worship  of  saints,  and  propitiations  for  the  dead, 
were  the  devices  of  Satan.  Beside  these  principal  and  authentic 
heads  of  their  doctrine,  others  were  pretended,  relating  to  marriage, 
the  resurrection,  the  state  of  the  soul  after  death,  and  meats."*  The 
chief  offence  of  these  heretics,  in  the  eyes  of  the  spiritual  tyrants  of 
Rome,  douhtlcss  was,  that  they  regarded  the  Pope  as  anti-Christ, 
and  the  apostate  church  of  Rome,  as  "  the  Babylonish  harlot,"  and 
this  in  the  eyes  of  the  popes  was  an  unpardonable  sin.  Hence  they 
spared  no  efforts  to  blacken  their  characters,  and  to  exterminate 
from  the  earth,  those  who  were  infinitely  purer  in  doctrine,  and 
holier  in  life,  than  their  tyrannical  and  powerful  persecutors.  While, 
therefore,  Evervinus  and  Thuanus,  and  even  Bernard,  are  compelled 
to  confess  the  purity  of  their  life  and  manners,  the  popes,  in  their 
persecuting  edicts,  not  only  strove  to  excite  all  to  unite  in  extermi- 
nating them  from  the  earth,  but  also  to  blacken  their  memory  with 
charges  of  the  most  enormous  crimes. 

§  GO. — Hence  in  the  decree  issued  by  pope  Alexander  III.,  in  the 
third  council  of  Lateran,  in  1179,  he  labors  not  only  to  excite  all  in 
exterminating  these  heretics,  but  also  loads  them  with  the  most  false 
and  infamous  charges.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  this  edict, 
as  quoted  by  bishop  Hughes,  in  his  controversy  with  Mr.  Brecken- 
ridge  (page  189).  The  emphasising  is  my  own.  "As  the  blessed 
Leo  says,  although  ecclesiastical  discipline,  content  with  the  sacer- 
dotal judgment,  does  not  exact  bloody  vengeance  ;  yet,  it  is  assisted 
by  the  constitution  of  Catholic  princes,  in  order  that  men,  while  they 
fear  that  corporal  punishment  may  be  inflicted  on  them,  may  often 
seek  a  salutary  remedy.  On  this  account  because  in  Gascony,  AJbi, 
in  the  parts  of  Thoulouse,  and  in  other  regions,  the  accursed  perverse- 
ness  of  the  heretics  variously  denominated  Cathari,  or  Patarenas,  or 
Publicans,  or  distinguished  by  sundry  names,  has  so  prevailed,  that 
they  now  no  longer  exercise  their  wickedness  in  private,  but  pub- 
licly manifest  their  errors,  and  seduce  into  their  communion  the  sim- 
ple and  infirm.  We  therefore  subject  to  a  curse,  both  themselves 
and  their  defenders  and  harborers,  and,  under  a  curse,  we  prohibit 
all  persons  from  admitting  them  into  their  houses,  or  receiving  them 
upon  their  lands,  or  cherishing  them,  or  exercising  any  trade  with 
them.  But  if  they  die  in  their  sin,  let  them  not  receive  Christian 
burial,  under  pretence  of  any  privilege  granted  by  us,  or  any  other 
pretext  whatever ;  and  let  no  offering  be  made  for  them." 

§  61. — It  is  observable  that  the  persons  alluded  to  in  the  above 
portion  of  this  ferocious  edict,  are  not  accused  of  any  other  crime 
than  that  of  heresy.  In  the  next  paragraph,  various  other  subjects 
of  papal  fury  are  enumerated,  who  are  charged  with  various  crimes. 
"  As  to  the  Brabantians,  Navarii,  Basculi,  Coterelli,  and  Triaverdinii, 
who  exercise  such  cruelty  toward  the  Christians,  that  they  pay  no 
respect  to  churches  or  monasteries,  spare  neither  widows  nor  vir- 

*  Thuani  Historia,  lib.  vi.,  Beet.  16,  and  lib.  xxvii. 


chap,  vn.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       303 

Papal  promises  of  indulgence,  to  all  who  shall  engage  in  butchering  the  Waldenses. 

gins,  neither  old  nor  young,  neither  sex  nor  age,  but  after  the 
manner  of  the  pagans,  destroy  and  desolate  everything,  we  in  like 
manner,  decree  that  such  persons  as  shall  protect,  or  retain,  or  en- 
courage them  in  districts  in  which  they  commit  these  excesses,  be 
publicly  denounced  in  the  churches  on  Sundays  and  festival  days, 
and  that  they  be  considered  as  bound  by  the  same  censure  and  pen- 
alty as  the  aforesaid  heretics,  and  be  excluded  from  the  communion 
of  the  church,  until  they  shall  have  abjured  that  pestiferous  consocia- 
tion and  heresy.  But  let  all  persons  who  are  implicated  with  them 
in  any  crime  (alluding  to  their  vassals),  know  that  they  are  released 
from  the  obligation  of  fealty,  homage,  and  subjection  to  them,  so 
long  as  they  continue  in  so  great  iniquity."  Probably  the  result  of 
accurate  inquiry  would  show  that  these  accusations  against  the 
classes  of  people  named  in  this  extract,  were  false ;  but  whether 
they  were  or  not,  is  little  to  our  present  purpose,  as  they  are  made 
against  other  people  than  those  first  mentioned.  It  is  plain  that  in 
this  decree  the  Cathari,  or  Puritans  (another  name  for  the  Wal- 
denses), mentioned  in  the  extract  first  quoted,  are  accused  of  no 
other  offence  than  heresy,  and  yet  the  same  promises  of  indulgence 
are  given  to  those  who  take  up  arms  against  the  one  class  as  the 
other.*  The  promises  are  in  the  following  words  :  "  We  likewise, 
from  the  mercy  of  God,  and  relying  upon  the  authority  of  the  blessed 
apostle,  Peter  and  Paul,  relax  two  years  of  enjoined  penance  to  those 
faithful  Christians,  who,  by  the  council  of  the  bishops  or  other  pre- 
lates, shall  take  up  arms  to  subdue  them  by  fighting  against  them : 
or,  if  such  Christians  shall  spend  a  longer  time  in  the  business,  we 
leave  it  to  the  discretion  of  the  bishops  to  grant  them  a  longer 
indulgence.  As  for  those  who  shall  fail  to  obey  the  admonition  of 
the  bishop  to  this  effect,  we  inhibit  them  from  a  participation 
of  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord.  Meanwhile,  those,  who  in  the 
ardor  of  faith  shall  undertake  the  just  labor  of  subduing  them,  we 
receive  into  the  protection  of  the  church  ;  granting  to  them  the 
same  privileges  of  security  in  property  and  in  person,  as  are  grant- 
ed to  those  who  visit  the  holy  sepulchre."  (Labb.  Concil.  Sacrosan., 
vol.  x.,  pages  1522,  1523.) 

*  See  Hughes  and  Breckenridge  Controversy,  pages  175,  179.  Mr.  Hughes 
quotes  both  of  the  above  extracts  for  the  purpose  of  convicting  Mr.  Breckenridge 
of  duplicity,  because  he  did  not  quote  the  second,  when  the  object  of  Mr.  Brecken- 
ridge was  to  show  the  persecutions  carried  on,  not  against  the  persons  named  in 
the  second  extract,  but  against  those  named  in  the  first.  Mr.  Hughes  then,  with- 
out drawing  any  distinction  between  the  two  classes,  coolly  inquires,  "  I  wonder 
whether  men  of  such  a  stamp  would  not  be  reduced  to  the  penitentiary,  if  they 
committed  such  crimes  in  our  day  and  in  our  own  country."  Thus  endeavoring 
to  brand  with  infamy  those  simple  and  holy  people,  whose  characters  even  Romish 
historians  are  forced  to  confess  were  pure  and  irreproachable.  The  coolness  with 
which  this  popish  bishop,  in  the  free  United  States,  and  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
speaks  about  consigning  such  to  the  penitentiary,  betrays  the  malignance  of  a  Saint 
Dominic,  or  Montfort,  against  all  who,  like  the  poor,  persecuted  Waldenses,  or 
Cathari,  are  guilty  of  the  crime  of  heresy,  and  shows  that  he  wants  nothing  but  the 
power  to  consign  to  the  "  penitentiary,"  or  to  the  cells  of  the  Inquisition,  the  here- 
tics of  the  United  States. 


301  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Waldensea  burnt  Bloudy  edict  of  pope  Lucius  III.,  against  the  heretics. 


There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  crying  offence  of  all  these 
classes  of  heretics,  notwithstanding  the  popes  endeavored  to  blacken 
their  memory,  by  "  speaking  all  manner  of  evil  against  them  falsely," 
was  that  which  is  named  by  Thuanus,  the  Romish  historian,  already 
cited,  "  because  they  inveighed  too  vehemently  against  the  wealth, 
pride,  and  vices  of  the  popes,  and  alienated  the  people  from  their 
obedience  to  them."*  Pope  Alexander  III.,  the  author  of  the  above 
persecuting  edict,  was  succeeded  in  1181,  by  pope  Lucius  III.  Two 
years  l>< ;fore  this,  Peter  Waldo,  who,  with  his  followers,  had  been 
anathematized  by  pope  Alexander,  died  in  Bohemia.  Some  suppose 
these  dissenters  from  the  corruptions  of  Rome,  though  they  had 
existed  centuries  before,  derived  from  Waldo,  the  name  of  Walden- 
ses,  which  in  after  ages  almost  superseded  the  various  other  names 
by  which  they  had  long  been  known.  Through  the  preaching  of 
Waldo,  many  had  renounced  the  corruptions  of  Popery,  and  were 
in  consequence  exposed  to  the  vengeance  of  Rome.  Thirty-five 
were  burned  together  in  one  fire  at  the  city  of  Bingen,  and  eighteen 
in  the  city  of  Mentz.  The  bishops  of  both  Mentz  and  Strasburg 
breathed  nothing  but  vengeance  and  slaughter  against  them  ;  and 
in  the  latter  city,  where  Waldo  himself  is  said  to  have  narrowly 
escaped  apprehension,  eighty  persons  were  committed  to  the  flames. 

§  63. — To  show  that  the  apostate  church  of  Rome  is  responsible 
for  these  horrid  butcheries,  we  will  quote  a  few  passages  from  a 
decree  of  the  supreme  head  of  that  church,  pope  Lucius  III.,  issued 
in  1184.  This  bloody  edict  commences  as  follows:  "To  abolish 
the  malignity  of  diverse  heresies,  which  arc  lately  sprung  up  in  most 
parts  of  the  world,  it  is  but  fitting  that  the  power  committed  to  the 
church  should  be  awakened,  that  by  concurring  assistance  of  the 
imperial  strength,  both  the  insolence  and  mal-pertness  of  the  here- 
tics, in  their  false  designs,  may  be  crushed,  and  the  truth  of  the 
Catholic  simplicity  shining  forth  in  the  holy  church,  may  demon- 
strate her  pure  and  free  from  the  execrableness  of  their  false  doc- 
trines. Wherefore  we,  being  supported  by  the  presence  and  power 
of  our  most  dear  son,  Frederick,  the  most  illustrious  emperor  of 
the  Romans,  always  increaser  of  the  empire,  with  the  common  ad- 
vice and  counsel  of  our  brethren,  and  other  patriarchs,  archbishops, 
and  many  princes,  who,  from  several  parts  of  the  world,  are  met 
together,  do  set  themselves  against  these  heretics,  who  have  got 
different  names  from  the  several  false  doctrines  which  they  profess, 
by  the  sanction  of  this  present  decree,  and  by  our  apostolical  author- 
ity, according  to  the  tenor  of  these  presents,  we  condemn  all  man- 
ner of  heresy,  by  what  name  soever  it  may  be  denominated.  More 
particularly,  we  declare  all  Catharists,  Paterines,  and  those  who 
call  themselves  the  Poor  of  Lyons;  the  Passagincs,  Josephites, 
Arnoldists,  to  be  under  a  perpetual  anathema.  And  because  some, 
under  a  form  of  godliness,  but  denying  the  power  thereof,  as  the 
apostle  saith,  assume   to  themselves  the  authority  of  preaching  ; 

*  Thuani  Historia  sui  Temp.,  lib.  vi. 


chap,  vii.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       305 

Leaving  heretics  to  the  secular  judge.  Cruel  edicts  of  the  emperor  Frederick  II.,  to  oblige  the  Pope 

whereas  the  same  apostle  saith,  '  How  shall  they  preach,  except 
they  be  sent?' — we  therefore  conclude,  under  the  same  sentence  of 
a  perpetual  anathema,  all  those  who  either  being  forbid,  or  not  sent, 
do  notwithstanding  presume  to  preach  publicly  or  privately,  without 
any  authority  received  from  the  apostolic  Sec,  or  from  the  bishops  of 
their  respective  dioceses.  As  for  any  layman,  who  shall  be  found 
guilty,  either  publicly  or  privately,  of  any  of  the  aforesaid  crimes 
(that  is,  preaching  or  speaking  improperly  of  the  sacraments),  unless 
by  abjuring  his  heresy,  and  making  satisfaction,  he  immediately 
return  to  the  orthodox  faith,  we  decree  him  to  be  left  to  the  sentence 
of  the  secular  judge,  to  receive  condign  punishment,  according  to  the 
quality  of  the  offence." 

The  meaning  of  leaving  these  poor  victims  of  popish  cruelty  "to 
the  sentence  of  the  secular  judge,"  was  well  understood  to  be  equiva- 
lent to  a  sentence  of  death,  often  in  the  most  horrid  form  of  torture 
and  lingering  agony ;  as  it  was  well  understood  by  secular  princes, 
that  they  would  themselves  suffer  from  the  vengeance  of  the  church, 
if  they  should  fail  to  execute,  to  the  very  letter,  the  oath  imposed 
upon  them  by  the  Pope,  "  to  extirpate  heresies  out  of  the  lands  of 
their  jurisdiction."  We  shall  soon  see  a  notable  instance  of  papal 
vengeance  against  one  of  these  secular  judges,  Count  Raimond  of 
Thoulouse,  for  neglecting  to  comply  with  the  mandates  of  the  Pope, 
to  slaughter  and  exterminate  thousands  of  his  peaceful  subjects, 
who  were  accused  of  the  crime  of  heresy. 

§  64. — Before  relating  this  account,  however,  it  may  be  well  to 
record  a  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which  these  secular  judges 
and  princes  understood  their  duty  to  their  holy  mother,  the  church. 
It  consists  of  extracts  from  the  decrees  of  the  emperor  Frederick 
II.  against  heretics,  issued  on  the  occasion  of  his  coronation  at 
Rome,  to  oblige  the  Pope,  who  officiated  in  that  ceremony.  "  The 
care  of  the  imperial  government,"  says  his  majesty,  "  committed  to 
us  from  heaven,  and  over  which  we  preside,  demands  the  material 
sword,  which  is  given  to  us  separately  from  the  priesthood,  against 
the  enemies  of  the  faith,  and  for  the  extirpation  of  heretical pravity , 
that  we  should  pursue  with  judgment  and  justice  those  vipers  and 
perfidious  children,  who  insult  the  Lord  and  his  church,  as  if  they 
would  tear  out  the  very  bowels  of  their  mother.  We  shall  not 
suffer  these  wretches  to  live,  who  infect  the  world  by  their 
seducing  doctrines,  and  who,  being  themselves  corrupted,  more 
grievously  taint  the  flock  of  the  faithful." 

In  a  second  edict,  after  comparing  them  to  "  ravenous  wolves, 
adders,  serpents,"  &c,  the  Emperor  proceeds  to  accuse  the  heretics 
of  the  most  savage  cruelty  to  themselves ;  "  since,"  in  the  words 
of  the  edict,  "  besides  the  loss  of  their  immortal  souls,  they  expose 
their  bodies  to  a  cruel  death,  being  prodigal  of  their  lives,  and  fear- 
less of  destruction,  which,  by  acknowledging  the  true  faith  they 
might  escape,  and,  which  is  horrible  to  express,  their  survivors  are 
not  terrified  by  their  example.  Against  such  enemies  to  God  and 
man,  we  cannot  contain  our  indignation,  nor  refuse  to  punish  them 
19 


30G  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Burning  alive  The  priest  the  judge,  and  the  king  the  hangman. 

with  the  sword  of  just  vengeance,  but  shall  pursue  them  with  so 
much  the  greater  vigor,  as  they  appear  to  spread  wider  the  crimes 
of  their  superstition,  to  the  most  evident  injury  of  the  Christian 
faith  and  the  church  of  Rome,  which  is  adjudged  to  be  the  head  of 
all  churches." 

By  the  same  edict,  it  is  enjoined  that  strict  inquiry  be  made  after 
these  heretics,  and  that  after  examination  by  the  prelates,  if  any 
be  found  to  err  in  a  single  point  from  the  Catholic  faith,  they  are. 
in  case  of  persevering  in  their  error,  condemned  to  suffer  death  by 
the  flames,  and  to  be  burned  alive  in  public  view,  while  all  are  for- 
bidden, under  pain  of  the  imperial  indignation,  to  intercede  in  their 
behalf.  The  Emperor  also  by  these  decrees,  so  pleasing  to  the 
popes,  declares  infamous,  and  puts  under  the  ban  of  the  empire  all 
who  shall  in  any  way  receive,  defend,  or  favor  these  heretics.* 
From  this  specimen  of  the  spirit  of  the  secular  powers  in  that  age 
of  popish  triumph,  it  will  be  easily  understood  what  was  likely  to 
be  the  fate  of  those  who  were  delivered  up  by  the  priests  for  pun- 
ishment to  "  the  sentence  of  the  secular  judges."  The  arrange- 
ment by  which  the  priests  delivered  up  their  victims  to  the  ven- 
geance of  the  secular  powers,  under  the  hypocritical  pretence  that 
the  church  abhorred  the  shedding  of  blood,  '  ecclesia  abhorret  a 
sanguine,'  was  an  arrangement  by  which,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Jor- 
tin,  "the  priest  was  the  judge,  and  the  king  was  the  hangman."f 
But  we  shall  proceed  in  the  following  chapter  to  a  narrative  which 
well  illustrates  the  manner  in  which  those  princes  were  treated 
who  hesitated  to  perform  the  office  of  hangman  for  the  Pope  and 
his  minions. 

*  See  Limborch's  History  of  the  Inquisition,  vol.  i.,  chap,  xii.,  where  the  de- 
crees from  which  I  have  quoted  above  are  recorded  at  length, 
f  Jortin's  Remarks  on  Eccles.  History,  vol.  iii.,  p.  303. 


307 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FOPE  INNOCENT'S  BLOODY  CRUSADE  AGAINST  THE  ALBIGENSES,  UNDER 
HIS  LEGATE,  THE  FEROCIOUS  ABBOT  OF  CITEAUX,  AND  SIMON,  EARL 
OF    MONTFORT. 

§  65. — About  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  in  consequence 
of  the  increase  of  the  heretical  Waldenses  or  Albigenses,  particu- 
larly in  the  south  of  France,  the  Pope's  legates,  Guy  and  Reinier, 
were  dispatched  from  Rome  for  the  purpose  of  extirpating  these 
heresies,  and  armed  with  papal  authority,  committed  to  the  flames 
a  large  number  of  them  at  Nevers,  in  1198  and  following  years.* 
These  efforts,  however,  were  attended  with  so  little  success,  that 
pope  Innocent  III.,  whom  we  have  already  had  more  than  one  oc- 
casion to  name,  found  it  necessary  to  resort  to  more  vigorous  mea- 
sures. He  proclaimed  a  Crusade  against  these  unoffending  and 
defenceless  people,  and  dispatched  an  army  of  priests  throughout 
all  Europe,  to  exhort  all  to  engage  in  this  holy  war  against  the 
enemies  of  his  Holiness,  the  Pope,  and  of  the  Holy  Catholic  church. 
As  these  papal  emissaries  traversed  the  kingdoms  of  Europe,  we 
are  informed  by  the  learned  Archbishop  Usher,  that  they  had  one 
favorite  text.  This  was  Psalm  xciv.,  1(5,  "  Who  will  rise  up  for  me 
against  the  evil  doers  ?  or  who  will  stand  up  for  me  against  the, 
workers  of  iniquity  ?"  and  the  application  of  their  sermons  was 
generally  as  uniform  as  their  texts.  "  You  see,  most  dear  brethren, 
how  great  the  wickedness  of  the  heretics  is,  and  how  much  mis- 
chief they  do  in  the  world.  You  see,  also,  how  tenderly,  and  by 
how  many  pious  methods  the  church  labors  to  reclaim  them.  But 
with  them  they  all  prove  ineffectual,  and  they  fly  to  the  secular 
power  for  their  defence.  Therefore,  our  holy  mother,  the  church, 
though  with  great  reluctance  and  grief,  calls  together  against  them 
the  Christian  army.  If  then  you  have  any  zeal  for  the  faith ;  if 
you  are  touched  with  any  concern  for  the  glory  of  God  ;  if  you 
would  reap  the  benefit  of  this  great  indulgence,  come  and  receive 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  join  yourselves  to  the  army  of  the  cruci- 
fied Saviour." 

§  66. — The  reigning  count  of  Thoulouse,  the  province  of  France 
where  these  rebels  against  the  papal  authority  chiefly  abounded, 
was  Raimond  VI,  a  man  who  had  either  too  much  policy  or  too 
much  humanity  willingly  to  engage  in  this  war  of  extermination 
against  his  unoffending  subjects.  In  the  year  1207,  Raimond  was 
required  by  Peter  of  Castlenau,  a  legate  of  the  Pope,  to  sign  a 
treaty  with  other  neighboring  princes  to  engage  in  the  extermina- 
tion of  these  heretics.  But  the  Count  was  by  no  means  inclined  to 
purchase,  by  the  renunciation  of  his  rights,  the  entrance  into  his 

*  History  of  Languedoc,  book  xxi. 


308  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Count  Raimond  excommunicated  for  refusing  to  butcher  his  subjects.      Fierce  letter  of  the  Pope  to  him. 

states  of  a  hostile  army,  who  were  to  pillage  or  put  to  death  all 
those  of  his  vassals  whom  the  Romish  clergy  should  fix  upon  as 
the  victims  of  their  cruelty.  He  therefore  refused  his  consent ; 
and  Castlenau,  in  his  wrath,  excommunicated  him,  laid  his  country 
under  an  interdict,  and  wrote  to  the   Pope  to  ratify  what  he  had 

done.* 

§  67. — Few  things  could  be  more  grateful  to  pope  Innocent,  than 
what  had  now  taken  place.  He  appears  to  have  sought  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  commence  hostilities,  being  well  aware  that  his  agents 
were  insufficient  to  destroy  such  a  formidable  phalanx  of  heresy 
by  ordinary  means.  To  confirm  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
pronounced  by  his  legate,  he  wrote  to  Count  Raimond  with  his 
own  hand,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1207,  and  thus  his  letter  com- 
menced : — "  If  we  could  open  your  heart  we  should  find,  and  would 
point  out  to  you,  the  detestable  abominations  that  you  have  commit- 
ted ;  but  as  it  is  harder  than  the  rock,  it  is  in  vain  to  strike  it  with 
the  sword  of  salvation  ;  we  cannot  penetrate  it.  Pestilential  man  ! 
what  pride  has  seized  your  heart,  and  what  is  your  folly,  to  refuse 
peace  with  your  neighbors,  and  to  brave  the  divine  laws  by  protect- 
ing the  enemies  of  the  faith  ?  If  you  do  not  fear  eternal  flames, 
ought  you  not  to  dread  the  temporal  chastisements  which  you  have 
merited  by  so  many  crimes  ?"f 

Terrified  by  the  nominations  of  the  Vatican,  Count  Raimond 
saw  no  alternative  but  to  sign  the  peace  with  his  enemies,  which 
he  accordingly  did,  engaging  to  exterminate  the  heretics  from  his 
territories.  Peter  of  Castlenau,  however,  very  soon  judged  that 
he  did  not  proceed  in  the  work  with  adequate  zeal ;  he  therefore 
went  to  seek  him,  reproached  him  to  his  face  with  his  negligence, 
which  he  termed  baseness,  treated  him  as  a  perjured  person,  as  a 
favorer  of  heretics  and  a  tyrant,  and  again  excommunicated  him. 
This  violent  scene  appears  to  have  taken  place  at  St.  Gilles,  where 
the  Count  had  given  a  meeting  to  the  two  legates.  Raimond  was 
excessively  provoked,  and  threatened  to  make  Castlenau  pay  for 
his  insolence  with  his  life.  They  parted  without  a  reconciliation, 
and  came  to  sleep,  on  the  night  of  the  14th  January,  1208,  at  a  lit- 
tle inn  on  the  bank  of  the  Rhone,  which  river  they  intended  to  pass 
on  the  next  day.  One  of  Count  Raimond's  friends  either  followed 
them  or  accidentally  met  them  there ;  and  on  the  morning  of  the 
15th,  after  mass,  this  gentleman  entered  into  a  dispute  with  Peter 
of  Castlenau  respecting  heresy  and  its  punishment.  The  Legate 
had  never  spared  the  most  insulting  epithets  to  the  advocates  of 
toleration,  and  the  gentleman,  irritated  by  his  language  not  less 
than  by  the  quarrel  with  his  lord,  drew  his  poniard,  struck  the  Le- 
gate in  his  side,  and  killed  him.J 

*  Hist,  of  Languedoc,  book  xxi.,  chap.  28;  Innocentii  Epist.,  Jib.  x.,  ep.  69. 
Cited  by  Sismondi  in  his  valuable  history  of  France,  to  whom,  and  to  Jones  in  his 
Lect.  on  Eccles.  Hist.,  I  am  chiefly  indebted  for  the  facts  in  relation  to  the  cru- 
sades against  the  Albigenses. 

f  Innocentii  III.,  lib.  x.,  ep.  69. 

\  Petri  Vallis  Cern.,  cap.  viii.,  p.  563. 


chap,  vm.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      309 


No  faith  with  heretics.  Joy  with  which  the  deluded  papists  engage  in  the  crusades. 


§  68. — The  intelligence  of  this  murder  roused  the  Pope  to  the  high- 
est pitch  of  fury.  He  instantly  published  a  bull,  addressed  to  all  the 
counts,  barons,  and  knights  of  the  four  provinces  of  the  southern 
part  of  France,  in  which  he  declared  that  it  was  the  devil  who  had 
instigated  the  Count  of  Thoulouse  against  the  Holy  See.  He  laid 
under  an  interdict  all  places  which  should  afford  a  refuge  to  the 
murderers  of  Castlenau  ;  he  demanded  that  Raimond  of  Thoulouse 
should  be  publicly  anathematized  in  all  churches,  adding,  that  "  as 
following  the  canonical  sanctions  of  the  holy  fathers,  we  must  not 
observe  faith  towards  those  who  keep  not  faith  towards  God,  or  who 
are  separated  from  the  communion  of  the  faithful :  we  discharge, 
by  apostolical  authority,  all  those  who  believe  themselves  bound 
towards  this  Count  by  any  oath  either  of  allegiance  or  fidelity  ;  we 
permit  every  catholic  man,  saving  the  right  of  his  principal  lord,  to 
pursue  his  person,  to  occupy  and  retain  his  territories,  especially 
for  the  purpose  of  exterminating  heresy."* 

This  first  bull  was  speedily  followed  by  other  letters  equally 
fulminating,  addressed  to  all  who  were  capable  of  assisting  in 
the  destruction  of  the  Count  of  Thoulouse.  In  particular,  the  Pope 
wrote  to  the  king  of  France,  Philip  Augustus,  exhorting  him  to 
carry  on  in  person  this  sacred  war  of  extermination  against  here- 
tics. "  We  exhort  you,"  said  his  Holiness,  "  that  you  would  endea- 
vor to  destroy  that  wicked  heresy  of  the  Albigenses,  and  to  do  this 
with  more  vigor  than  you  would  towards  the  Saracens  themselves: 
persecute  them  with  a  strong  hand ;  deprive  them  of  their  lands 
and  possessions :  banish  them  and  put  Roman  Catholics  in  their 
room."  The  legates  and  the  monks  at  the  same  time  received 
powers  from  Rome  to  publish  a  crusade  among  the  people,  offer- 
ing to  those  who  should  engage  in  this  holy  war  of  plunder  and 
extermination  against  the  Albigenses,  the  utmost  extent  of  indul- 
gence which  his  predecessors  had  ever  granted  to  those  who  la- 
bored for  the  deliverance  of  the  Holy  Land.  The  people  from  all 
parts  of  Europe  hastened  to  enrol  themselves  in  this  new  army, 
actuated  by  superstition  and  their  passion  for  wars  and  adventures. 
They  were  immediately  placed  under  the  protection  of  the  Holy 
See,  freed  from  the  payment  of  the  interest  of  their  debts,  and  ex- 
empted from  the  jurisdiction  of  all  tribunals  ;  whilst  the  war  which 
they  were  to  carry  on,  almost  at  their  own  doors,  and  that  without 
danger  or  expense,  was  to  expiate  all  the  vices  and  crimes  of  a 
whole  life. 

Transported  with  joy,  these  infatuated  and  deluded  mortals 
received  the  pardons  and  indulgences  offered  them,  and  so  much 
the  more  readily  that,  far  from  regarding  the  task  in  which  they 
were  to  be  engaged  as  painful  or  dangerous,  they  would  willingly 
have  undertaken  it  for  the  pleasure  alone  of  doing  it.  War  was 
their  passion,  and  pity  for  the  vanquished  had  never  disturbed  their 
repose.     In  this  holy  war  they  could,  without  remorse,  as  well  as 

*  Petri  Vallis,  p.  564. 


310  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Plenary  absolution  for  all  who  should  engage  in  butchering  heretics.        Terror  and  alarm  of  Raimond. 

without  restraint  from  their  officers,  pillage  all  the  property,  mas- 
sacre all  the  men,  and  abuse  the  women  and  children.  Never  be- 
fore had  there  been  so  popular  a  crusade  !  Arnold  Amalric,  the 
abbot  of  Citeaux,  distinguished  himself,  with  his  whole  congrega- 
tion, by  hs  zeal  in  preaching  up  this  war  of  extermination ;  and 
the  convents  of  his  order,  which  was  that  of  the  Bernardins,  of 
which  there  were  seven  or  eight  hundred  in  France,  Italy,  and  Ger- 
man v.  appropriated  the  crusade  against  the  Albigenses  as  their 
special  province.  In  the  name  of  the  Pope  and  of  the  apostles  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul,  tiny  promised,  to  all  who  should  lose  their 
lives  in  this  holy  expedition,  plenary  absolution  of  all  sins  committed 
from  the  day  of  their  birth  to  that  of  their  death. 

§  69. — Raimond  was  overwhelmed  with  terror  and  alarm  at  these 
vast  preparations,  and  with  his  nephew  Roger,  count  of  Beziers, 
waited  on  the  legate  Arnold,  the  leader  of  the  crusades,  to  avert,  if 
possible,  the  storm  that  was  impending  over  them.  The  haughty 
abbot  received  them  with  extreme  insolence,  declared  that  he 
could  do  nothing  for  them,  and  that  if  they  wished  to  obtain  any 
mitigation  of  the  measures  adopted  against  them,  they  must  ad- 
dress themselves  to  the  Pope.  The  count  of  Beziers  instantly  per- 
ceived that  nothing  was  to  be  expected  from  negotiation,  and  that 
there  remained  no  alternative  but  to  fortify  all  their  principal 
towns,  and  prepare  valiantly  for  their  defence.  His  uncle,  count 
Raimond,  overwhelmed  with  terror,  declared  himself  ready  to 
submit  to  anything ;  to  be  himself  the  executor  of  the  violence  of 
the  papal  party  against  his  own  subjects  ;  and  to  make  war  against 
his  family  rather  than  draw  the  crusades  into  his  states.  Ambas- 
sadors from  Raimond  to  the  Pope  were  received  with  apparent  in- 
dulgence. It  was  required  of  them  that  their  master  should  make 
common  cause  with  the  crusaders  ;  that  he  should  assist  them  in 
exterminating  the  heretics  ;  and  that  he  should  surrender  to  them 
seven  of  his  principal  castles,  as  a  pledge  of  his  sincerity.  On 
these  conditions  the  Pope  not  only  gave  count  Raimond  the  hope 
of  absolution,  but  promised  him  his  entire  favor.  All  this,  how- 
ever, was  hollow  and  deceitful  ;  pope  Innocent  was  far  from  par- 
doning Raimond  in  his  heart,  for,  at  the  moment  of  promising  this, 
he  wrote  to  the  ecclesiastics  who  were  conducting  the  crusade, 
thus  :  "  We  counsrd  you,  with  the  apostie  Paul,  to  employ  guile 
with  regard  to  this  Count,  for  in  this  case  it  ought  to  be  called  pru- 
dence. We  must  attack  separately  those  who  are  separated  from 
unity:  leave  for  a  time  the  count  of  Thoulousc,  employing  toward 
him  a  wise  dissimulation,  that  the  other  heretics  may  be  the  more 
easily  defeated,  and  that,  aft  TWards  we  may  crush  him  when  he 
shall  be  left  alone."*  Such  wen'  the  means  that  this  crafty  and  ty- 
rannical Pope  thought  fit  to  employ  in  order  to  crush  those  who 
hesitated  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  such  as  he  chose  to 
brand  with  the  name  of  heretics. 

*  Innocentii  III.,  Epist.,  lib.  xi.,  ep.  232. 


I 


Count  Raisnond's  degrading  Penance — whipped  around  Uie  Tomb  of  tlie  Mouk  Custlenau. 


chap,  vni.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      313 


Count  Raimond's  degrading  penance.  Whipped  on  his  naked  shoulders  by  the  Pope's  legate. 

§  70. — In  the  spring  of  the  year  1209,  the  crusading  army  began 
to  be  put  in  motion  ;  the  campaign  was  limited  to  forty  days. 
Some  authors  have  computed  it  at  three,  and  others  at  five  hun- 
dred thousand  men ;  and  this  immense  body  precipitated  them- 
selves upon  Languedoc.  When  count  Raimond  learned  that  these 
terrible  bands  of  fanatics  were  about  to  move,  and  that  they  were 
all  directed  towards  his  states,  he  was  struck  with  terror,  for  he 
had  placed  himself  in  their  power,  and  consented  to  purchase  his 
absolution  from  the  hands  of  the  Pope's  legate,  by  the  most  humili- 
ating concessions.  He  was  ordered  to  repair  to  the  church  that  he 
might  receive  absolution  from  the  Pope's  legate.  But  before  this 
was  granted,  he  was  compelled  to  take  a  solemn  oath  upon  the 
Corpus  Domini,  that  is  the  consecrated  host,  and  upon  the  relics  of 
the  saints,  that  he  would  obey  the  Pope  and  the  holy  Roman  church 
so  long  as  he  lived,  that  he  would  pursue  the  Albigenses  with  jire 
and  sword,  till  they  were  totally  extirpated,  and  subjected  to  obe- 
dience to  the  Pope.  Having  taken  this  oath  at  the  door  of  the 
church,  he  was  ordered  by  the  Legate  to  strip  himself  naked,  and 
humbly  submit  to  the  penance  imposed  on  him  for  the  death  of  the 
monk  Peter  Castlenau.  Count  Raimond  protested  against  this  hu- 
miliating penance,  solemnly  asserting  that  he  had  not  been  privy  to 
the  murder  of  the  monk.  But  his  protestations  were  in  vain ;  the 
vast  army  of  the  crusaders  was  at  his  gates,  and  he  had  no  re- 
source but  unqualified  submission  to  the  popish  tyrants  who  now 
held  him  in  their  grasp.  On  the  18th  of  June,  therefore,  the  Count 
"  having  stripped  himself  naked  from  head  to  foot,"  says  Bower, 
"  with  only  a  linen  cloth  around  his  waist  for  decency's  sake,  the 
Legate  threw  a  priest's  stole  around  his  neck,  and  leading  him  by 
it  into  the  church  nine  times  around  the  pretended  martyr's  grave," 
he  inflicted  the  discipline  of  the  church  upon  the  naked  shoulders 
of  the  humbled  prince  with  the  bundle  of  rods  that  he  held  in  his 
hand.  The  Legate,  at  length,  granted  him  the  dear-bought  absolu- 
tion, after  obliging  him  to  renew  all  the  oaths  he  had  taken  relative 
to  the  extirpation  of  heretics,  obedience  to  the  Pope,  &c,  with  the 
addition  of  another,  in  which  he  promised  inviolably  to  maintain  all 
the  rights,  privileges,  immunities,  and  liberties  of  the  church  and 
clergy.*     (See  Engraving.) 

After  perusing  the  above  account  of  the  punishment  of  Count 
Raimond,  for  refusing  to  join  with  these  popish  bloodhounds,  in  the 
extermination  of  the  heretics,  the  reader  will  be  prepared  to  appre- 
ciate the  assertion  sometimes  made  by  papists,  even  in  our  own  day, 
viz. :  that  the  Catholic  church  has  never  persecuted  (!  !)  but  that  the 
heretics  who  have  suffered  death  for  their  opinions,  have  suffered 
according  to  the  laws  of  the  countries  where  they  resided. 

After  the  submission  of  his  uncle  Roger,  the  viscount  of  Beziers, 
according  to  the  old  chronicle  of  Thoulouse,  applied  to  the  Pope's 

*  History  of  the  Popes,  in  vita  Innocentii  III.  Petri  Vallis,  History  of  Langue- 
doc, book  xxi.,  p.  162. 


314 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Inhuman  treatment  of  the  inhabitants  of  Beziers,  by  the  papal  Legate. 


legate,  and  offered  to  make  some  humiliating  concessions,  but  being 
angrily  repelled,  he  prepared  to  defend  himself  to  the  best  of  his 
ability.  He  had  chiefly  calculated  on  the  defence  of  his  two  great 
cities,  Beziers  and  Carcassone,  and  he  had  divided  between  them 
his  principal  forces.  After  visiting  Beziers,  to  assure  himself  that 
the  place  was  well  supplied  with  everything  necessary  for  the 
defence  of  their  lives,  he  retired  to  Carcassone,  a  city  built  upon  a 
rock,  and  partly  surrounded  by  the  river  Aude,  and  whose  two 
suburbs  were  themselves  surrounded  by  walls  and  ditches,  and 
there  shut  himself  up.  About  the  middle  of  July,  1209,  the  crusad- 
ing army  arrived  under  the  walls  of  Beziers,  in  three  bodies.  They 
had  been  preceded  by  the  bishop  of  the  place,  who,  after  having 
visited  the  Legate,  and  delivered  to  him  a  list  of  those  amongst  h:s 
flock  whom  he  suspected  of  heresy,  and  whom  he  wished  to  see 
consigned  to  the  flames,  returned  into  the  city  to  represent  to  his 
flock  the  dangers  to  which  they  were  exposed,  exhorting  them  to 
surrender  their  heretical  fellow-citizens  to  the  avengers  of  their  faith, 
rather  than  draw  upon  themselves  and  their  children,  the  wrath  of 
heaven  and  the  church.  "  Tell  the  Legate,"  replied  the  citizens, 
whom  he  had  assembled  in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Nicaise,  "  that  our 
city  is  good  and  strong — that  our  Lord  will  not  fail  to  succor  us  in 
our  great  necessities,  and  that  rather  than  commit  the  baseness  de- 
manded of  us,  we  would  eat  our  own  children."  Nevertheless, 
there  was  no  heart  so  bold  as  not  to  tremble,  when  the  crusaders 
were  encamped  under  their  walls  ;  "  and  so  great  was  the  assem- 
blage of  tents  and  pavilions,"  says  one  of  their  historians,  "that  it 
appeared  as  if  all  the  world  was  collected  there  ;  at  which  those  of 
the  city  began  to  be  greatly  astonished,  for  they  thought  they  were 
only  fables  which  their  bishop  had  come  to  tell  them  and  advise 

them."* 

§71. — The  citizens  of  Beziers,  though  astonished,  were  not  dis- 
couraged. Whilst  their  enemies  were  still  occupied  in  tracing  their 
campfthey  made  a  sally  and  attacked  them  unawares.  But  the  crusa- 
ders were  still  more  terrible  for  their  fanaticism  and  boldness,  than  for 
their  numbers  ;  they  repulsed  the  citizens  with  great  loss.  After 
this,  they  entered  the  city,  and  found  themselves  masters  of  it, 
before  they  had  even  formed  their  plan  of  attack.  The  knights 
learning  that  they  had  triumphed  without  fighting,  applied  to  the 
pope's  legate,  Arnold  Amalric,  to  know  how  they  should  distinguish 
the  Catholics  from  the   heretics  ;  to  which  he  made  this  reply — 

"  KILL  THEM  ALL  ;    THE  LORD  WILL  KNOW  WELL  THOSE  THAT  ARE  HIS  !" 
'  TlJEZ  LES  TOUS,  DIEU  CONNOIT  CEUX  QUI  SONT  A  LUI  !' 

Though  the  stated  population  of  Beziers  was  not  over  fifteen 
thousand  persons,  yet  the  influx  of  the  people  from  the  surrounding 
districts,  especially  women  and  children,  was  so  large,  that  no  less 
than  sixty  thousand  persons  were  in  the  city  when  it  was  taken, 
and  in  this  vast  number,  not  one  person  was  spared  alive.     The  ter- 

*  Petri  Vallensis,  Cern.  Hist.  Albig.,  cap.  xv.,  p.  570. 


chap,  vni.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      315 

Sixty  thousand  killed.  Vile  treachery  of  the  Legate  toward  the  count  of  Beziers. 

rifled  and  defenceless  women  with  their  babes,  as  well  as  many  of 
the  men,  took  refuge  in  the  churches,  but  they  afforded  no  protec- 
tion from  these  blood-thirsty  popish  zealots.  Thousands  were  slain 
in  the  churches,  and  the  blood  of  the  murdered  victims,  slain  by 
the  holy  warriors,  drenched  the  very  altars,  and  flowed  in  crimson 
torrents  through  the  streets.  When  the  crusaders  had  massacred 
the  last  living  creature  in  Beziers,  and  had  pillaged  the  houses  of  all 
they  thought  worth  carrying  off,  they  set  fire  to  the  city,  in  every 
part  at  once,  and  reduced  it  to  a  vast  funeral  pile.  Not  a  house 
remained  standing,  not  one  human  being  was  left  alive.  The  Pope's 
legate,  perhaps,  feeling  some  shame  for  the  butchery  which  he  had 
ordered,  in  his  letter  to  Innocent  III.,  reduces  it  to  fifteen  thousand, 
though  Velly,  Mezeray,  and  other  historians  make  it  amount  to 
sixty  thousand.* 

§  72. — Roger,  the  young  count  of  Beziers,  shut  himself  up  in  the 
other  chief  city  of  his  dominions,  Carcassone,  which  was  much  better 
fortified  than  Beziers,  and  defended  it  to  the  utmost,  against  the 
attacks  of  the  ferocious  abbot  of  Citeaux,  the  papal  legate.  The 
crusaders  had  many  times  endeavored  to  storm  the  city,  but  with- 
out success,  and  not  seeing,  as  they  had  been  taught  to  expect,  a 
miracle  wrought  in  their  favor,  the  perfidious  abbot,  seeing  some 
tokens  of  discouragement,  resorted  to  a  mean  and  dishonorable  trick 
to  get  his  adversary  in  his  power.  The  Legate  insinuated  himself 
into  the  graces  of  one  of  the  officers  of  his  army,  telling  him  that  it 
lay  in  his  power  to  render  the  church  a  signal  instance  of  kindness, 
and  that  if  he  would  undertake  it,  beside  the  rewards  he  should 
receive  in  heaven,  he  should  be  amply  recompensed  on  earth.  The 
object  was  to  get  access  to  the  earl  of  Beziers,  professing  himself 
to  be  his  kinsman  and  friend,  assuring  him  that  he  had  something  to 
communicate  of  the  last  importance  to  his  interests  ;  and  having 
thus  far  succeeded,  he  was  to  prevail  upon  him  to  accompany  him 
to  the  Legate,  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  a  peace,  under  a  pledge 
that  he  should  be  safely  conducted  back  again  to  the  city.  The 
officer  played  his  part  so  dexterously,  that  the  Earl  imprudently 
consented  to  accompany  him.  At  their  interview,  the  latter  sub- 
mitted to  the  Legate  the  propriety  of  exercising  a  little  more  lenity 
and  moderation  toward  his  subjects,  as  a  procedure  that  might  have 
the  happiest  tendency  in  reclaiming  the  Albigenses  into  the  pale  of 
the  church  of  Rome.  The  Legate  replied  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Carcassone  might  exercise  their  own  pleasure  ;  but  that  it  was  now 
unnecessary  for  the  Earl  to  trouble  himself  any  further  about  them, 
as  he  was  himself  a  prisoner  until  Carcassone  was  taken,  and  his 
subjects  had  better  learned  their  duty  !  The  Earl  was  not  a  little 
astonished  at  this  information  ;  he  protested  that  he  was  betrayed, 
and  that  faith  was  violated  :  for  that  the  gentleman,  by  whose  en- 
treaties he  had  been  prevailed  upon  to  meet  the  Legate,  had  pledged 

*  "  Soixante   mille   habitans  passerent  par   le   fil  de  l'epee.     Velly,  iii.,  441. 
II  y  fut  tues  plus  de  soixante  milles  personnes."     Mezeray,  ii.,  609.     Edgar,  226 


31G 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Bscape  of  the  people  of  Carcassone  from  the  popish  butchers. 


himself  by  oaths  and  execrations  to  conduct  him  back  in  safety  to 
( larcassone.  Bat  appeals,  remonstrances,  or  entreaties,  were  of  no 
a  \  ail  :  Roger  was  looked  upon  as  a  heretic,  and  it  was  already  the 
doctrine  offtomethat  no  faith  should  be  kept  with  heretics;  in  spite 
of  his  appeals,  therefore,  he  was  committed  to  the  custody  of  the 
duke  of  Burgundy,  "  and,  having  been  thrown  into  prison,  died  soon 
after,  not  without  exciting  strong  suspicions  of  being  poisoned." 
Pope  Innocent  III.,  indeed,  admits  in  one  of  his  epistles,  that  this 
young  and  brave  earl  or  count  of  Bezicrs  died  a  violent  death.* 

§  73. — No  sooner  had  the  inhabitants  of  Carcassone  received  the 
intelligence  of  the  Earl's  confinement,  than  they  burst  into  tears,  and 
were  seized  with  such  terror,  that  they  thought  of  nothing  but 
how  to  escape  the  danger  they  were  placed  in ;  but,  blockaded  as 
they  were  on  all  sides,  and  the  trenches  filled  with  men,  all  human 
probability  of  escape  vanished  from  their  eyes.  A  report,  however, 
was  circulated,  that  there  was  a  vault  or  subterraneous  passage 
somewhere  in  the  city,  which  led  to  the  castle  of  Cabaret,  a  distance 
of  about  three  leagues  from  Carcassone,  and  that  if  the  mouth  or 
entry  thereof  could  be  found,  Providence  had  provided  for  them  a 
way  of  escape.  All  the  inhabitants  of  the  city,  except  those  who 
kept  watch  upon  the  ramparts,  immediately  commenced  the  search, 
and  success  rewarded  their  labor.  The  entrance  of  the  cavern  was 
found,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  night  they  all  began  their  journey 
through  it,  carrying  with  them  only  as  much  food  as  was  deemed 
necessary  to  serve  them  for  a  few  days.  "  It  was  a  dismal  and 
sorrowful  sight,"  says  our  historian,  "to  witness  their  removal  and 
departure,  accompanied  with  sighs,  tears,  and  lamentations,  at  the 
thoughts  of  quitting  their  habitations  and  all  their  worldly  posses- 
sions^ and  betaking  themselves  to  the  uncertain  event  of  saving  them- 
selves by  flight :  parents  leading  their  children,  and  the  more  robust 
supporting  decrepit  old  persons  ;  and  especially  to  hear  the  affect- 
Lng  lamentations  of  the  women."  They,  however,  arrived  the  fol- 
lowing day  at  the  castle,  from  whence  they  dispersed  themselves 
through  different  parts  of  the  country,  some  proceeding  to  Arragon, 
some  to  Catalonia,  others  to  Thoulouse,  and  the  cities  belonging  to 
their  party,  wherever  God  in  his  providence  opened  a  door  for  their 
admission. 

The  awful  silence  which  reigned  in  the  solitary  city,  excited  no 
little  surprise  on  the  following  day,  among  the  pilgrims.  At  first 
they  suspected  a  stratagem  to  draw  them  into  an  ambuscade  ;  but 
on  mounting  the  walls  and  entering  the  town,  they  cried  out,  "  the 
Albigenses  have  fled  !"  The  Legate  issued  a  proclamation,  that  no 
person  should  seize  or  carry  off  any  of  the  plunder — that  it  should 
all  be  carried  to  the  great  church  of  Carcassone.  whence  it  was 
disposed  of  for  the  benefit  of  the  pilgrims,  and  the  proceeds  distrib- 
uted among  them  in  rewards  according  to  their  deserts. 

The  limits  of  this  work  will  not  allow  of  the  detail  of  the  sangui- 

*  Innocentii  III.  Epist.,  lib.  x.,  5  epist.,  212. 


chap,  viii.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      317 

Horrible  cruelly  of  Montfort.  The  monkish  historian  of  the  Albigenses. 

nary  slaughter  of  the  helpless  Albigenses.  and  the  perfidious  strata- 
gems* by  which  they  were  entrapped  to  their  ruin,  by  the  bloody 
Simon  dc  Montfort  and  the  monks,  who  conducted  two  or  three 
equally  destructive  expeditions  against  the  Albigenses,  in  the  few 
succeeding  years,  till  they  were  almost  entirely  exterminated.  Two 
or  three  more  instances  of  their  ferocious  cruelty  and  zeal  on  behalf 
of  Popery,  can  only  be  mentioned.  In  the  year  1210,  Montfort 
caused  Count  Raymond  VI.,  to  be  again  excommunicated,  when 
the  unfortunate  prince,  overcome  by  this  unrelenting  persecution, 
and  from  his  superstition,  attaching  a  greater  importance  to  the  papal 
thunders  than  they  deserved,  burst  into  tears.  The  monks  of 
Citeaux  were  meanwhile  busily  engaged  in  raising  a  fresh  army  of 
crusaders  in  the  North  of  France,  and  no  sooner  was  Montfort  join- 
ed by  them  than  he  gave  full  scope  to  his  cruelty.  Attacking  the 
castles  in  the  Lauraguais  and  Menerbois,  he  caused  all  such  of  their 
inhabitants  as  fell  into  his  hands,  to  be  hanged  on  gibbets.  Having 
invested  that  of  Brom,  and  taken  it  by  assault  on  the  third  day,  he 
selected  more  than  a  hundred  wretched  inhabitants,  and,  having 
torn  out  their  eyes  and  cut  off  their  noses,  sent  them,  under  the 
guidance  of  a  one-eyed  man,  to  the  castle  of  Cabaret,  to  intimate  to 
the  garrison  of  that  fortress  the  fate  which  awaited  them.  Some  of 
these  fortresses  he  found  deserted,  and  then  sent  out  his  soldiers 
to  destroy  the  vines  and  the  olive-trees  in  the  surrounding  country. 
§  74. — The  castle  of  Menerbe,  seated  on  a  steep  rock,  surrounded 
by  precipices,  not  far  from  Narbonne,  was  reputed  to  be  the  strong- 
est place  in  the  South  of  France.  Guiard,  its  possessor,  was  vassal 
to  the  viscounts  of  Carcassone,  and  one  of  the  bravest  knights  of 
the  province.  In  the  month  of  June,  1210,  the  crusaders  appeared 
before  this  fortress.  The  inhabitants,  many  of  whom  had  adopted 
the  doctrines  of  the  Albigenses,  defended  themselves  with  great 
valor  for  seven  weeks  :  but  when,  owing  to  the  heat  of  the  season, 
water  began  to  fail,  they  desired  to  capitulate ;  and  Guiard  himself 
went  to  the  camp  of  the  crusaders,  and  settled  with  Montfort  the 
conditions  for  the  surrender  of  the  place.     They  were  proceeding 

*  The  cotemporary  historian  of  the  Albigenses,  to  whom  Sismondi  so  frequently 
refers  in  that  portion  of  his  history  relating  to  the  Albigenses,  Petrus  Vallensis 
Cernensis,  or  as  he  was  called  by  the  French,  Pierre  de  Vaux  Cernay,  was  a 
popish  monk,  who  accompanied  the  crusaders,  and  was  an  eye-witness  of  the 
cruelties  he  describes,  and  which  he  relates  with  so  much  delight.  Referring  to 
the  papal  legate  and  the  inhuman  butcheries  of  Montfort,  after  relating  some  of 
their  cruel  statagems,  this  monkish  historian  expresses  his  rapture  in  the  following 
language.  "  How  great  was  the  mercy  of  God,  for  every  one  must  see  that  the 
pilgrims  could  have  done  nothing  without  the  Legate,  nor  the  Legate  without  the 
pilgrims.  In  reality  the  pilgrims  would  have  had  but  small  success  against  such 
numerous  enemies,  if  the  Legate  had  not  treated  with  them  beforehand.  It  was, 
then,  by  a  dispensation  of  the  Divine  mercy,  that  whilst  the  Legate,  by  a  pious 
fraud,  cajoled  and  enclosed  in  his  nets,  the  enemies  of  the  faith,  who  were  assembled 
at  Narbonne,  Count  Montfort  and  the  pilgrims  who  had  arrived  from  France,  could 
pass  into  Agenois,  there  to  crush  their  enemies,  or  rather  those  of  Christ.    O  pious 

FRAUD  OF  THE  LEGATE  !    O  PIETY  FULL  OF  DECEIT  !"       {Petri   Vail.    Cem.  AMgm., 

cap.  lxxviii.,  p.  648.) 


318  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Horrible  cruelty  of  the  papists  to  the  inhabitants  of  Menerbe.  140  burnt  in  one  fire 

to  execute  them  when  the  Pope's  legate,  who  had  heen  absent, 
returned  to  the  camp,  and  Mont  fort  declared  that  the  terms  agreed 
upon  could  not  be  considered  as  binding,  till  they  had  received  his 
assent.  "  At  these  words,"  says  Peter  de  Vaux-Cernay,  "  the 
abbot  was  sorely  grieved.  He  desired  in  fact  that  all  the  enemies 
of  Christ  should  be  put  to  death,  but  he  would  not  take  it  upon  him- 
self to  condemn  them,  on  account  of  his  quality  of  monk  and  priest." 
He  thought,  however,  that  he  might  stir  up  some  quarrel  during  the 
negotiation,  avail  himself  of  it  to  break  the  capitulation,  and  cause 
all  the  inhabitants  to  be  put  to  the  sword.  To  this  end  he  required 
of  Montfort,  on  one  part,  and  Guiard  on  the  other,  the  terms  on  which 
they  had  agreed.  Finding,  as  he  expected,  some  difference  in  the 
statements,  Montfort  declared,  in  the  name  of  the  Legate,  that  the 
negotiation  was  broken  off.  The  lord  of  Menerbe  offered  to  accept 
the  capitulation  as  drawn  up  by  Montfort,  one  of  the  articles  of 
which  provided  that  heretics  themselves,  if  they  became  converts, 
should  have  their  lives  spared,  and  be  allowed  to  quit  the  castle. 
When  the  capitulation  was  read  in  the  council  of  war,  "  Robert  de 
Mauvoisin,"  says  the  monk  of  Vaux-Cernay,  "  a  nobleman,  and 
entirely  devoted  to  the  Catholic  faith,  cried  that  the  pilgrims  would 
never  consent  to  that ;  that  it  was  not  to  show  mercy  to  the  heretics, 
but  to  put  them  to  death,  that  they  had  taken  the  cross ;  but  abbot 
Arnold  replied  :  '  Be  easy,  for  I  believe  there  will  be  but  very  few 
converted.' "  In  this  sanguinary  hope  the  Legate  was  not  disap- 
pointed. 

The  crusaders  took  possession  of  the  castle  on  the  22d  of  July  : 
they  entered,  singing  Te  Deum,  and  preceded  by  the  crucifix  and 
the  standards  of  Montfort.  The  heretics  were  meanwhile  assembled, 
the  men  in  one  house,  the  women  in  another,  and  there,  on  their 
knees  resigned  to  their  fate,  they  prepared  themselves  by  prayer 
for  the  worst  that  could  befal  them.  The  abbot  of  Vaux-Cernay, 
in  fulfilment  of  the  capitulation,  began  to  preach  to  them  the  Catho- 
lic faith ;  but  they  interrupted  him  with  the  unanimous  cry  :  "  We 
will  have  none  of  your  faith ;  we  have  renounced  the  church  of 
Rome  ;  your  labor  is  in  vain  ;  for  neither  death  nor  life  shall  make 
us  renounce  the  opinions  we  have  embraced."  The  abbot  then 
went  to  the  assembly  of  women,  but  he  found  them  equally  resolute, 
and  still  more  enthusiastic  in  their  declarations.  Montfort  also  went 
to  them  both.  He  had  previously  caused  a  prodigious  pile  of  dry 
wood  to  be  made.  "  Be  converted  to  the  Catholic  faith,"  said  he  to 
the  assembled  Albigenses,  "or  mount  this  pile."  None  of  them 
wavered.  Fire  was  set  to  the  wood,  and  the  pile  was  soon  wrapt 
in  one  tremendous  blaze.  The  heretics  were  then  taken  to  the  spot 
where,  after  commending  their  souls  to  that  God  in  whose  cause 
they  suffered  martyrdom,  they  voluntarily  threw  themselves  into 
the  flames,  to  the  number  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  forty." 

*  Petri  Vallensis  Cern.  Hist.  Albigens.,  chap,  xxxvii.,  page  583.  Hist,  of  Lan- 
guedoc,  book  xxi.,  page  193. 


chap,  viii.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.     319 


The  taking  of  Lavaur.    The  heretics  burnt,  in  the  words  of  the  popish  historian,  '  with  the  utmost  joy.' 

§  75. — In  May,  1211,  Montfort  succeeded,  after  a  hard  siege,  in 
taking  Lavaur.  When  the  breach  in  the  wall  was  effected,  and  the 
crusaders  were  about  to  enter  and  begin  the  massacre,  according 
to  their  usual  custom,  the  bishops,  the  abbot  of  Cordieu,  and  all  the 
priests,  clothed  in  their  pontifical  habits,  giving  themselves  up  to  the 
joy  of  seeing  the  carnage  begin,  sang  Veni  Creator.  The  knights 
mounted  the  breach ;  resistance  was  impossible  ;  and  the  only  care 
of  Simon  de  Montfort  was  to  prevent  the  crusaders  from  instantly 
falling  upon  the  inhabitants,  and  to  beseech  them  rather  to  make  pris- 
oners, that  the  priests  of  the  living  God  might  not  be  deprived  of 
their  promised  joys.  "  Very  soon,"  says  their  own  monkish  histo- 
rian, "  they  dragged  out  of  the  castle  Ainiery,  lord  of  Montreal,  and 
other  knights,  to  the  number  of  eighty.  The  noble  count  [Montfort] 
immediately  ordered  them  to  be  hanged  upon  the  gallows ;  but  as 
soon  as  Aimery4  the  stoutest  among  them,  was  hanged,  the  gallows 
fell,  for,  in  their  great  haste,  they  had  not  fixed  it  well  in  the  earth. 
The  count,  seeing  that  this  would  produce  great  delay,  ordered  the 
rest  to  be  massacred  ;  and  the  pilgrims,  receiving  the  order  with 
the  greatest  avidity,  very  soon  massacred  them  all  on  the  spot. 
The  lady  of  the  castle,  who  was  sister  of  Aimery,  and  an  execrable 
heretic,  "was,  by  the  count's  order,  thrown  into  a  pit,  which  was 
then  filled  up  with  stones.  Afterward  our  pilgrims  collected  the 
innumerable  heretics  which  the  castle  contained,  and  burned  them 
with  the  utmost  joy." 

§  76. — Immediately  on  the  taking  of  Lavaur,  open  hostilities  com- 
menced between  Simon  de  Montfort  and  the  Count  of  Thoulouse. 
The  first  place  belonging  to  this  count,  before  which  the  crusaders 
presented  themselves,  was  the  castle  of  Montjoyre,  which  being  aban- 
doned, was  set  fire  to,  and  then  rased  from  top  to  bottom  by  the 
soldiers  of  the  church.  The  castle  of  Cassoro  afforded  them  more 
satisfaction,  as  it  furnished  human  victims  for  their  sacrifices.  It 
was  surrendered  on  capitulation,  and  "  the  pilgrims,  seizing  near 
sixty  heretics,  burned  them  with  infinite  joy."  This  is  the  language 
invariably  employed  by  Petrus  Vallensis,  the  monkish  historian, 
who  was  the  witness  and  panegyrist  of  the  crusade.* 

It  was  natural  that  Count  Raimond  should  feel  reluctant  to  coun- 
tenance or  aid  these  cruel  persecutors  of  his  subjects  and  friends. 
He  continued,  therefore,  as  long  as  he  lived,  to  be  an  object  of 
popish  persecution.  He  was,  nevertheless,  most  scrupulous  in  the 
observance  of  all  the  practices  of  the  Catholic  religion  ;  so  that, 
when  under  excommunication,  he  would  continue  for  a  long  time 
on  his  knees  in  prayer  at  the  doors  of  the  churches,  which  he  durst 
not  enter.  Hence  it  is  evident  that  his  offence  was  not  heresy  on 
his  own  part,  but  simply  his  refusal  to  engage  in  the  cruel  massa- 
cres and  extermination  of  his  subjects,  at  the  command  of  the 
spiritual  tyrants  of  the  Romish  church. 

*  "  Cum  ingenti  gaudio,"  are  the  historian's  words.  Petri  Vail.  Cern.  Albigens., 
cap.  lii.,p.  598.  Bernardi  Guidonis,  vita  Innocentii  III.,  p.  482.  Thia  last  informs 
us  that  four  hundred  heretics  were  burned  at  Lavaur. 


320  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


The  crusades  against  the  Albigenses,  a  proof  that  Romanism  claims  the  right  to  extirpate  heresy. 

§  77. «  The  crusades  against  the  Albigenses  present  one  of  those 

occasions  by  which  the  rights  claimed  by  the  Romish  church 
toward  heretics  may  be  most  fully  and  accurately  ascertained. 
They  were  her  exclusive  and  deliberate  act.  The  church  of  Rome 
had  been  then,  according  to  its  own  principles,  established  nearly 
twelve  hundred  years.  It  professed  to  have  been  endowed  with 
miraculous  powers,  and  to  be  guided  by  the  teachings  of  the  infalli- 
ble spirit  of  God.  All  the  temporal  authorities  had  submitted  to  its 
domination,  and  were  ready  to  execute  its  orders.  If,  therefore, 
there  is  any  period  in  which  we  should  seek  for  its  genuine  and 
authentic  principles,  it  must  be  under  the  unclouded  dominion  of 
Innocent  III.  Nor  can  the  opponents  of  all  reformation  possibly 
desire  anything  more  than  to  restore  that  golden  age  of  the  church. 
Should  they  say  that  civilisation  and  philosophy  having  then  made 
but  little  progress,  we  are  to  charge  the  cruelties  which  were  com- 
mitted against  the  heretics  to  the  ignorance  and  barbarism  of  the 
times,  we  would  reply  that  all  these  cruelties  were  prompted,  encour- 
aged, and  sanctioned  by  Rome  itself,  and  that  an  infallible  church 
cannot  require  the  lights  of  philosophy  to  instruct  her  in  her  duties 
toward  heretics.  To  an  impartial  inquirer,  it  would  seem  rather 
strange  that,  under  the  spiritual  illumination  afforded  by  the  church 
to  the  nations,  heresies  should  have  arisen,  and  that  with  all  the 
powers  of  heaven  and  earth  on  its  side,  the  church  could  not  trust 
itself  in  the  field  of  reason  and  argument  against  them.  But  certain 
it  is  that  heresies  did  arise,  and  that  the  church  of  Rome  felt  itself 
called  upon  to  show  to  that  age,  and  to  all  succeeding  ones,  the  full 
extent  of  the  power  with  which  it  was  invested  by  heaven  for  their 
suppression  and  extirpation.  The  dogma  on  which  all  these  trans- 
actions were  founded  is — that  the  church  possesses  the  right  to  extir- 
pate heresy,  and  to  use  all  the  means  which  she  may  judge  neces- 
sary for  that  purpose.  It  was  on  this  dogma  that  Innocent  III.  and 
his  legates  preached  the  crusade  against  the  heretics,  and  promised 
to  those  engaged  in  it,  the  full  remission  of  all  sins ;  it  was  on  this 
dogma  that  they  excommunicated  the  civil  powers  by  whom  they 
were,  or  were  supposed  to  be  protected,  and  disposed  of  their  do- 
minions to  those  who  assisted  in  this  spiritual  warfare. 

"This  dogma  was  repeatedly  avowed  by  provincial  councils, 
and  finally  ratified  by  a  general  council,  the  fourth  of  Lateran.  It 
was  received  by  the  tacit,  nay,  by  the  cordial  and  triumphant 
assent  of  the  universal  church,"  and  had  also  the  sanction  of  the 
civil  authorities,  who  received  from  the  church  the  spoils  of  the 
deposed  and  persecuted  princes.  We  can,  therefore,  conceive  of 
nothing  which  should  be  still  necessary  to  constitute  this  dogma  an 
article  of  faith,  and  hold  ourselves  justified  in  considering  the  church 
of  Rome  to  claim,  as  of  divine  authority,  the  right  to  extirpate 
heresy,  and  for  this  purpose,  if  she  judge  it  necessary,  to  extirpate 
the  heretics.  Nor  has  this  principle,  which  was  evidently  avowed 
and  acted  upon  at  the  period  of  these  crusades,  been  ever  re- 
nounced by  any  authentic  or  official  act  of  that  church ;  on  the  con- 


chap.vui.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       321 


Right  of  dissolving  oaths  also  claimed.  Disavowed  by  individual  Romanists,  but  without  authority. 

trary,  the  church  has,  during  the  six  hundred  years  which  followed 
these  events,  invariably,  as  far  as  occasions  have  served,  avowed 
the  same  principles,  and  perpetrated  or  stimulated  the  same  deeds. 
As  soon  as  the  wars  against  the  Albigenses  were  terminated,  the 
Inquisition  was  brought  into  full  and  constant  action,  and  has  always 
been  encouraged  and  supported  by  the  Romish  church  to  the  utmost 
of  its  power,  in  every  place  where  it  could  obtain  an  establishment. 
The  civil  authorities,  finding  by  experience  that  some  of  the  claims 
of  the  church  were  more  prejudicial  than  useful  to  themselves,  have 
denied  to  it  the  right  of  deposing  sovereigns,  and  of  freeing  subjects 
from  their  allegiance  ;  but  the  church  itself  has  never  generally  and 
explicitly  renounced  this  claim,  and  long  after  the  Reformation  in 
Germany,  continued  to  exercise  it.  And,  notwithstanding  the  pro- 
fessions made  by  modern  Catholics,  history  does  not  furnish  an  in- 
stance of  any  body  of  the  profession  interposing  its  protest  against 
the  persecution  of  heretics  by  the  church  of  Rome. 

§  78. — "  Another  right  most  certainly  claimed  and  exercised  by 
the  Roman  See  throughout  its  whole  history,  is  that  of  dissolving  oaths. 
History  (Sismondi's  Hist,  of  the  Italian  Republics)  furnishes  in- 
stances of  this  as  a  recognized,  undisputed,  and  every-day  practice 
in  almost  every  pontificate.  One  instance  may  serve  for  an  illus- 
tration among  a  multitude  of  others.  There  were  certain  reforms 
in  the  pontifical  government,  which  were  required  by  the  leading 
persons  in  the  church,  but  which  they  never  could  obtain  from  the 
popes  themselves.  The  cardinals,  therefore,  when  they  were  going 
to  elect  a  new  pope,  were  accustomed  to  bind  themselves  by  the 
most  solemn  oaths,  that  whoever  of  them  should  be  elected,  would 
grant  those  reforms.  And,  invariably,  as  soon  as  the  Pope  was 
chosen,  he  released  himself  from  this  oath,  on  the  ground  of  its  being 
contrary  to  the  interests  of  the  church.  The  power  of  releasing 
from  the  obligation  of  oaths  was  also  extended  during  these  cru- 
sades, especially  to  freeing  the  subjects  of  heretical  princes  from 
their  oaths  of  allegiance,  and  it  was  especially  sanctioned  by  the 
council  of  Lateran.  This  practice  has,  however,  become  so  ob- 
noxious in  modern  times,  that  the  right  has  been  indignantly  dis- 
owned by  most  of  the  advocates  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church. 
Whatever  may  be  the  opinions  of  many  private  individuals  or 
bodies  in  the  church  of  Rome,  we  doubt  their  authority  to  make 
such  declarations,  as  members  of  a  church  which  prohibits  the  right 
of  private  judgment  where  the  church  has  determined."*  The  fol- 
lowing remarks  and  citations  from  the  elegant  and  accurate  histo- 
rian of  the  middle  ages,  are  sufficient  to  set  this  matter  for  ever  at 
rest.  "  But  the  most  important  and  mischievous  species  of  dispen- 
sations," says  Mr.  Hallam  (page  293),  "was  from  the  observance 
of  promissory  oaths.  Two  principles  are  laid  down  in  the  decretals  ; 
that  an  oath  disadvantageous  to  the  church  is  not  binding  ;  and  that 
one  extorted  by  force  was  of  slight  obligation,  and  might  be  annull- 

*  See  the  able  introductory  essay  to  that  portion  of  Sismondi's  History  of  France, 
relating  to  the  persecution  of  the  Waldenses,  published  in  1826. 


322  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Unjuatelandereof  the  Albigenses.  If  true,  the  Pope  had  no  right  to  invade  their  country  and  butcher  them. 

ed  by  ecclesiastical  authority.*  As  the  first  of  these  maxims  gave 
the  most  unlimited  privilege  to  the  popes  of  breaking  all  faith  of 
treaties  which  thwarted  their  interest  or  passion,  a  privilege  which 
they  continually  exercised,  so  the  second  was  equally  convenient 
to  princes,  weary  of  observing  engagements  toward  their  subjects 
or  neighbors.  They  declaimed  with  a  bad  grace  against  the  abso- 
lution of  their  people  from  allegiance,  by  an  authority  to  which  they 
did  not  scruple  to  repair  in  order  to  bolster  up  their  own  perjuries. 
§  79. — Some  of  the  Romish  writers  have  not  scrupled  to  utter  the 
most  unfounded  calumnies  against  the  character  of  the  Albigenses  ; 
but  as  has  been  well  remarked,  "  No  tale  of  falsehood  can  be  so  artfully 
framed  as  not  to  contain  within  itself  its  own  confutation.  This  is 
manifestly  the  case  with  the  stories  fabricated  respecting  the  Albi- 
genses. Supposing,  however,  that  the  Albigenses  had  been  all  that 
the  Catholic  writers  represent,  upon  what  ground  could  the  Roman 
church  make  a  war  of  extermination  against  them?  The  sovereigns 
of  those  countries  did  not  seek  her  aid  to  suppress  the  seditions  of 
their  subjects,  nor  even  to  regulate  their  faith.  The  interference 
was  not  only  without  the  authority,  but  absolutely  against  their  con- 
sent, and  was  resisted  by  them  in  a  war  of  twenty  years'  continu- 
ance. If  they  refer  to  the  authority  of  the  king  of  France,  as  liege 
lord,  he  had  not  in  that  capacity  the  right  of  interference  with  the 
internal  affairs  of  his  feudatories  ;  and  he  had,  in  fact,  no  share  in 
these  transactions,  any  further  than  to  come  in  at  the  close  of  the 
contest,  and  reap  the  fruits  of  the  victory.  We  are,  therefore,  from 
every   point  brought  to  the   same   conclusion  :  that  the  church 

CLAIMS  A  DIVINE  RIGHT  TO  EXTIRPATE  HERESY  AND  EXTERMINATE  HERE- 
TICS, WITH  OR  WITHOUT  THE  CONSENT  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNS  IN  WHOSE 
DOMINIONS  THEY  MAY  BE  FOUND."f 

*  Juramentum  contra  utilitatem  ecclesiasticam  praestitum  non  tenet.  Decretal., 
I.  ii.,  24,  c.  27,  et  Sext,  1.  i.,  tit.  11,  c.  1.  A  juramento  per  metum  extorto  eccle- 
sia  solet  absolvere,  et  ejus  transgressores  ut  peccantes  mortaliter  non  punientur. 
Eodem  lib.  et  tit.,  c.  15. 

Take  one  instance  out  of  many.  Piccinino,  the  famous  condottiere  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  had  promised  not  to  attack  Francis  Sforza,  at  that  time  engaged 
against  the  Pope.  Eugenius  IV.  (the  same  excellent  person  who  had  annulled  the 
compactata  with  the  Hussites,  releasing  those  who  had  sworn  to  them,  and  who 
afterward  made  the  king  of  Hungary  break  his  treaty  with  Amurath  II.),  absolves 
him  from  this  promise,  on  the  express  ground  that  a  treaty  disadvantageous  to  the 
church  ought  not  to  be  kept.  (Sismondi,  t.  ix.,  p.  196.)  The  church,  in  that  age, 
was  synonymous  with  the  papal  territories  in  Italy. 

It  was  in  conformity  to  this  sweeping  principle  of  ecclesiastical  utility,  that 
Urban  VI.  made  the  following  solemn  and  general  declaration  against  keeping 
faith  with  heretics.  '  Attendentes  quod  hujusmodi  confoederationes,  colligationes, 
et  ligae  seu  conventiones  factae  cum  hujusmodi  haereticis  seu  schismaticis  post- 
quam  tales  effecti  erant,  sunt  temerariae ;  illicitae,  et  ipso  jure  nulla?  (etsi  forte 
ante  ipsorum  lapsum  in  schisma,  seu  haeresin  initiae,  seu  factae  fuissent),  etiam  si 
forent  juramento  vel  fide  data  firmata?,  aut  confirmatione  apostolica  vel  quacunque 
firmif.ate  alia  roboratae,  postquam  tales,  ut  praemittitur,  sunt  effecti.'  (Rymer,  t. 
vii.,  p.  352.) 

f  See  Introduction  to  Sismondi,  ut  supra. 


323 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ESTABLISHMENT     OF     THE     MENDICANT     ORDERS.       SAINT     DOMINIC     AND 

SAINT    FRANCIS. 

§  80. — We  have  already  endeavored  to  trace  the  origin  and  pro- 
gress of  monkery  up  to  the  epoch  of  the  establishment  of  papal  su- 
premacy.* We  have  also  seen  how,  in  subsequent  ages,  the  vari- 
ous monastic  orders  had  degenerated  from  their  primitive  severity 
of  discipline,  and  simplicity  of  character,  till  the  convents  exhibited 
to  the  world  the  most  shocking  spectacles  of  licentiousness,  avarice, 
imposture,  and  almost  every  description  of  vice.  It  is  admitted, 
by  Roman  Catholic  writers,  that  even  in  the  best  monasteries,  scarce 
a  vestige  of  religion  was  apparent,  and  the  inordinate  desire  of 
wealth,  the  root  of  evils,  the  wicked  step-mother  of  monks, '  malam 
monachorum  novercam,'  reigned  with  undisputed  sway.f  Were 
we  disposed  to  soil  our  page  with  the  disgusting  details  of  monkish 
profligacy  and  licentiousness,  it  would  be  easy  to  gather  testimonies 
from  Romish  authors  themselves,  to  prove  that  in  spite  of  their  vows 
of  poverty  and  chastity,  the  main  object  of  the  vast  body  of  the 
monks  of  the  middle  ages,  was  not  only  the  accumulation  of  un- 
bounded wealth,  but  the  gratification  of  their  lawless  passions 
either  with  equally  vicious  nuns,  or  with  other  victims  of  their 
seductive  arts. 

§  81. — In  contrast  with  the  vicious  lives  of  these  monks,  shone 
with  the  more  lustre,  the  primitive  characters,  the  chaste,  and  pa- 
tient, and  modest  deportment  of  the  teachers  of  the  Waldensian 
heretics,  who  were  so  cruelly  persecuted  and  abused.  Some 
of  these  dissenters  from  Popery  in  this  age  maintained  that  volun- 
tary poverty  was  the  leading  and  essential  quality  in  a  servant  of 
Christ,  obliged  their  doctors  to  imitate  the  simplicity  of  the  apos- 
tles, reproached  the  church  with  its  overgrown  opulence,  and  the 
vices  and  corruptions  of  the  clergy,  that  flowed  from  thence  as 
from  their  natural  source,  and  by  this  commendation  of  poverty 
and  contempt  of  riches,  acquired  a  high  degree  of  respect,  and 
gained  a  prodigious  ascendant  over  the  minds  of  the  multitude. 
Probably  the  extreme  views  in  relation  to  voluntary  poverty  held 
by  some  of  the  Waldenses  originated  in  their  disgust  and  abhor- 
rence at  the  contrast  between  the  professions  and  the  practices  of 
the  monks.  However  this  may  be,  some  of  the  shrewdest  of  the 
popes,  fearful  of  the  effect  of  the  contrast  between  the  vicious 
lives  of  the  sleek,  and  lazy,  and  well-fed  monks,  and  the  holy  lives 
of  the  poor,  and  humble,  and  persecuted  heretics,  soon  perceived 

*  See  above,  book  ii.,  chap  iv.,  page  87-92. 

f  "  Vix  institute  religionis  apparuisse  vestigia,  in  praestantioribus  monasteriis, 
radicem  malorum,  malam  monachorum  novercam,  proprietatum  concupiscentiam."' 
(Baronius,  AnnaL,  ad  Ann.  942.) 
20 


324  HISTORY  OP  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Innocent  III.  establishes  the  Mendicant  orders.  Dominicans  and  Franciscans. 

the  necessity  of  establishing  an  order  of  men,  who,  by  the  austerity 
of  their  manners,  their  contempt  of  riches,  and  the  externa]  gravity 
and  sanctity  of  their  conduct  and  maxims,  might  resemble  the  doc- 
tors, who  had  gained  such  reputation  to  the  heretical  sects,  and 
who  might  be  so  far  above  the  allurements  of  worldly  profit  and 
pleasure,  as  not  to  be  seduced  by  the  promises  or  threats  of  kings 
and  princes,  from  the  performance  of  the  duties  they  owed  to  the 
church,  or  from  persevering  in  their  subordination  to  the  Roman 
pontiffs. 

§  82. — Innocent  III.,  about  the  commencement  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  was  the  first  of  the  popes  who  perceived  the  necessity  of 
instituting  such  an  order ;  and  accordingly,  he  gave  such  monastic 
societies  as  made  a  profession  of  poverty,  the  most  distinguishing 
marks  of  his  protection  and  favor.  They  were  also  encouraged 
and  patronized  by  the  succeeding  pontiffs,  when  experience  had 
demonstrated  their  public  and  extensive  usefulness.  But  when  it 
became  generally  known,  that  they  had  such  a  peculiar  place  in  the 
esteem  and  protection  of  the  rulers  of  the  church,  their  number 
grew  to  such  an  enormous  and  unwieldy  multitude,  and  swarmed 
so  prodigiously  in  all  the  European  provinces,  that  they  became  a 
burden,  not  only  to  the  people  but  to  the  church  itself.  This  in- 
convenience, however,  was  remedied  by  pope  Gregory  X.  in  a 
general  council  which  he  assembled  at  Lyons,  in  the  year  1272. 
For  here  all  the  religious  orders  that  had  sprung  up  after  the  coun- 
cil held  at  Rome,  in  the  year  1215,  under  the  pontificate  of  Inno- 
cent III.,  were  suppressed,  and  the  "  extravagant  multitude  of  men- 
dicants," as  Gregory  called  them,  were  reduced  to  a  smaller  num- 
ber, and  confined  to  the  four  following  societies,  or  denominations, 
viz.,  the  Dominicans,  the  Franciscans,  the  Carmelites,  and  the  her- 
mits of  St.  Augustin.* 

§  83. — Of  these  mendicant  orders,  the  Dominicans  and  the  Fran- 
ciscans, commenced  about  the  year  1207,  were  by  far  the  most  con- 
siderable and  numerous,  so  called  from  their  founders,  Dominic  and 
Francis,  of  whose  lives,  as  related  by  their  disciples  and  admirers, 
we  shall  proceed  to  give  a  brief  sketch.  The  former  of  these 
saints  has  become  famous  (or  infamous)  in  history,  from  the  fact 
that  he  was  the  inventor,  or  at  least,  the  first  inquisitor-general  of 
the  horrible  tribunal  called  the  holy  Inquisition.  Being  employed, 
says  Dr.  Southey,  against  the  Albigenses,  Saint  Dominic  (as  he 
stands  in  the  Romish  Calendar)  invented  the  Inquisition  to  acceler- 
ate the  effect  of  his  sermons.  His  invention  was  readily  approved 
at  Rome,  and  he  himself  nominated  inquisitor-general.  The  pain- 
ful detail  of  his  crimes  may  well  be  spared  ;  suffice  it  to  say,  that 

*  " Importuna  potentium  inhiatio  Religionum  multiplicationem  extorsit,  verum 
ctiam  aliquorum  pra?sumptuosa  temeritas  diversorum  ordinum,  prsecipue  Mendi- 
cantium  ....  effraenatam  multitudinem  adinvenit  ....  Hinc  ordines  Mendicantes 
post  dictum  concilium  adinventos  ....  perpetuae  prohibitioni  subjicimus."  (Con- 
di. Lugd.  II.,  Ann.  1274.  Can.  xxiii.,  in  Jo.  Harduini  Canciliis,  torn,  vii.,  p. 
715.   Mosheim,  iii.,  188.) 


chap,  ix.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       305 


Wonderful  miracles  of  Sai/it  Dominic,  the  founder  of  the  Inquisition. 

in  one  day  four-score  persons  were  beheaded,  and  four  hundred 
burnt  alive,  by  this  man's  order  and  in  his  sight.  St.  Dominie  is 
the  only  saint  in  whom  no  solitary  speck  of  goodness  can  be  dis- 
covered. To  impose  privations  and  pain  was  the  pleasure  of  his 
unnatural  heart,  and  cruelty  was  in  him  an  appetite  and  a  passion. 
No  other  human  being  has  ever  been  the  occasion  of  so  much 
misery.  The  few  traits  of  character  which  can  be  gleaned  from 
the  lying  volumes  of  his  biographers  are  all  of  the  darkest  colors. 
If  his  disciples  have  preserved  tew  personal  facts  concerning  their 
master,  they  have  made  ample  amends  in  the  catalogue  of  his 
miracles.  Let  the  reader  have  patience  to  peruse  a  few  of  these 
tales,  not  copied  from  protestant,  and  therefore  suspected  authors, 
but  from  the  Dominican  historians  the//iselves,  and  every  one  of 
them  authorized  by  the  Inquisition.*  • 

§  84. — Among  the  vast  multitude  of  their  ridiculous  and  fabu- 
lous stories,  these  disciples  of  Dominic  relate  that  the  mother 
of  their  master  dreamed  that  she  brought  forth  a  dog,  holding  a 
burning  torch  in  his  mouth,  wherewith  he  fired  the  world.  Earth- 
quakes and  meteors  announced  his  nativity  to  the  earth  and  the  air, 
and  two  or  three  suns  and  moons  extraordinary  were  hung  out  for 
an  illumination  in  heaven.  The  Virgin  Mary  received  him  in  her 
arms  as  he  sprung  to  birth.  When  a  sucking  babe  he  regularly  ob- 
served fast  days,  and  would  get  out  of  bed  and  lie  upon  the  ground 
as  a  penance.  (!)  His  manhood  was  as  portentous  as  his  infancy. 
He  fed  multitudes  miraculously,  and  performed  the  miracle  of  Cana 
with  great  success.  Once,  when  he  fell  in  with  a  troop  of  pilgrims, 
of  different  countries,  the  curse  which  had  been  inflicted  at  Babel 
was  suspended  for  him,  and  all  were  enabled  to  speak  one  lan- 
guage. (!)  Travelling  with  a  single  companion,  he  entered  a 
monastery  in  a  lonely  place,  to  pass  the  night ;  he  awoke  at  matins, 
and  hearing  yells  and  lamentations  instead  of  prayers,  went  out 
and  discovered  that  he  was  among  a  brotherhood  of  devils.  Domi- 
nic punished  them  upon  the  spot  with  a  cruel  sermon,  and  then  re- 
turned to  rest.  At  morning  the  convent  had  disappeared,  and  he 
and  his  comrade  found  themselves  in  a  wilderness.  (! !)  He  had 
one  day  an  obstinate  battle  with  the  flesh :  the  quarrel  took  place 
in  a  wood ;  and,  finding  it  necessary  to  call  in  help,  he  stripped  him- 
self, and  commanded  the  ants  and  the  wasps  to  come  to  his  assist- 
ance :  even  against  these  auxiliaries  the  contest  was  continued  for 
three  hours  before  the  soul  could  win  the  victory.  He  used  to  be 
red-hot  with  divine  love  ;  sometimes  blazing  like  a  sun ;  some- 
times glowing  like  a  furnace ;  at  times  it  blanched  his  garments, 
and  imbued  them  with  a  glory  resembling  that  of  Christ  in  the 
Transfiguration.  Once  it  sprouted  out  six  wings,  like  a  seraph ; 
and  once  the  fervor  of  his  piety  made  him  sweat  blood.  (!!!) 

*  See  an  able  article  on  the  Inquisition,  from  the  pen  of  the  late  poet-laureate 
of  England,  Robert  Southey,  LL.D.,  in  the  Quarterly  Review  for  December,  1811. 


326  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Marvellous  Dominican  miracles  of  the  Virgin  and  the  Rosary. 

§  85. — The  Dominicans  were  the  great  champions  of  the  Virgin, 
and  according  to  their  writers,  Saint  Dominic  was  her  peculiar  favor- 
ite. In  reference  to  the  Rosary,  which  among  them  was  especially  a 
favorite  instrument  of  devotion  to  their  great  patroness,  they  relate 
many  wonderful  miracles,  among  which  the  following  are  speci- 
mens.    (For  Rosary,  arms  of  Inquisition,  fyc,  see  Engraving.) 

(1.)  The  head  "palace  in  Paradise. — A  knight  to  whom  Dominic  presented  a 
rosary,  arrived  at  such  a  perfection  of  piety,  that  his  eyes  were  opened,  and  he 
saw  an  angel  take  every  bead  as  he  dropped  it,  and  carry  it  to  the  Queen  of  Hea- 
ven, who  immediately  magnified  it,  and  built  with  the  whole  string  a  palace  upon 
a  mountain  in  Paradise  ! 

(2.)  The  preaching  head. — A  damsel,  by  name  Alexandra,  induced  by  Dominic's 
preaching,  used  the  rosary ;  but  her  heart  followed  too  much  after  the  things  of 
this  world.  Two  young  men,  who  were  rivals  for  her,  fought,  and  both  fell  in 
the  combat ;  and  their  relations,  in  revenge,  cut  off  her  head,  and  threw  it  into 
a  well.  The  devil  immediately  seized  her  soul,  to  which  it  seems  he  had  a  clear 
title — but,  for  the  sake  of  the  rosary,  the  Virgin  interfered,  rescued  the  soul  out 
of  his  hands,  and  gave  it  permission  to  remain  in  the  head  at  the  bottom  of  the 
well,  till  it  should  have  an  opportunity  of  confessing  and  being  absolved.  After 
some  days  this  was  revealed  to  Dominic,  who  went  to  the  well,  and  told  Alexan- 
dra, in  God's  name,  to  come  up  :  the  bloody  head  obeyed,  perched  on  the  well-side, 
confessed  its  sins,  received  absolution,  took  the  wafer,  and  continued  to  edify  the 
people  for  two  days,  when  the  soul  departed  to  pass  a  fortnight  in  purgatory  on  its 
way  to  heaven. 

(3.)  The  Virgin's  raised  arm. — When  Dominic  entered  Thoulouse,  after  one  of 
his  interviews  with  the  Virgin,  all  the  bells  of  the  city  rang  to  welcome  him,  un- 
touched by  human  hands  !  But  the  heretics  [Albigenses]  neither  heeded  this,  nor 
regarded  his  earnest  exhortations  to  them,  to  abjure  their  errors,  and  make  use 
of  the  rosary.  To  punish  their  obstinacy  a  dreadful  tempest  of  thunder  and 
lightning  set  the  whole  firmament  in  a  blaze ;  the  earth  shook,  and  the  howling  of 
affrighted  animals  was  mingled  with  the  shrieks  and  groans  of  the  terrified  multi- 
tude. They  crowded  to  the  church,  where  Dominic  was  preaching,  as  to  an 
asylum.  "  Citizens  of  Thoulouse,"  said  he,  ':I  see  before  me  a  hundred  and  fifty 
angels,  sent  by  Christ  and  his  mother  to  punish  you  !  This  tempest  is  the  voice 
of  the  right  hand  of  God."  There  was  an  image  of  the  Virgin  in  the  church, 
who  raised  her  arm  in  a  threatening  attitude  as  he  spoke.  "  Hear  me  !"  he  con- 
tinued, "  that  arm  shall  not  be  withdrawn  till  you  appease  her  by  reciting  the 
rosary."  New  outcries  now  arose :  the  devils  yelled  because  of  the  torment  this 
inflicted  on  them.  The  terrified  Thoulousians  prayed  and  scourged  themselves, 
and  told  their  beads  with  such  good  effect,  that  the  storm  at  length  ceased.  Domi- 
nic, satisfied  with  their  repentance,  gave  the  word,  and  down  fell  the  arm  of  the 
image  ! 

(4.)  Dominican  friars  and  nuns  nestling  under  the  Virgin's  icing. — In  one  of 
his  visits  to  heaven,  Dominic  was  carried  before  the  throne  of  Christ,  where  he 
beheld  many  religionists  of  both  sexes,  but  none  of  his  own  order.  This  so 
afflicted  him,  that  he  began  to  lament  aloud,  and  inquired  why  they  did  not  appear 
in  bliss.  Christ,  upon  this,  laying  his  hand  upon  the  Virgin's  shoulder,  said,  ';  I 
have  committed  your  order  [the  Dominicans]  to  my  mother's  care;"  and  she,  lift- 
ing up  her  robe,  discovered  an  innumerable  multitude  of  Dominicans,  friars  and 
nuns,  nestled  under  it ! 

(5.)  The  love  of  the  Virgin  for  Saint  Dominic. — The  next  of  these  foolish 
legends  is  almost  too  impious  to  be  repeated.  The  Dominicans — the  inquisitors — 
tell  us  that  "  the  Virgin  appeared  to  Dominic  in  a  cave  near  Thoulouse  ;  that  she 
called  him  her  son  and  her  husband  ;  that  she  took  him  in  her  arms,  and  bared  her 
breasts  to  him,  that  he  might  drink  their  nectar!  She  told  him  that,  were  she  a 
mortal,  she  could  not  live  without  him,  so  excessive  was  her  love;  even  now,  im- 
mortal as  she  was,  she  should  die  for  him,  did  not  the  Almighty  support  her,  as  he 


THE  SCAPULAR,  ROSARV,  AND  CHAPLET. 

The  Scapular  is  a  habit  worn  over  the  shoulders,  which  thn  Virgin  Mary  is  said  to  have  given  to  Simon 
Stock,  a  hermit,  to  whom  she  appeared,  assuring  him  that  it  was  a  "  sign  of  salvation,  a  safeguard  in  datl- 
i.d  a  covenant  of  peace;"  and  that  she  would  "never  permit  those  who  should  wear  her  halul  to 
be  damned."  It  forms  a  part  of  the  habit  of  several  Religious  Orders,  and  is  worn  over  the  gown.  1"  > 
Roman  Catholic  work,  published  no  longer  a»o  than  1838,  a  saying  of  Father  Alphonso  is  mentioned,  that 
the  Devil  "  had  lost  more  souls  by  that  holy  vest  than  by  any  other  means."  This  work  is  entitled  "  I 
brief  accouul  of  the  confraternity  of  our  Blessed  Lady  of  Mount  Carmel,  commonly  called  the  Scapular. 

The  Rosary  and  Chaplei  are  used  ioeou.it  prayers.      Ten  to  the  Virgin,  represented  by  small  b Is 

for  every  one  to  God.  represented  by  a  large  bead.  ( 


FAC  SIMILE  OF  THE  CO.NSV.CRATF.il  WAFER. 
This  is  a  representation  of  the  Wafer,  stamped  as  above,  which  the  Romish  priests  profess  to  turn  into  a 
God,  and  elevate  above  their  heads,  for  the  worship  of  the  deluded  multitude. 


STAN1MR1JS  OF  THE   INQUISITION. 

Standard  of  the  Inquisition  oj  Spain.— This  was  a  wooden  cross,- full  of  knots,  with  a  sword  and  an  olive 
branch,  as  represented  in  the  engraving. 

Standard  of  the  Inquisition  of  Goa—  This  represents  St.  Dominic,  with  a  dog  carrying  a  torch  near  a 
globe,  because  a  little  previous  to  hi-  birth  his  mother  dreamt  she  saw  a  dog  lighting  the  world  with  a 
torch.  In  his  right  hand  is  a  branch  of  olive,  as  a  token  of  the  pe.ace  he  will  make  with  such  as  shall  de- 
clare themselves  good  Catholics;  and  in  his  leftasword,  to  denote  the  war  he  makes  with  hen  ties— with 
this  motto,  Misericordia  et  Justitia,  (Mercy  and  Justice.) 


chap,  ix.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      329 


Saint  Francis  the  founder  of  the  Franciscans,  the  Seraphic  Order. 


had  done  at  the  Crucifixion  !     At  another  visit,  she  espoused  him  ;  and  the  saints, 
and  the  Redeemer  himself,  came  down  to  witness  the  marriage  ceremony  ! 

It  is  impossible  to  transcribe  these  atrocious  blasphemies  without  shuddering  at 
the  o-uilt  of  those  who  invented  them ;  and  when  it  is  remembered  that  these  are 
the  men  who  have  persecuted  and  martyred  so  many  thousands  for  conscience' 
sake,  it  seems  as  if  human  wickedness  could  not  be  carried  farther.  "  Blessed," 
exclaims  Dr.  Southey,  "  be  the  day  of  Martin  Luther's  birth  ! — it  should  be  a 
festival  only  second  to  that  of  the  Nativity."* 

R  86. — The  founder  of  the  other  of  these  celebrated  mendicant 
orders  was  the  son  of  a  rich  merchant  of  Assissi,  in  Italy.  Accord- 
ing to  a  valuable  and  more  recent  work  of  the  able  and  learned 
author  just  referred  to,  he  derived  his  name  of  Francesco  from  his 
familiar  knowledge  of  the  French  tongue,  which  was  at  that  time 
a  rare  accomplishment  for  an  Italian ;  and  Hercules  is  not  better 
known  in  classical  fable,  than  he  became  in  Romish  mythology,  by 
the  name  of  Saint  Francis.  In  his  youth,  it  is  certain,  that  he 
was  actuated  by  delirious  piety ;  but  the  web  of  his  history  is  in- 
terwoven with  such  inextricable  falsehoods,  that  it  is  not  possible  to 
decide  whether,  in  riper  years,  he  became  madman  or  impostor  ; 
nor  whether  at  last  he  was  the  accomplice  of  his  associates,  or  the 
victim.  Having  infected  a  few  kindred  spirits  with  his  first  enthu- 
siasm, he  obtained  the  Pope's  consent  to  institute  an  order  of  Friars 
Minorite ;  so,  in  his  humility,  he  called  them  ;  they  are  better 
known  by  the  name  of  Franciscans,  after  their  founder,  in  honor 
of  whom  they  have  likewise  given  themselves  the  modest  appella- 
tion of  the  Seraphic  Order — having  in  their  blasphemous  fables 
installed  him  above  the  Seraphim,  upon  the  throne  from  which 
Lucifer  fell ! 

§  87. — Previous  attempts  had  been  made  to  enlist,  in  the  service 
of  the  papal  church,  some  of  those  fervent  spirits,  whose  united 
hostility  all  its  strength  would  have  been  insufficient  to  withstand  ; 
but  these  had  been  attended  with  little  effect,  and  projects  of  this 
kind  were  discouraged,  as  rather  injurious  than  hopeful,  till  Francis 
presented  himself.  His  entire  devotion  to  the  Pope,  his  ardent 
adoration  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  as  the  great  Goddess  of  the  Romish 
faith,  the  strangeness,  and  perhaps  the  very  extravagance  of  the 
institute  which  he  proposed,  obtained  a  favorable  acceptance  for 
his  proposals.  Seclusion  for  the  purpose  of  religious  meditation, 
was  the  object  of  the  earlier  religious  orders ;  his  followers  were 
to  go  into  the  streets  and  highways  to  exhort  the  people.  The 
monks  were  justly  reproached  for  luxury,  and  had  become  invidious 
for  their  wealth  ;  the  friars  were  bound  to  the  severest  rule  of 
life  ;  they  went  barefoot,  and  renounced,  not  only  for  themselves 
individually,  but  collectively  also,  all  possessions  whatever,  trusting 
to  daily  charity  for  their  daily  bread.     It  was  objected  to  him  that 

*  Let  not  the  reader  suppose  (as  Romanists  assert  in  relation  to  everything  they 
would  rather  keep  secret)  that  these  are  protestant  forgeries.  These  miracles 
stand  as  above  related  (with  the  exception  of  the  titles)  in  the  prayer-book  of  the 
Dominican  order  of  Roman  Catholics. 


330  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Immense  increase  of  Franciscan  friars.  The  holy  stigmas  or  wounds  of  Saint  Francis. 

no  community,  established  upon  such  a  principle,  could  subsist 
withoul  a  miracle:  he  referred  to  the  lilies  in  the  text,  for  scrip- 
tural authority;  to  the  birds,  for  an  example  ;  and  the  marvellous 
increase  of  the  order  was  soon  admitted  as  full  proof  of  the  inspir- 
ation of  its  rounder.  In  less  than  t<  n  years,  the  delegates  alone  to 
its  General  Chapter  exceeded  live  thousand  in  number;  and  by  an 
enumeration  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the 
Reformation  must  have  diminished  their  amount  at  least  one-third, 
it  was  found  that  even  then  there  were  28,000  Franciscan  nuns  in 
900  nunneries,  and  115,000  Franciscan  friars  in  7000  convents; 
besides  very  many  nunneries,  which,  being  under  the  immediate 
jurisdiction  of  the  ordinary,  and  not  of  the  order,  were  not  included 
in  the  returns. 

§  88. — The  miracles  ascribed  to  Saint  Francis  were  no  less  ex- 
travagant than  those  related  of  the  head  of  the  rival  order.  "  The 
wildest  romance,"  says  Dr.  Southey,  "  contains  nothing  more  ex- 
travagant than  the  legends  of  St.  Dominic  :  yet  even  these  were 
outdone  by  the  more  atrocious  effrontery  of  the  Franciscans.  They 
held  up  their  founder,  even  during  his  life,  as  the  perfect  pattern  of 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  ;  and,  to  authenticate  the  parallel,  they  ex- 
hibited him  with  a  wound  hi  his  side,  and  four  nails  in  his  hands 
and  feet,  fixed  there,  they  affirmed,  by  Christ  himself,  who  had 
visibly  appeared  for  the  purpose  of  thus  rendering  the  conformity 
between  them  complete  !  Whether  he  consented  to  the  villainy, 
or  was  in  such  a  state  of  moral  and  physical  imbecility,  as  to  have 
been  the  dupe  or  the  victim  of  those  about  him  ;  and  whether  it 
was  committed  with  the  connivance  of  the  papal  court,  or  only  in 
certain  knowledge  that  that  court  would  sanction  it  when  done, 
though  it  might  not  deem  it  prudent  to  be  consenting  before  the 

fact, are  questions  which   it  is   now   impossible  to   resolve. 

Sanctioned,  however,  the  horrible  imposture  was  by  that  church  which 
calls  itself  infallible ;  a  day  for  its  perpetual  commemoration  was 
appointed  in  the  Romish  Calendar  ;*  and  a  large  volume  was  com- 
posed, entitled  the  Book  of  the  Conformities  between  the  lives  of 
the  blessed  and  seraphic  Father  Francis  and  our  Lord  ! 

Jealous  of  these  conformities,  the  Dominicans  followed  their 
rivals  in  the  path  of  blasphemy.  .  .  .  They  declared  that  the  five 
wounds  had  been  impressed  also  upon  St.  Dominic  ;  but  that,  in 
his  consummate  humility,  he  had  prayed  and  obtained  that  this  sig- 
nal mark  of  Divine  grace  might  never  be  made  public  while  he 
lived.f 

§  89. — The  two  orders  of  Dominic  and  Francis,  though  engaged 
in   the  same  work  of  hunting  and  persecuting  the  enemies  of  the 

*  The  day  set  apart  by  the  Romish  church  to  commemorate  this  abominable 
imposture,  is  September  17th.  See  Calendar  in  "Garden  of  the  Soul.*'  published 
with  approbation  of  Bishop  Hughes,  New  York,  1844.  It  is  the  same'  in  any 
h  Calendar.  See  True  Piety,  St.  Joseph's  Manual,  &c.  The  words  oppo- 
site September  17th  are,  "  The  holy  stigmas  (Latin  for  wounds)  cf  St.  Francis." 

f  See  Southey's  Book  of  the  Church,  chap,  xi.,  fifth  edition,  London,  1841. 


chap,  x.l      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       331 

Prodigious  influence  acquired  by  the  Mendicant  Orders.  Fourth  council  of  Lateran. 

papal  church,  and  both  professing  an  equal  zeal  in  the  service  of 
the  Pope,  soon  began  most  cordially  to  hate  each  other,  and  to 
assume  an  attitude  of  fierce  hostility  and  rivalry.  Yet  they  ob- 
tained, for  a  time,  a  prodigious  influence  among  the  people,  pro- 
duced partly  by  their  enthusiasm,  partly  by  their  appearance  of 
sanctity  and  devotion,  but  chiefly  by  the  implicit  faith  with  which 
their  enormous  fables  were  received.  Multitudes  of  the  people 
were  unwilling  to  receive  the  sacraments  from  any  other  hands 
than  those  of  the  mendicants,  to  whose  churches  they  crowded  to 
perform  their  devotions,  while  living,  and  were  extremely  desirous 
to  deposit  there  also  their  remains  after  death  ;  all  which  occasion- 
ed grievous  complaints  among  the  ordinary  priests,  to  whom  the 
cure  of  souls  was  committed,  and  who  considered  themselves  as 
the  spiritual  guides  of  the  multitude.  Nor  did  the  influence  and 
credit  of  the  mendicants  end  here  ;  for  we  find,  in  the  history  of 
succeeding  ages,  that  they  were  employed  not  only  in  spiritual 
matters,  but  also  in  temporal  and  political  affairs  of  the  greatest 
consequence ;  in  composing  the  differences  of  princes,  concluding 
treaties  of  peace,  concerting  alliances,  presiding  in  cabinet  coun- 
cils, governing  courts,  levying  taxes,  and  other  occupations,  not 
only  remote  from,  but  absolutely  inconsistent  with  the  monastic 
character  and  profession.  During  three  centuries,  these  two  fra- 
ternities governed,  with  an  almost  universal  and  absolute  sway, 
both  state  and  church,  filled  the  most  eminent  posts,  ecclesiastical 
and  civil,  taught  in  the  universities  and  churches  with  an  authority, 
before  which  all  opposition  was  silent,  and  maintained  the  pretended 
majesty  and  prerogatives  of  the  Roman  pontiffs  against  kings, 
princes,  bishops,  and  heretics,  with  incredible  ardor  and  equal 
success.    (Mosheim,  cent,  xiii.,  part  2.    Waddington,  chap,  xix.) 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    FOURTH    COUNCIL    OF    LATERAN    DECREES    THE    EXTERMINATION    OF 
HERETICS,    TRANSUBSTANTIATION,    AND    AURICULAR    CONFESSION. 

§  90. — In  the  year  1215  was  held  at  Rome,  under  the  pontificate 
of  Innocent  III.,  the  twelfth  general  council,  and  fourth  of  Lateran. 
On  many  accounts — the  character  of  the  Pope  who  presided,  the 
number  of  ecclesiastics  who  were  present,  the  doctrines  that  were 
then  first  made  articles  of  faith,  the  tyrannical  and  sanguinary  cha- 
racter of  its  decrees  in  relation  to  the  extermination  of  heretics, 
&c, — this  council  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  memorable 
in  the  history  of  Romanism.     The  number  of  church  dignitaries 


332  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v 


Innocent  and  the  council  give  the  dominions  of  Raimond  to  the  popish  butcher  of  heretics,  Montfort. 


present  on  this  occasion,  in  addition  to  the  Pope,  was  seventy  me- 
tropolitans, four  hundred  bishops,  and  eight  hundred  and  twelve 
abbots,  priors,  &c,  besides  several  princes,  imperial  ambassa- 
dors, &c. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  acts  of  this  council,  or  rather  of 
Pope  Innocent,  who  was  the  sovereign  dictator  of  all  that  was  done 
in  it,  and  which  we  mention  first,  because  of  its  connection  with 
matters  already  related,  was  the  bestowment  of  the  dominions  of 
Raimond  VI.,  the  unfortunate  count  of  Thoulouse,  upon  that  obe- 
dient son  of  the  Pope,  the  earl  of  Montfort  the  bloodthirsty  butcher 
of  the  Albigenses,  as  a  reward  for  the  service  that  he  had  ren- 
dered the  church  of  Rome,  in  slaughtering  such  countless  mul- 
titudes of  the  heretics  and  rebels  against  the  Holy  See.  The  per- 
secuted Raimond  travelled  to  Rome  for  the  purpose  of  averting,  if 
possible,  this  additional  misfortune,  and  promised  to  give  whatever 
satisfaction  the  Pope  and  the  council  might  require.  But  his  ex- 
ertions were  all  in  vain.  "  His  dominions,"  says  Bower,  "  were  ad- 
judged to  count  Montfort  as  a  reward  for  his  zeal  in  the  destruction 
of  the  innocent  Albigenses,  and  Montfort  henceforth  assumed  the 
title  of  %ount  of  Thoulouse,  and  continued  to  persecute  the  poor 
Albigenses  with  fire  and  sword,  though  he  could  never  entirely 
suppress  them.  Thus  did  the  Pope  and  council,  not  only  with  the 
consent,  but  with  the  concurrence  of  princes,  usurp  an  absolute 
power  in  temporals  as  well  as  in  spirituals.''* 

The  excommunication  of  the  barons  of  England  in  this  council, 
and  the  haughty  letter  of  pope  Innocent  in  relation  to  them,  have 
already  been  related  in  a  preceding  chapter.  (See  above,  page  292.) 

§  91. — Rut  the  fourth  council  of  Lateran  is  most  noted  for  its 
famous  (or  infamous)  decree  relative  to  the  extirpation  of  keretics, 
and  the  thunders  that  were  to  be  hurled  at  princes,  and  the  punish- 
ment to  be  inflicted  on  them  in  case  they  should  refuse  to  join  in 
this  pious,  but  bloody  work.  The  following  is  a  literal  translation 
of  the  most  important  portion  of  this  decree,  translated  from  the 
Latin  original  as  found  in  the  summa  conciliorum  of  Caranza,  a 
celebrated  Romanist  author.    The  third  chapter  begins  thus :  "  We 

EXCOMMUNICATE  AND  ANATHEMATIZE  EVERY  HERESY  EXTOLLING  IT- 
SELF    AGAINST     THIS     HOLY,    ORTHODOX,     CATHOLIC     FAITH    WHICH    WE 

before  expounded,  condemning  all  heretics  by  what  names  soever 
called.  And  being  condemned,  let  them  be  left  to  the  seculab 
power,  or  to  their  bailiffs,  to  be  punished  by  due  animadversion. 
And  let  the  secular  powers  be  warned  and  induced,  and  if  need  be 
condemned  by  ecclesiastical  censure,  what  offices  soever  they  are 
in,  that  as  they  desire  to  be  reputed  and  taken  for  believers,  so  they 

publicly  TAKE  AN  OATH  FOR  THE  DEFENCE  OF  THE  FAITH,  THAT  THEY 
WILL  STUDY  IN  GOOD  EABNEST  TO  EXTERMINATE,  TO  THEIR  UTMOST 
POWER,  FROM  THE  LANDS  SUBJECT  TO  THEIR  JURISDICTION.  ALL  HERE- 
TICS denoted  by  the  church  ;  '  Pro  defensione  fidei  prsestat  jura- 

*  Lives  of  the  Popes,  in  vita  Innoc.  III. 


chap,  x.]       POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       333 


Decrees  of  the  Pope  and  council  commanding  princes,  under  heavy  penalties,  to  exterminate  heretics. 

mentum,  quod  de  terris  suae  jurisdictionis  subjectos  universos  haere- 
ticos  ab  Ecclesia  denotatos,  bona  fide  pro  viribus  exterminare  stude- 
bunt ;'  so  that  every  one,  that  is  henceforth  taken  into  any  power, 
either  spiritual  or  temporal,  shall  be  bound  to  confirm  this  chapter 
by  his  oath."  ..."  But  if  the  temporal  lord,  required  and  warned 
by  the  church,  shall  neglect  to  purge  his  territory  of  this  heretical 
■filth,  let  him  by  the  Metropolitan  and  Comprovincial  Bishops  be 
tied  by  the  bond  of  excommunication ;  and  if  he  scorn  to  satisfy 
within  a  year,  let  that  be  signified  to  the  Pope,  that  he  may  denounce 
his  vassals  thenceforth  absolved  from  his  fidelity  (or  allegiance), 
and  may  expose  his  country  to  be  seized  on  by  Catholics,  who,  the 
heretics  being  excommunicated,  may  possess  it  without  any  contra- 
diction, and  may  keep  it  in  the  purity  of  faith,  saving  the  right  of 
the  principal  lord,  so  be  it  he  himself  put  no  obstacle  hereto,  nor 
oppose  any  impediment;  the  same  law  notwithstanding  being  kept 
about  them  that  have  no  principal  lord."*  ..."  And  the  Catho- 
lics that  taking  the  badge  of  the  cross  shall  gird  themselves  for  the  ex- 
terminating of  heretics,  shall  enjoy  that  indulgence,  and  be  fortified 
with  that  holy  privilege  which  is  granted  to  them  that  go  to  the  help 
of  the  holy  land."  .  .  .  "  And  we  decree  to  subject  to  excommu- 
nication the  believers  and  receivers,  defenders  and  favorers  of  here- 
tics, firmly  ordaining,  that  when  any  such  person  is  noted  by  ex- 
communication, if  he  disdain  to  satisfy  within  a  year,  let  him  be, 
ipso  jure,  made  infamous." 

I  make  no  comment  on  the  above  outrageous  decree  of  pope 
Innocent  and  the  twelfth  general  council  united  {the  highest  legis- 
lative authority  in  the  Romish  church),  nor  is  it  needed.  The 
history  of  the  persecuted  Raimond,  hunted,  excommunicated,  ana- 
thematized, and  finally  deposed,  for  no  other  reason  except  that 
he  did  not  use  sufficient  diligence  in  executing  the  Pope's  commands 
"  to  exterminate,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  all  heretics  from  the 
lands  subject  to  his  jurisdiction,"  together  with  that  of  the  slaugh- 
tered Albigenses,  is  an  eloquent  sermon  on  the  above  text. 

§  92. — In  this  general  council  also,  by  the  twenty-first  canon,  the 
practice  of  auricular  confession  was  for  the  first  time  authorita- 
tively enjoined  upon  the  faithful  of  both  sexes  at  least  once  a  year. 
They  were  also  commanded,  under  severe  penalties  in  case  of  neg- 
lect, to  receive  the  eucharist  at  Easter,  unless  a  particular  dispensa- 
tion excusing  from  this  duty  should  be  granted  to  them.  The,  sacra- 
ment was  generally  taken  immediately  after  confession.    Fleury,  the 

*  As  this  is  the  most  important  part  of  the  decree,  and  it  is  a  common  device 
of  Romanists  to  deny  the  accuracy  of  translations,  we  subjoin  the  original  of  the 
above  remarkable  paragraph.  "  Si  dominus  temporalis  requisitus  et  monitus  ab 
Ecclesia,  teuram  suam  purgare  neglexerit  ab  hseretica  fceditate,  per  Metropolitanos 
et  ca?teros  Episcopos  vinculo  excommunicationis  innodetur ;  et  si  satisfacere  con- 
tempserit  infra  annum,  significetur  hoc  Summo  Pontifici,  et  extunc  ipse  vassalos 
ab  ejus  fidelitate  denunciet  absolutos,  et  terram  exponet  Catholicis  occupandam 
qui  earn,  hrcreticis  exterminatis,  sine  ulla  contradictione  possideant,  salvo  jure 
Domini  principalis,  dummodo  super  hoc  ipse  nullum  prsestet  obstaculum,  eadem 
nihilominus  lege  servata,  circa  eos  qui  non  habent  Dominos  principales." 


334  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Priestly  solicitation  of  females  at  confession. 

Romish  historian,  says,  "  this  is  the  first  canon,  so  far  as  I  know, 
which  imposes  the  general  obligation  of  sacramental  confession ;" 
and  from  this  admission,  it  is  easy  for  any  one  to  calculate  the 
date  of  this  modern  popish  innovation.* 

The  horrible  disorders,  seductions,  adulteries,  and  abominations 
of  every  kind  that  have  sprung  from  this  practice  of  auricular 
confession,  especially  in  Spain  and  other  popish  countries,  are 
familiar  to  all  acquainted  with  the  history  of  Popery  for  the  six 
centuries  that  have  transpired  since  the  fourth  council  of  Latcran. 
The  details  of  individual  facts  on  this  subject  are  hardly  fit  to  meet 
the  public  eye,  though  multitudes  of  them  might  easily  be  cited,  de- 
rived not  merely  from  the  testimony  of  protestants,  but  from  the 
admissions  of  papists  themselves,  and  from  the  numerous,  though 
ineffectual  laws  that  have  been  passed  to  restrain  the  practice  of 
priestly  solicitation  of  females  at  confession.  Nor  can  this  be  mat- 
ter of  surprise.  The  evil  is  inherent  in  the  system.  Let  any  per- 
son of  common  sense  examine  the  list  of  subjects,  and  the  ques- 
tions for  examination  of  conscience  in  any  popish  book  of  devotion, 
but  more  especially  (if  he  understands  Latin)  the  directions  to 
young  priests  in  Dens  and  other  standard  works  for  the  study  of 
popish  theology  ;f  then  let  him  remember  that  the  subjects  of  these 

*  From  the  following  extract  from  Butler's  Roman  Catholic  catechism,  it  will 
be  seen  that  this  law,  passed  so  late  as  1215,  is  made  one  of  the  "  six  command- 
ments of  the  church,"  and  is  placed  upon  a  level  with  the  "  ten  commandments 
of  God." 

Lesson  xx. — On  the  Precepts  of  the  Church. — Q.  Are  there  any  other  command- 
ments besides  the  ten  commandments  of  God  ?  Ans.  There  are  the  command- 
ments or  precepts  of  the  Church,  which  are  chiefly  six. 

Q.  Say  the  six  commandments  of  the  church?  Ans.  1.  To  hear  Mass  on 
Sundays,  and  all  holy  days  of  obligation.  2.  To  fast  and  abstain  on  the  days 
commanded.      3.    To  confess  our  sins  at  least  once  a  year.     4.  To    receive 

WORTHILY  THE  BLESSED  EUCHARIST  AT  EASTER,  OR  WITHIN  THE  TIME  AP- 
POINTED. 5.  To  contribute  to  the  support  of  our  pastors.  6.  Not  to  solemnize 
marriage  at  the  forbidden  times,  nor  to  marry  persons  within  the  forbidden  de- 
grees of  kindred,  or  otherwise  prohibited  by  the  church,  nor  clandestinely. 

f  The  following  extracts  from  the  "  Moral  Theology  of  Peter  Dens,  as  prepared 
for  the  use  of  Romish  Seminaries  and  Students  of  Theology,"  are  transcribed 
from  the  Mechlin  edition,  printed  no  longer  ago  than  1838.  I  dare  not  stir  the 
scum  of  this  pool  of  filth  by  translating  a  single  paragraph  from  the  Latin.  Let 
the  learned  reader  remember  that  in  confession  it  is  the  duty  of  the  priest  to 
question  and  to  cross-question,  in  every  variety  of  form,  the  female  penitents  in 
relation*o  the  sins  described  in  the  following  extracts : — 

De  modo  contra  naturam. — "  Quinta  species  luxuria?  contra  naturam  com- 
mittitur  quando  quidam  copula  masculi  fit  in  rate  femincc  naturali,  sed  indebUo 
modo,  v.  g.  stando,  aut  dum  vir  succumbit,  vel  a  retro  feminam  cognoscit,  sicut 
equi  congrediuntur,  quamvis  in  vase  femineo. 

"Possunt  autem  hi  modi  inducere  peccatum  mortale  juxta  periculum  perdendi 
semen,  eo  quod  scilicet  semen  viri  communiter  non  possit  apte  effundi  usque  in 
matricem  feminam. 

"Et  quamvis  forte  conjuges  dicant  quod  periculum  diligenter  pracavcant,  illi 
interim  lascivi  modi  a  gravi  veniali  excusari  non  debent,  nisi  forte  propter  impo- 
tentiam,  v.  g.  ob  curvitatem  uxoris,  nequeat  servari  naturalis  situs  et  modus,  qui 
est  ut  mulier  succumbat  viro."   (Vol.  iv.,  No.  295.) 

Modus  sive  situs  invertitur,  ut  servetur  debitum  vas  ad  copulam  a  natura  ordi- 


chap.x.]       POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.        335 


The  confessional,  a  school  of  licentiousness,  seduction,  and  adultery. 

beastly  inquiries  are  often  young,  beautiful,  and  interesting  fe- 
males ;  and  that  the  questioners  are  men,  often  young  and  vigorous, 
burning  with  the  fires  of  passion,  in  some  instances  almost  wrought 
up  to  phrenzy  by  a  vow  of  celibacy  which  they  would  be  glad  to 
shake  off,  and  then  he  will  cease  to  wonder  that  the  confessional 
has  so  often  been  turned  into  a  school  of  licentiousness,  seduction 
and  adultery. 

§  93. — A  single  fact  will  be  sufficient  to  show  the  awful  extent  in 
popish  countries  of  this  crime  of  illicit  intercourse  with  females  at 

natum,  v.  g.  si  fiat  accedendo  a  praspostere,  a  latere,  stando,  sedendo,  vel  si  vir  sit 
succumbus.  Modus  is  mortalis  est,  si  inde  suboriatur  periculum  pollutionis  respectu 
alterius,  sive  quando  periculum  est,  ne  semen  perdatur,  prout  sa?pe  accidit,  dum 
actus  exercetur  stando,  sedendo,  aut  viro  succumbente :  si  absit  et  sufficienter 
pracaveatur  istud  periculum,  ex  communi  sententia  id  non  est  mortale  :  est  autem 
veniale  ex  gravioribus,  cum  sit  inversio  ordinis  naturae  ;  estque  generatim  modus 
ille  sine  causa  taliter  coeundi  graviter  a  Confessariis  reprehendendus :  si  tamen 
ob  justam  rationem  situm  naturalem  conjuges  immutent,  secludaturque  dictum  peri- 
culum, nullum  est  peccatum. 

Quoad  tactus  libidinosos,  quos  conjugati  exercent  erga  corpus  alterutrius,  ii 
sunt  mortaliter  mali,  si  fiant  cum  pollutione  alterius,  vel  ejus  periculo. 

Si  absit  periculum  pollutionis,  et  ordinentur  ad  copulam,  tunc  vel  ad  earn  ne- 
cessarii  sunt,  et  sic  non  sunt  peccaminosi,  vel  non  sunt  ad  earn  necessarii  et  erunt 
venialiter  mali,  quia  solius  causa  voluptatis  haberi  supponuntur. 

Si  tactus  1111,  secluso  pollutionis  periculo,  non  referantur  ad  copulam,  non  ita 
conveniunt  Auctores  ;  docent  plerique,  quod  si  sint  adeo  infames,  ut  nequidem  ex 
copulae  intuitu  excusentur  a  gravi  peccato,  eos  esse  mortaliter  malos,  si  vero  sint. 
tactus  ordinarii,  nee  diu  in  eis  sistatur,  docent  plurimi  contra  eosdem  esse  tantum 
venialiter  malos  ;  quia  voluptas  ilia  non  quaeritur  extra  limites  Matrimonii. 

Quest.  An  uxor  possit  se  tactibus  excitare  ad  seminationem,  si  a  copula  conjugali 
retraxerit,  maritus,  postquam  ipse  seminaverit,  sed  antequam  seminaverit  uxor  ? 

Resp.  Plurimi  negant ;  eo  quod,  cum  vir  se  retraxerit,  actus  sit  completus, 
adeoque  ilia  seminatio  mulieris  foret  peccatum  pollutionis :  alii  vero  affirmant : 
quia  ista  excitatio  spectat  ad  actus  conjugalis  complementum  et  perfecnonem  : 
excipiunt  tamen  casum,  ubi  periculum  est  ne  semen  ad  extra  profundatur. 

De  Bestialitate. — Ad  hoc  crimen  reducitur  congressus  carnalis  cum  daemone 
in  corpore  assumpto  :  quod  scelus  aggravatur  per  circumstantiam  contra  religio- 
nem,  quatenus  includit  societatem  cum  daemone ;  ideoque  gravis  est  et  gravissi- 
raura  peccatum  contra  naturam  :  consideranda  est  etiam  forma  corporis  vel  homi- 
nis,  vel  bestiae,  in  qua  apparet  daomon ;  item  repraesentatio  personae  virginis,  mo- 
nialis,  &c.  Verum  plerumque  praesumendum  est,  talia  solum  fieri  per  fortem 
imaginationem,  qua  decipiuntur  homines. 

The  following  instruction  is  given  (vol.  iv.,  No.  287)  to  the  priest  when  examin- 
ing a  young  girl  (puella)  : — "  Confessarius  prudens  omnem  evadet  invidiam  hac 
methodo:dum  puella  confitetur  se  esse  fornicatam,  confessarius  petat,  an  prima 
vice,  qua  simile  peccatum  commisit,  exposuerit  circumstantiam  amissae  virginitatis. 
Si  respondeat  categorice,  ita,  vel  non,  cessat  difficultas  ;  et  quidem  si  jam  sint 
primae  vices  statim  reponet,  jam  fuisse  primas  vices,  adeoque  solum  ei  dici  debet, 
ut  conteratur  de  ilia  circumstantia,  et  earn  confiteatur :  si  taceat,  instruatur,  illam 
circumstantiam  tutius  semel  exprimendam,  adeoque  si  id  nunquam  fecerit,  jam 
desuper  doleat  et  se  accuset."  See  the  first  and  last  of  these  citations  in  a  Sy- 
nopsis of  this  popish  Theology,  edited  by  Rev.  Dr.  Berg,  of  Philadelphia.  The 
remainder,  with  enough  similar  ones  to  fill  a  volume,  may  be  found  in  the  fourth 
and  sixth  volumes  of  Dens'  Latin  work.  I  regard  the  work  of  Dr.  Berg,  which  is 
a  translation  of  enough  of  Dens'  Theology  to  show  the  true  character  of  Popery, 
as  a  work  of  immense  value.  The  filthy  extracts  of  this  popish  divine,  on  the 
subject  of  this  note,  the  Doctor  has  wisely  left  in  the  original  Latin. 


336 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Priestly  solicitation  in  Spain.  Inquiry  hushed  up  on  account  of  the  immense  number  of  criminals. 


confession.  About  1500,  a  bull  was  issued  by  pope  Pius  IV.,  direct- 
ing the  Inquisition  to  inquire  into  the  prevalence  of  this  crime, 
which  beg  us  as  follows: — "  Whereas  certain  ecclesiastics,  :n  the 
kingdoms  of  Spain,  and  in  the  cities  and  diocesses  thereof,  having 
the  cure  of  souls,  or  exercising  such  cure  for  others,  or  otherwise 
deputed  to  bear  the  confessions  of  penitents,  have  broken  out  into 
such  heinous  acts  of  iniquity,  as  to  abuse  the  sacrament  of  penance 
in  the  very  act  of  hearing  the  confessions,  nor  fearing  to  injure  the 
same  sacrament,  and  him  who  instituted  it,  our  Lord  God  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  by  enticing  and  provoking,  or  trying  to  entice 
and  provoke,  females  to  lewd  actions,  at  the  very  time  when  they  were 
making  their  confessions,"  $c,  fyc. 

Upon  the  publication  of  this  bull  in  Spain,  the  Inquisition  issued 
an  edict  requiring  all   females  who  had  been  thus  abused  by  the 
priests  at  the  confessional,  and  all  who  were  privy  to  such  acts,  to 
give  information,  within  thirty  days,  to  the  holy  tribunal  ;  and  very 
heavy  censures  were  attached  to  those  who  should  neglect  or  de- 
spise this  injunction.     When  this  edict  was  first  published,  such  a 
considerable   number  of  females  went  to  the  palace  of  the  inquisi- 
tor, in  the  single  city  of  Seville,  to  reveal  the  conduct  of  their  in- 
famous confessors,  that  twenty  notaries,  and  as  many  inquisitors, 
were  appointed  to  minute  down  their  several  informations  against 
them  ;  but  these  being  found  insufficient  to  receive  the  depositions 
of  so  many  witnesses,  and  the  inquisitors  being  thus  overwhelmed, 
as  it  were,  with  the  pressure  of  such  affairs,  thirty  days  more  were 
allowed  for  taking  the   accusations,  and  this   lapse   of   time  also 
proving  inadequate  to  the  intended  purpose,  a  similar  period  was 
granted  not  only  for  a  third  but  a  fourth  time.     Maids  and  matrons 
of  every  rank  and   station  crowded  to  the  Inquisition.     Modesty, 
shame,  'and  a  desire  of  concealing  the  facts  from  their  husbands, 
induced  many  to  go  veiled.     But  the  multitude  of  depositions,  and 
the  odium  which  the  discovery  threw  on  auricular  confession,  and 
the  popish  priesthood,  caused  the  Inquisition  to  quash  the  prosecu- 
tions, and  to   consign  the  depositions  to  oblivion.*     And  thus  for 
fear  of  the  disgrace  that,  would  be  brought  upon  an  apostate  church 
and  its  vicious  and  corrupt  priesthood,  these  abominable  crimes 
were  hushed  up,  and  their  vile  perpetrators  permitted,  with  their 
hands  all  defiled  as  they  were  with  the  filth  of  unhallowed  lust,  to 
minister  at  the  altar,  and  to  enjoy  still,  in  the  words  of  pope  Urban, 
"  the  eminence  granted  to  none  of  the  angels,  of  creating  God.  the 
Creator  of  all  things."     Well  was  it  for  these  priests  that  they  did 
nothing  worse  than  to  pollute  the  confessional  with  their  filthy  lusts  ; 
hid  they  been  guilty  of  the  crime,  so  much  more  horrible,  in  the 
estimation  of  papists,  of  denying  that  the  bit  of  bread  consecrated 
by  hands  like  theirs  was  the  eternal  God,  the  Lord  Christ,  with  "  his 
body,  soul,  and  divinity,"  they  would  not  have  slipped  through  the 
hands  of  these  holy  inquisitors   so  easily.     For  this  latter  crime, 
hundreds  of  heretics  had,  within  a  few  years,  been  burned  alive  by 

*  Gonsalv,  185;  Llorente,  355 ;  Limborch,  111;  Edgar,  529;  Da  Costa,  i.,  117. 


chap,  x.]       POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       337 


Council  of  Lateran  decrees  Transubstantiation.  Feast  of  Corpus  Christi. 

popish  butchers  at  Smithfield,  and  the  fires  kindled  by  the  bloody 
Mary,  were  scarcely  extinguished  in  England,  when  the  events  I 
have'  just  related  occurred  in  Spain.  Such  is  popish  morality,  and 
such  is  popish  justice. 

§  94. — It  was  in  this  council  also,  that  the  absurd  dogma  of  tran- 
substantiation* was  first  enjoined  as  an  article  of  faith  by  pope 
Innocent,  who  himself  stamped  upon  that  doctrine  the  name  by 
which  it  has  ever  since  been  designated.  Since  the  days  of  Inno- 
cent, what  multitudes  of  holy  men  and  women  have  expired  amidst 
the  flames  of  martyrdom,  because  they  refused  assent  to  this  out- 
rage upon  common  sense,  first  established  as  an  article  of  faith  in 
the  year  1215.  The  reader,  familiar  with  the  days  of  bloody 
queen  Mary  of  England,  need  not  be  told  that  a  belief  in  this  dogma 
was  then  generally  made  the  test  question  by  popish  persecutors, 
upon  the  denial  of  which  the  martyrs  of  that  age  were  consigned 
to  the  flames. 

In  the  words  of  the  learned  Archbishop  Tillotson,  this  doctrine 
of  Transubstantiation  "  has  been,  in  the  church  of  Rome,  the  great 
burning  article  ;  and  as  absurd  and  unreasonable  as  it  is,  more 
Christians  have  been  murdered  for  the  denial  of  it,  than  perhaps  for 
all  the  other  articles  of  their  religion."  What  protestant  will  not 
join  in  the  pious  exclamation  of  this  excellent  prelate  and  powerful 
opponent  of  Popery.  "  O  blessed  Saviour  !  thou  best  friend  and 
greatest  lover  of  mankind,  who  can  imagine  that  thou  didst  ever 
intend  that  men  should  kill  one  another,  for  not  being  able  to 
believe  contrary  to  their  senses  ?  for  being  unwilling  to  think  that 
thou  shouldst  make  one  of  the  most  horrid  and  barbarous  things 
that  can  be  imagined,  a  main  duty  and  principal  mystery  of  thy 
religion  ?  for  not  flattering  the  pride  and  presumption  of  the  priest 
who  says  he  can  make  God,  and  for  not  complying  with  the  folly  and 
stupidity  of  the  people  who  are  made  to  believe  that  they  can  eat 
him  ?"f 

§  95. — The  worship  of  the  Host  or  wafer  was  a  natural  result  of 
the  monstrous  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation  as  established  at  this 
council  of  Lateran.  Accordingly,  we  find  that  this  idolatry  was 
soon  grafted  upon  that  popish  innovation.  From  the  Roman  canon 
law  we  learn  that  pope  Honorius,  who  succeeded  Innocent  III., 
shortly  after  the  council,  ordered  that  the  priests,  at  a  certain  part 
of  the  mass  service,  should  elevate  the  consecrated  wafer,  and  at 
the  same  instant  the  people  should  prostrate  themselves  before  it  in 
worship.      (See  Frontispiece.) 

About  fifty  years  after  the  council — that  is,  in  the  year  1264 — 
that  celebrated  festival,  still  observed  with  so  much  pomp  and 
parade  in  popish  countries,  called  the  Feast  of  Corpus  Christi,  or 
Body  of  Christ,  was  established  by  pope  Urban  IV.  In  this  feast, 
the  wafer  idol  is  carried  through  the   streets  in  procession,  amidst 

*  For  the  historical  account  of  the  origin  of  this  doctrine,  see  above,  Book 
iv.,  Chap.  2,  pp.  192—206. 

f  Tillotson  on  Transubstantiation,  p.  277. 


338  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Procession  of  Corpus  Christi  in  Roman  Catholic  countries. 


scenes    of   merriment,   rejoicing    and    illumination,   and   upon   its 
approach  all  fall  down  on  their  knees  and  worship  it  till  it  has 
passed  by.     The  cause  of  the  establishment  of  this  festival  of  the 
holy  sacrament,  as  it  was   also   called,  was  as   follows.     A  certain 
fanatical  woman  named  Juliana  declared  that  as  often  as   she  ad- 
dressed herself  to  God,  or  to  the  saints  in  prayer,  she  saw  the  full 
moon  with  a  small  defect  or  breach  in   it ;  and  that,  having  long 
studied  to  find  out  the  signification  of  this  strange  appearance,  she 
was  inwardly  informed   by  the  spirit,  that  the  moon  signified  the 
church,  and  that  the  defect  or  breach  was  the  want  of  an  annual 
festival  in  honor  of  the  holy  sacrament.     Few  gave   attention  or 
credit  to  this  pretended  vision,  whose  circumstances  were  extremely 
equivocal  and  absurd,  and  which  would  have  come  to  nothing,  had 
it  not  been  supported  by  Robert,  bishop  of  Liege,  who,  in  the  year 
1246,  published  an  order  for  the  celebration  of  this  festival  through- 
out the  whole   province,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  he  knew 
would  be  made  to  a  proposal  founded  only  on  an  idle  dream.     After 
the  death  of  Juliana,  one  of  her  friends  and  companions,  whose 
name  was  Eve,  took  up  her  name  with  uncommon  zeal,  and  had 
credit  enough  with  Urban  IV.  to  engage  him  to  publish,  in  the  year 
1264,  a  solemn  edict,  by  which  the  festival  in  question  was  imposed 
upon  all  the  Christian  churches,  without  exception.    Diestemus,  a 
prior  of  the  Benedictine  monks,  relates  a  miracle,  as   one  cause  of 
the  establishment  of  this  senseless,  idolatrous  festival.     He  tells  us 
that  a  certain  priest  having  some   doubts  of  the  real  presence  of 
Christ  in  the  sacrament,  blood  flowed  from  the  consecrated  wafer 
into  the  cup  or  chalice,  and  also   upon  the  corporate  or  linen  cloth 
upon  which  the  host  and  the  chalice  are  placed.     The  corporale, 
having  been  brought,  all  bloody  as  it  was,  to  Urban,  the  prior  tells 
us  that  the  Pope  was  convinced  of  the  miracle,  and  thereupon  ap- 
pointed the  solemnity  of  Corpus  Christi  to  be  annually  celebrated.* 
§  96. — In  all  Roman  Catholic  countries,  special  honors  are  paid  to 
the  wafer  idol,  a*s  it  is  borne  through  the  streets  either  on  the  festival 
of  Corpus  Christi,  or  on  any  other  occasion.     In  Spain,  when  a 
priest  carries  the  consecrated  wafer  to  a  dying  man,  a  person  with 
a  small   bell  accompanies  him.     At  the   sound  of  the  bell,  all  who 
hear  it  are  obliged  to  fall  on  their  knees,  and  to  remain  in  that  pos- 
ture till  they  hear  it  no  longer. 

"  Its  sound  operates  like  magic  on  the  Spaniards.  In  the  midst  of 
a  gay,  noisy  party,  the  word,  '  Sa  MajestaoV  (his  Majesty,  the  term 
they  apply  to  the  host)  will  bring  every  one  upon  his  knees  until  the 
tinkling  dies  in  the  distance.  Are  you  at  dinner  ?  you  must  leave 
the  table  ;  in  bed  ?  you  must,  at  least,  sit  up.  But  the  most  prepos- 
terous effect  of  this  custom  is  to  be  seen  at  the  theatres.  On  the 
approach  of  the  host  to  any  military  guard,  the  drum  beats,  the 
men  are  drawn  out,  and,  as  soon  as  the  priest  can  be  seen,  they 
bend  the  right  knee  and  invert  the  firelocks,  placing  the  point  of  the 

*  Diestemus,  Commen.  ad  annum  1496 — quoted  by  Bower  vi.,  296. 


Procession  of  Corpus  Christi,  at  Rome— Colosseum  in  Liic  foregrouut 


chap,  x.]        POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      341 

Violence  to  a  stranger  in  Rome  for  not  bowing  the  knee  to  the  idol. 

bayonet  on  the  ground.  As  an  officer's  guard  is  always  stationed 
at  the  door  of  a  Spanish  theatre,  I  have  often  laughed  in  my  sleeve 
at  the  effect  of  the  chamade  both  upon  the  actors  and  the  company. 
Dios,  Dios,  (A  God,  A  God,)  resounds  from  all  parts  of  the  house, 
and  every  one  falls  that  moment  upon  his  knees.  The  actors'  rant- 
ing, or  the  rattling  of  the  castanets  in  the  fandango,  is  hushed  for  a 
few  minutes,  till  the  sound  of  the  bell  growing  fainter  and  fainter, 
the  amusement  is  resumed,  and  the  devout  performers  are  once 
more  upon  their  legs,  anxious  to  make  amends  for  the  inter- 
ruption."* 

At  such  a  time  as  this,  wo  be  to  the  man,  in  any  Popish  country, 
who  refuses  to  bend  the  knee,  or  at  least  to  take  off  his  hat  in  honor 
of  the  idol.  Says  Professor  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  in  a  work  published 
some  few  years  ago,  and  who  witnessed  the  celebration  of  the  fes- 
tival of  Corpus  Christi  at  Rome,  "  I  was  a  stranger  in  Rome,  and 
recovering  from  the  debility  of  a  slight  fever  ;  I  was  walking  for 
air  and  gentle  exercise  in  the  Corso,  on  the  day  of  the  celebration 
of  the  Corpus  Domini.  From  the  houses  on  each  side  of  the  street 
were  hung  rich  tapestries  and  gold  embroidered  damasks,  and 
toward  me  slowly  advanced  a  long  procession,  decked  out  with  all 
the  heathenish  paraphernalia  of  this  self-styled  church.  In  a  part 
of  the  procession  a  lofty  baldichino,  or  canopy,  borne  by  men,  was 
held  above  the  idol,  the  host,  before  which,  as  it  passed,  all  heads 
were  uncovered,  and  every  knee  bent  but  mine.  Ignorant  of  the, 
customs  of  heathenism,  I  turned  my  back  to  the  procession,  and 
close  to  the  side  of  the  houses  in  the  crowd  (as  I  supposed  unob- 
served), I  was  noting  in  my  tablets  the  order  of  the  assemblage.  I 
was  suddenly  aroused  from  my  occupation,  and  staggered  by  a 
blow  upon  the  head  from  the  gun  and  bayonet  of  a  soldier,  which 
struck  off  my  hat  far  into  the  crowd.  Upon  recovering  from  the 
shock,  the  soldier,  with  the  expression  of  a  demon,  and  his  mouth 
pouring  forth  a  torrent  of  Italian  oaths,  in  which  il  diavolo  had  a 
prominent  place,  stood  with  his  bayonet  against  my  breast.  I  could 
make  no  resistance  ;  I  could  only  ask  him  why  he  struck  me,  and 
receive  in  answer  his  fresh  volley  of  unintelligible  imprecations, 
which  having  delivered,  he  resumed  his  place  in  the  guard  of  honor, 
by  the  side  of  the  officiating  Cardinal."!  Such  is  the  manner  in 
which  those  who  refuse  to  bow  the  knee  to  idols  are  treated  in 
popish  countries,  and  such  is  the  way,  should  Popery  become  gen- 
erally prevalent  and  powerful  in  the  United  States,  that  such  would 
be  treated  here.  J     (See  Engraving.) 

*  Doblada's  Letters  from  Spain,  p.  13. 

f  Foreign  Conspiracy  against  the  Liberties  of  the  United  States — by  Saml.  F. 
B.  Morse,  Prof,  in  the  University  of  New  York  ;  p.  172. 

|  In  Cincinnati,  papists  have  already  become  sufficiently  daring  to  insult  Amer- 
ican citizens,  and  knock  off  their  hats  unless  they  render  proper  homage  to  the 
popish  processions,  which  are  already  beginning  to  make  the  "  Queen  City  of  the 
West"  resemble  some  of  the  popish  cities  of  Europe.  I  have  before  me  a  letter  of 
the  Honorable  Alexander  Duncan,  at  that  time  a  Senator  of  the  State  of  Ohio, 
dated  January  10th,  1835,  giving  an  account  of  such  an  insult  offered  to  him  in 


342 


CHAPTER  XL 

CONTESTS     BETWEEN     THE     POPES    AND    THE     EMPEROR    FREDERICK    II. 

GUELPHS    AND    GHIBELINES. 

§  97. — Pope  Innocent  III.  lived  but  a  few  months  after  the  coun- 
cil of  Lateran.  He  died  on  the  16th  of  July,  121G,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Honorius  III.  During  his  pontificate,  the  Isle  of  Man, 
a  small  island  lying  between  England  and  Ireland,  now  a  possession 
of  Great  Britain,  but  then  an  independent  kingdom,  was  ceded  by 
its  king,  Reginald,  to  pope  Honorius,  as  a  fief  of  the  Roman  church, 
and  the  instrument  of  donation  was  delivered  into  the  hand  of  Pan- 
dulph,  the  same  Legate  of  the  Pope  as  received  the  submission  of 
king  John.  The  Legate  immediately  restored  the  island  to  Regi- 
nald, as  a  gift  of  the  apostolic  See,  upon  his  binding  himself  and 
heirs  to  pay  a  yearly  tribute  to  the  Pope,  as  an  acknowledgment  of 
his  vassalage.  Probably  this  was  done  in  accordance  with  the  claim 
of  the  popes,  that  all  islands  belonged  to  St.  Peter,  though  one  mo- 
tive of  this  petty  sovereign,  in  thus  making  himself  a  vassal  of  the 
Pope,  might  be  the  powerful  protector  which  he  should  thereby 
secure  against  the  innovations  of  the  king  of  England,  or  other 
neighboring  sovereigns. 

§  98. — In  the  year  1220J*  the  emperor  Frederick  II.,  after  making 
several  concessions  to  the  demands  of  the  pope  Honorius,  was 
solemnly  crowned  by  him  in  Rome,  upon  which  occasion,  to  gratify 
his  Holiness,  he  published  the  sanguinary  laws  against  heretics  that 
have  been  quoted  in  a  previous  chapter.  While  at  Rome,  the  Em- 
peror also,  at  the  request  of  the  Pope,  made  a  solemn  vow  to  go  in 
person  on  another  crusade  to  the  Holy  land,  and  received  the  cross 
at  the  hands  of  Cardinal  Hugotin,  though  for  his  tardiness  for  fulfil- 
ling this  vow,  he  excited  the  aneer  of  Honorius,  and  still  more  of 
pope  Gregory  IX.,  who  succeeded  Honorius  in  the  year  1227. 
Indeed  almost  immediately  after  his  consecration,  Gregory  wrote  a 
menacing  letter  to  the  Emperor,  threatening  him  with  the  thunders 
of  the  church,  if  he  did  not  immediately  set  out  on  his  expedition  to 
the  Holy  land. 

the  public  streets  of  that  city,  because  he  did  not  take  off  his  hat  in  reverence  of 
a  popish  foreign  bishop,  in  a  procession  to  consecrate  a  Romish  chapel.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  procession  opposite  to  where  he  stood,  he  was  requested  to  uncover 
his  head  immediately.  The  Senator  replied  that  he  was  in  a  public  street,  and 
however  much  he  might  respect  the  forms  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  it  ill 
comported  witli  his  dignity  as  an  American  citizen  to  offer  such  homage  to  any 
man.  On  saying  this,  he  was  instantly  surrounded  by  several  papists,  his  hat 
forcibly  torn  from  his  head,  his  clothes  torn,  and  his  person  abused  and  beaten. 
Several  other  Americans  on  the  same  occasion,  who  had  the  hardihood  to  stand 
with  their  hats  in  the  presence  of  this  popish  bishop  and  his  idolatrous  procession, 
were  treated  with  the  same  insult  and  barbarity  as  Dr.  Duncan. — {See  the  Letter 
of  Senator  Duncan  in  the  Cincinnati  Journal,  January  23d,  1835.) 


chap,  xi.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       343 


Frederick's  success  in  Palestine.  Pope  Gregory  IX.  makes  war  on  the  empire  in  his  absence. 

Notwithstanding  these  threats,  however,  the  Emperor  put  off  his 
voyage  from  time  to  time,  under  various  pretexts,  and  did  not  set 
out  until  the  year  1228,  when,  after  having  been  excommunicated 
on  account  of  his  delay,  by  the  incensed  pontiff,  Gregory  IX.,  he 
followed  with  a  small  train  of  attendants,  the  troops  who  expected 
with  most  anxious  impatience,  his  arrival  in  Palestine.  No  sooner 
did  he  land  in  that  disputed  kingdom,  than  instead  of  carrying  on  the 
war  with  vigor,  he  turned  all  his  thoughts  toward  peace,  and  with- 
out consulting  the  other  princes  and  chiefs  of  the  crusade,  concluded 
in  the  year  1229,  a  treaty  of  peace,  or  rather  a  truce  of  ten  years, 
with  Melic  Camel,  sultan  of  Egypt.  The  principal  thing  stipulated 
in  this  treaty  was,  that  Frederick  should  be  put  in  possession  of  the 
city  and  kingdom  of  Jerusalem ;  this  condition  was  immediately 
executed  ;  and  the  Emperor,  entering  into  the  city  with  great  pomp, 
and  accompanied  by  a  numerous  train,  placed  the  crown  upon  his 
head  with  his  own  hands,  and  having  thus  settled  matters  in  Pales- 
tine, he  returned  without  delay  into  Italy,  to  appease  the  discords 
and  commotions  which  the  vindictive  and  ambitious  pontiff  had  ex- 
cited there  in  his  absence.  So  that  in  reality,  notwithstanding  all 
the  reproaches  that  were  cast  upon  the  Emperor  by  the  Pope  and 
his  creatures,  this  expedition  was  by  far  the  most  successful  of  any 
that  had  been  yet  undertaken  against  the  infidels  in  the  Holy  land. 

§  99. — The  pretended  vicar  of  Christ,  forgetting,  or  rather  unwil- 
ling to  persuade  himself,  that  his  master's  kingdom  was  not  of  this 
world,  made  wTar  upon  the  Emperor  in  Apulia  during  his  absence, 
and  used  his  utmost  efforts  to  arm  against  him  all  the  European 
powers.  Frederick,  having  received  information  of  these  perfidious 
and  violent  proceedings,  returned  into  Europe  in  the  year  1229, 
defeated  the  papal  army,  retook  the  places  he  had  lost  in  Sicily  and 
in  Italy,  and  in  the  year  following  made  his  peace  with  the  pontiff, 
from  whom  he  received  a  public  and  solemn  absolution.  This 
peace,  however,  was  of  but  short  duration,  nor  was  it  possible  for 
the  Emperor  to  bear  the  insolent  proceedings,  and  the  imperious 
temper  of  Gregory.  He,  therefore,  broke  all  measures  with  that 
headstrong  pontiff,  distressed  the  states  of  Lombardy  that  were  in 
alliance  with  the  See  of  Rome,  seized  upon  the  island  of  Sardinia, 
which  Gregory  looked  upon  as  part  of  his  spiritual  patrimony,  and 
erected  it  into  a  kingdom  for  his  son  Entius.  These,  with  other 
steps  that  wrere  equally  provoking  to  the  avarice  and  ambition  of 
Gregory,  drew  the  thunder  of  the  Vatican  anew  upon  the  Emperor's 
head,  in  the  year  1239.  Frederick  was  excommunicated  publicly, 
with  all  the  circumstances  of  severity  that  vindictive  rage  could 
invent,  and  was  charged  with  the  most  flagitious  crimes,  and  the 
most  impious  blasphemies,  by  the  exasperated  pontiff,  who  sent  a 
copy  of  this  terrible  accusation  to  all  the  courts  of  Europe.  The 
Emperor,  on  the  other  hand,  defended  his  injured  reputation  by 
solemn  declarations  in  writing,  while,  by  his  victorious  arms,  he 
avenged  himself  of  his  adversaries,  maintained  his  ground,  and  re- 
duced the  pontiff  to  the  greatest  straits.  To  get  rid  of  these  diffi- 
21 


344  HISTORY  OF  ROMAMSM.  [book  v. 

Death  of  pope  Gregory  IX.  Innocent  IV.  excommunicates  and  deposes  the  Emperor  at  the  council  of  Lyons. 

cultics,  the  latter  convened,  in  the  year  1240,  a  general  council  at 
Rome,  with  a  view  to  depose  Frederick,  by  the  unanim  ms  suffrages 
of  the  cardinals  and  prelates,  that  were  to  compose  that  assembly. 
But  the  Emperor  disconcerted  that  audacious  project,  by  defeating, 
in  the  year  1241,  a  Genoese  fleet,  on  board  of  which  the  greatest 
part  of  these  prelates  were  embarked,  and  by  seizing,  with  all  their 
treasures,  these  reverend  fathers,  who  were  all  committed  to  close 
confinement.  Thus  were  the  designs  of  Gregory  frustrated,  and 
shortly  afterward  this  restless  and  imperious  pontiff  died,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Celestine  IV.,  who,  however,  only  occupied  the  papal 
throne  eighteen  days,  before  he  was  removed  by  death,  and  made 
way  for  Innocent  IV.,  who  was  chosen  to  the  vacant  Sec  in  1243. 

§  100. — Upon  the  accession  of  Innocent,  who  had  always  professed 
great  friendship  for  Frederick,  the  friends  of  the  Emperor  congratu- 
lated him  upon  the  election  of  one  who  would  be  likely  to  prove  so 
favorable  to  his  interests  ;  but  having  more  penetration  than  those 
about  him,  he  sagely  replied, "  I  see  little  reason  to  rejoice.  The 
Cardinal  was  my  friend,  but  the  Pope  wrill  be  my  enemy."  Innocent 
soon  proved  the  justice  of  this  conjecture.  He  ambitiously  attempt- 
ed to  negotiate  a  peace  for  Italy,  but  not  being  able  to  obtain  from 
Frederick  his  exorbitant  demands,  and  in  fear  for  the  safety  of  his 
own  person,  he  fled  into  France,  assembled  a  general  council,  and 
deposed  the  Emperor.  "  I  declare,"  said  he,  "  Frederick  II.  attainted 
and  convicted  of  sacrilege  and  heresy,  excommunicated  and  dethron- 
ed ;  and  I  order  the  electors  to  choose  another  emperor,  reserving 
to  myself  the  disposal  of  the  kingdom  of  Sicily."  Frederick  was  at 
Turin  when  he  received  the  news  of  his  deposition,  and  behaved  in 
a  manner  that  seemed  to  border  upon  weakness.  He  called  for  the 
casket  in  which  the  imperial  ornaments  were  kept ;  and  opening  it, 
and  taking  the  crown  in  his  hand,  "  Innocent,"  cried  he,  "  has  not  yet 
deprived  me  of  thee  :  thou  art  still  mine  !  and  before  I  part  with 
thee,  much  blood  shall  be  spilt."* 

§  101. — The  council  at  which  the  Emperor  was  deposed,  was  held 
at  Lyons  in  France,  in  1245,  and  is  reckoned  the  thirteenth  general 
council.  The  sentence  of  pope  Innocent,  says  Bower,  "  deprived 
him  of  the  empire,  of  all  his  other  kingdoms,  dignities,  and  dominions, 
and  absolved  his  subjects  from  their  allegiance,  forbidding  them,  on 
pain  of  excommunication,  to  lend  him  any  assistance  whatever"^  It 
is  related  also,  that  in  this  council  the  cardinals  were  distinguished 
by  pope  Innocent  with  the  red  hat,  a  distinction  which  has  ever 
since  been  regarded  as  the  peculiar  badge  of  that  ecclesiastical  dig- 
nity, second  in  rank  only  to  that  of  the  sovereign  pontiff. 

Frederick  not  only  refused  to  submit  to  the  Pope's  decree  of  de- 
position, but  also  punished  as  rebels  those  who  should  regard  the 
interdict  laid  upon  his  kingdom,  and  should,  in  consequence  thereof 
refuse  to  perform  funeral  or  other  services  of  religion.     In  this  con- 

*  M.  Paris,  Hist.  Major. — Russell  i.,  page  195. 
t  See  Lives  of  the  Popes,  in  vita  Innocent  IV. 


chap,  xi.]       POPERY  THE  WORLDS  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      345 

Guelphs  and  Ghibelines.      Death  of  the  Emperor.     Quarrel  of  the  Pope  with  Frederick's  son  Manfred 

test,  the  party  of  the  Emperor  was  called  the  Ghibelines,  and  those 
who  sided  with  the  Pope,  the  Guelphs.  Frederick  did  not  live  to 
carry  on  this  contest  long ;  he  died  in  the  year  1250,  as  is  generally 
thought,  of  a  fever,  though  some  supposed  him  to  have  suffered  from 
the  effects  of  a  dose  of  poison  secretly  administered. 

Innocent  IV.  was  in  France,  when  he  heard  of  his  death,  and 
returning  thence  in  the  beginning  of  the  spring  of  1251,  he  wrote  to 
all  the  towns  to  celebrate  the  deliverance  of  the  church  ;  gave  bound- 
less expression  to  his  joy,  and  made  his  entry  into  Milan,  and'  the 
principal  cities  of  Lombardy,  with  all  the  pomp  of  a  triumph.  He 
supposed  that  the  republicans  of  Italy  had  fought  only  for  him, 
and  that  he  alone  would  henceforth  be  obeyed  by  them ;  of  this  he 
soon  made  them  too  sensible.  He  treated  the  Milanese  with  arro- 
gance, and  threatened  to  excommunicate  them  for  not  having  re- 
spected some  ecclesiastical  immunity.  It  was  the  moment  in  which 
the  republic,  like  a  warrior  reposing  himself  after  battle,  began  to 
feel  its  wounds.  It  had  made  immense  sacrifices  for  the  Guelph 
party  ;  it  had  emptied  the  treasury,  obtained  patriotic  gifts  from 
every  citizen  who  had  anything  to  spare  :  pledged  its  revenues,  and 
loaded  itself  with  debt  to  the  extent  of  its  credit.  The  ingratitude 
of  the  Pope,  at  a  moment  of  universal  suffering,  deeply  offended  the 
Milanese  ;  and  the  influence  of  the  Ghibelines  in  a  city,  where,  till  then, 
they  had  been  treated  as  enemies,  might  be  dated  from  that  period.* 
Innocent  soon  found  that  though  his  most  formidable  antagonist  was 
dead,  there  were  many  surviving  of  the  party  which  had  acknow- 
ledged him  as  its  chief,  and  after  some  further  contests  with  the 
Ghibelines,  who  continued  to  offer  a  steady  resistance  to  the  over- 
bearing tyranny  of  the  Pope,  he  died  about  four  years  after  Fred- 
erick, in  the  year  1254. 

§  102. — The  immediate  successors  of  Innocent  IV.  were  Alexander, 
Urban  and  Clement,  each  fourth  of  the  name.  Alexander  suc- 
ceeded in  1254,  Urban  in  1261,  and  Clement  in  1265.  The  pontifi- 
cates of  the  two  latter  were  distinguished  chiefly  by  the  fierce  con- 
tests between  the  Guelphs,  the  party  of  the  Pope,  and  the  Ghibe- 
lines, the  adherents  of  the  family  of  the  deceased  emperor  Frederick, 
especially  in  the  kingdom  of  the  two  Sicilies.  At  the  accession  of 
Urban  IV.  in  1261,  Manfred  the  son  of  the  emperor  Frederick,  and 
(since  his  father's  death),  the  chief  of  the  Ghibeline  party,  was 
firmly  established  upon  the  throne  of  the  Two  Sicilies.  The  Pope 
saw  with  great  uneasiness  his  growing  power,  and  the  consequent 
increasing  influence  of  his  faction.  Feared  even  in  Rome  and  the 
neighboring  provinces,  master  in  Tuscany,  and  making  daily  pro- 
gress in  Lombardy,  Manfred  seemed  on  the  point  of  making  the 
whole  peninsula  a  single  monarchy ;  and  it  was  no  longer  with  the 
arms  of  his  German  or  Italian  friends  that  the  Pope  could  hope  to 
subdue  him. 

The  thunders  of  excommunication,  and  even  the  severe  sentence 

*  Sismondi's  Italian  Republics,  chapter  iv. 


346  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

The  Pope  invites  Charles  of  Anjou  to  make  war  upon  Manfred.  The  Pope's  care  for  number  one. 

of  deposition,  had  already  been  tried  against  the  refractory  .Man- 
fred, but  since  the  successful  resistance  of  his  father  Frederic, 
the  terror  produced  by  these  spiritual  weapons  had  evidently  begun 
to  diminish.  It  was  deemed  necessary,  therefore,  by  the  Pope  to 
call  in  the  aid  of  more  substantial  weapons  than  those  forged  by 
spiritual  despotism,  and  before  which  the  superstitious  multitude  had 
so  often  trembled.  Accordingly,  Urban  addressed  himself  to  the  brave 
and  powerful  Charles,  Count  of  Anjou,  brother  to  the  king  of  France 
and  sovereign  in  right  of  his  wife  of  the  county  of  Provence ;  and 
offered  to  his  ambition  the  splendid  prize  of  the  crown  of  the  two  Sici- 
lies, upon  condition  of  his  subduing  the  rebellious  Ghibeline,  Manfred. 

§  103. — Charles  had  already  signalized  himself  in  war ;  he  was,  like 
his  brother,  a  bigoted  papist,  and  still  more  fanatical  and  bitter  toward 
the  enemies  of  the  church,  against  whom  he  abandoned  himself 
without  restraint  to  his  harsh  and  pitiless  character.  His  religious 
zeal,  however,  did  not  interfere  with  his  policy ;  his  interest  set 
limits  to  his  subjection  to  the  church  ;  he  knew  how  to  manage 
those  whom  he  wished  to  gain ;  and  he  could  flatter,  at  his  need, 
the  public  passions,  restrain  his  anger,  and  preserve  in  his  language 
a  moderation  which  was  not  in  his  heart.  Avarice  appeared  his 
ruling  passion  ;  but  it  was  only  the  means  of  serving  his  ambition, 
which  was  unbounded.  He  accepted  the  offer  of  the  Pope.  His 
wife  Beatrice,  ambitious  of  the  title  of  Queen,  borne  by  her  three 
sisters,  pawned  all  her  jewels  to  aid  in  levying  an  army  of  30,000 
men,  which  she  led  herself  through  Lombardy.  The  Count  had 
preceded  her.  Having  gone  by  sea  to  Rome,  with  1000  knights, 
he  made  his  entry  into  that  city  on  the  24th  of  May,  1265. 

A  new  pope,  like  his  predecessor  a  Frenchman,  named  Clement 
IV.,  had  succeeded  Urban,  and  was  not  less  favorable  to  Charles  of 
Anjou.  He  caused  him  to  be  elected  senator  of  Rome,  and  at  the 
hands  of  four  of  his  most  distinguished  cardinals,  conferred  on  him 
the  investiture  of  the  kingdom  of  Sicily. 

The  crafty  and  ambitious  Pope,  however,  took  care  to  clog  this 
gift  with  conditions,  which  in  effect  rendered  the  count  of  Anjou,  in 
the  event  of  his  success,  a  tributary  and  a  vassal  of  the  Holy  See. 
Among  other  articles,  there  was  one  in  which  Charles  engaged  to 
take  an  oath  of  fealty  to  the  Pope,  and  to  do  homage  to  Clement 
and  his  successors  on  the  papal  throne ;  by  another  article,  the 
clergy  of  the  kingdom  were  to  be  exempted  from  all  accountability 
to  the  secular  tribunals,  in  criminal  as  well  as  in  civil  cases  ;  by 
another,  the  King  was  to  pay  the  Pope  an  annual  sum  of  eight  thou- 
sand ounces  of  gold,  and  to  present  his  Holiness  with  a  fair  and 
good  white  horse,  '  unum  palafraenum  pulchrum  et  bonum;'  and  by 
another  article  the  King  engaged  to  keep  one  thousand  horsemen 
constantly  ready  for  war,  with  arms  and  equipments,  to  be  em- 
ployed by  the  Pope  in  the  Holy  War,  or  in  the  defence  of  the  church. 
Upon  Charles  assenting  to  these  articles  of  agreement — in  which 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  Pope  took  good  care  of  his  own  interests — 
he  was  proclaimed  at  Rome  king  of  Sicily  on  the  29th  of  May,  1265, 


chap,  xi.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       347 

Manfred  killed  in  battle,  refused  burial,  and  cast  into  a  ditch.  Murder  of  the  youthful  Conradin. 

and  solemnly  crowned,  with  his  wife  Beatrice,  on  the  16th  of 
January  following. 

§  104. — The  victory  which  Charles  soon  obtained  over  Manfred, 
and  the  death  of  the  latter  on  the  field  of  battle,  restored  the  ascend- 
ency of  the  Guelph  party,  the  adherents  of  the  Pope,  in  Italy.  The 
body  of  Manfred,  by  order  of  the  Pope's  legates,  was  forbidden,  on 
account  of  his  dying  while  under  a  sentence  of  excommunication, 
to  be  buried  in  consecrated  ground,  and  was  therefore  thrown  into 
a  ditch.  Charles  exercised  his  dominion  in  Sicily  with  cruelty  and 
rigor,  and  oppressed  the  Sicilians,  as  their  conqueror,  with  intolera- 
ble burdens.  One  act  of  the  tyranny  of  this  obedient  vassal  of  the 
Pope  deserves  to  be  recorded  as  a  specimen  of  his  vindictiveness 
and  cruelty.  It  was  about  the  end  of  the  year  1267  that  the  young 
Conradin,  grandson  of  Frederic  and  nephew  of  Manfred,  aged  only 
sixteen  years,  in  compliance  with  the  invitation  which  had  been  pri- 
vately sent  him  by  many  of  the  Sicilian  barons,  to  come  and  take 
possession  of  his"  paternal  and  hereditary  kingdom,  arrived  at 
Verona,  with  10,000  cavalry,  to  claim  the  inheritance  of  which  the 
popes  had  despoiled  his  family.  All  the  Ghibelines  and  brave  cap- 
tains, who  had  distinguished  themselves  in  the  service  of  his  grand- 
father and  uncle,  hastened  to  join  him,  and  to  aid  him  with  their 
swords  and  counsel.  Conradin  entered  the  kingdom  of  his  fathers, 
and  met  Charles  of  Anjou  in  the  plain  of  Tagliacozzo,  on  the  23d 
of  August,  1368.  A  desperate  battle  ensued  ;  victory  long  remained 
doubtful.  Conradin,  forced  at  length  to  fly,  was  arrested,  forty-five 
miles  from  Tagliacozzo,  as  he  was  about  to  embark  for  Sicily.  He 
was  brought  to  Charles,  who,  without  pity  for  his  youth,  esteem  for 
his  courage,  or  respect  for  his  just  right,  exacted,  from  the  iniqui- 
tous judges,  before  whom  he  subjected  him  to  the  mockery  of  a 
trial,  a  sentence  of  death  :  and  this  interesting  and  unfortunate 
young  prince  was  beheaded  in  the  market-place  at  Naples,  on  the 
26th  of  October,  1268.  Thus  by  this  series  of  usurpations,  oppres- 
sions and  cruelties,  undertaken  by  order  of  the  popes,  was  the  pre- 
ponderance of  the  papal  party  once  more  established  throughout 
Italy  and  Sicily.* 

§  105. — The  inhabitants  of  Sicily,  though  always  distinguished 
for  their  zealous  adherence  to  the  Romish  faith,  submitted  with 
impatience  to  the  foreign  yoke  imposed  on  them  through  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Pope.  Oppressed  by  the  victorious  French  soldiery 
which  Charles  of  Anjou  had  brought  with  him  into  that  island,  they 
sighed  for  a  return  of  the  mild  rule  of  their  ancient  race  of  sove- 
reigns, and  had  formed  the  design  of  expelling  their  oppressors, 
and  establishing  upon  the  throne  Don  Pedro,  king  of  Arragon,  the 
son-in-law  of  Manfred,  and  husband  of  Constance,  who  was  a 
daughter  of  Manfred,  and  consequently  a  granddaughter  of  Fred- 
erick II.  But,  says  Sismondi,  "  Sicily  was  destined  to  be  delivered 
by  a  sudden  and  popular  explosion,  which  took  place  at  Palermo 

*  See  Sismondi's  Italian  Republics,  chap.  iv. 


348  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

The  Sicilian  vespers.  Council  of  Lyons.  Election  of  Pope  in  conclave  decreed. 


on  the  30th  of  March,  1282.  It  was  excited  by  a  French  soldier, 
who  treated  rudely  the  person  of  a  young  bride,  as  she  was  pro- 
ceeding to  the  church  of  Montreal,  with  her  betrothed  husband,  to 
z'eccive  the  nuptial  benediction.  The  indignation  of  .her  relations 
and  friends  was  communicated  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning  to 
the  whole  population  of  Palermo.  At  that  moment  the  bells  of  the 
churches  were  ringing  for  vespers :  the  people  answered  by  the 
cry,  '  To  arms — death  to  the  French  !'  The  French  were  at- 
tacked furiously  on  all  sides,  and  in  a  few  hours  more  than  4000  of 
that  hated  nation  were  destroyed.  Thus  the  Sicilian  vespers  over- 
threw the  tyranny  of  Charles  of  Anjou  and  the  Guelphs  ;  sepa- 
rated the  kingdom  of  Sicily  from  that  of  Naples  ;  and  transferred 
the  crown  of  the  former  to  Don  Pedro  of  Arragon,  who  was  con- 
sidered the  heir  to  the  house  of  Hohenstaufen." 

§  106. — The  pontificate  of  Gregory  X.,  who  succeeded  Clement 
IV.  in  1271,  is  distinguished  chiefly  by  the  fourteenth  general  coun- 
cil, which  was  held  at  Lyons  in  1274,  in  which  the  two  principal 
subjects  of  deliberation  were  (1),  the  relief  of  the  Christians  in 
Palestine,  and  the  preservation  of  the  conquests  of  former  cru- 
saders, and  (2)  the  reunion  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches,  which 
had  for  a  long  time  been  alienated  from  each  other.  Ambassadors 
were  sent  to  it  from  the  Greek  emperor  at  Constantinople,  and  arti- 
cles of  concord  and  union  between  the  Greek  and  the  Latin 
churches  were  agreed  upon  and  adopted,  and  a  eulogy  was  pro- 
nounced upon  the  emperor  Michael  Palasologus,  and  his  son  An- 
dronicus,  by  the  Pope,  in  the  fourth  session  of  the  council,  as  the 
chief  authors  and  promoters  of  this  union.  During  the  sessions  of 
the  council,  the  Pope  and  cardinals  prevailed  upon  the  archbishops, 
bishops,  and  abbots,  to  grant  the  tenth  part  of  their  income  for  the 
relief  of  the  Christians  in  Palestine  for  the  space  of  six  years.  But 
the  most  memorable  act  of  this  council  was  the  law  relative  to  the 
mode  of  electing  a  new  pope,  by  which  the  cardinals  were  required 
to  be  shut  up  together  in  conclave  during  the  election.  The  doors 
were  to  be  carefully  watched  and  guarded,  so  as  to  prevent  all  im- 
proper ingress  or  egress,  and  everything*  examined  that  was  car- 
ried in,  lest  it  should  be  calculated  to  influence  the  election.  If  the 
election  were  not  over  in  three  days,  they  were  to  be  allowed  but 
one  dish  for  dinner  ;  and  if  protracted  a  fortnight  longer,  they  were, 
after  that,  to  be  confined  altogether  to  bread,  wine,  and  water,  and 
a  majority  of  two  thirds  of  the  cardinals  was  required  to  make  a 
lawful  election.  This  famous  law,  though  with  some  modifications, 
has  been  continued  in  force  to  the  present  time. 

§  107. — Some  time  before  this,  the  Pope  had  sent  a  letter  of  re- 
monstrance and  warning  to  Henry,  bishop  of  Liege,  in  relation  to 
his  vicious  life.  Of  this  letter  the  following  is  an  extract.  "  We 
hear,''  says  the  Pope,  "with  great  concern,  that  you  are  abandoned 
to  incontinence  and  simony,  and  are  the  father  of  many  children, 
some  born  before  and  some  after  your  promotion  to  the  episcopal 
dignity.     You  have  taken  an  abbess  of  the  order  of  St.  Benedict 


chap.  3Q.1       POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      349 


Horrible  profligacy  in  a  popish  bishop.  The  Annals  of  Baronius  and  Raynaldus. 

for  your  concubine,  and  have  boasted,  at  a  public  entertainment,  of 
your  having  had  fourteen  children  in  the  space  of  twp-and-twenty 
months.  (!)  To  some  of  your  children  you  have  given  benefices, 
and  even  trusted  them,  though  under  age,  with  the  cure  of  souls. 
Others  you  have  married  advantageously  at  the  expense  of  your 
bishopric.  In  one  of  your  houses,  called  the  park,  you  keep  a  nun, 
and  when  you  visit  her  you  leave  all  your  attendants  at  the  gate. 
The  abbess  of  a  monastery  in  your  diocese  dying,  you  annulled  the 
canonical  election  of  another,  and  named  in  her  room  the  daughter 
of  a  count  whose  son  has  married  one  of  your  daughters  ;  and  it  is 
said  that  the  new  abbess  has  been  delivered  of  a  child  by  you." 
One  would  have  thought  that  these  charges  were  sufficient  to  ren- 
der the  mitred  criminal  worthy  of  immediate  deposition,  but  the 
Pope  only  exhorted  him  to  lead  a  different  life,  and  warned  him  that 
unless  he  should  reform  his  manners,  he  should  be  obliged  to  pro- 
ceed against  him.  As  he  continued,  however,  to  persevere  in  his 
course  of  open  and  shameless  vice,  he  was  compelled  by  the  Pope, 
during  the  sessions  of  the  council,  to  resign  his  bishopric.  This 
notorious  specimen  of  ecclesiastical  profligacy  was  at  last  killed  by 
some  nobleman,  whose  female  relative  he  had  dishonored,  and  (as 
we  are  informed  by  the  historian)  left  behind,  at  his  death,  no  less 
than  sixty-five  illegitimate  children  !*'  While  it  is  not  denied  that 
in  this  instance,  the  horribly  vicious  man  who  disgraced  the  episco- 
pal office  was,  ultimately,  deposed  for  his  crimes  ;  yet  it  affords  a 
lamentable  and  striking  illustration  of  the  state  of  morals  among 
the  Romish  clergy  of  that  age,  that  a  bishop  could  retain  his  office 
while  engaged  in  such  a  course  of  open  and  notorious  profligacy, 
long  enough  to  warrant  him  in  making  the  shameless  boast  at  a 
public  entertainment,  mentioned  in  the  above  letter  of  the  Pope. 

§  108. — Gregory  X.,  though  of  a  much  milder  character  than 
Hildebrand  or  Innocent  HI.,  yet  did  not  hesitate,  when  occasion 
offered,  of  acting  upon  the  odious  maxim  of  these  two  popes — that 
the  pope  of  Rome  is  lord  of  the  world,  and  possesses  an  authority 
over  all  earthly  princes  and  potentates.  Thus,  for  instance,  in  the 
year  1271,  when  the  empire  was  claimed  by  Alphonsus  of  Castile, 
to  whose  pretensions  the  Pope  was  opposed,f  he  wrote  an  imperi- 
ous letter  to  the  German  princes,  commanding  them  to  elect  an  em- 

*  Concil.,  torn,  xi.,  p.  922  ;  Magnum  Chron.  Belgic.  ;  Bower,  vi.,  295. 

f  See  the  letters  of  the  Pope  to  Alphonsus,  in  the  Annals  of  Raynaldus,  the 
continuator  of  Baronius,  ad  Ann.  1274.  As  the  great  work  of  Baronius  and 
Raynaldus  has  already  been,  and  will  yet  be,  frequently  referred  to,  and  is  a  work 
of  great  weight  and  authority  among  Romanists,  I  would  remark  in  this  place, 
that  cardinal  Baronius  was  born  in  1538,  made  a  Cardinal  by  pope  Clement  VIII. 
in  1596,  who  also  appointed  him  librarian  of  the  Apostolic  See.  Upon  the  death 
of  Clement  in  1605,  he  came  near  being  chosen  pope,  as  he  had  thirty  votes  of 
the  cardinals  in  his  favor.  He  undertook  his  Annals  when  30  years  of  age,  and 
after  collecting  and  digesting  materials,  published  the  first  volume  in  1588,  and 
the  twelfth,  which  concludes  with  the  year  1198,  was  published  in  the  year  of  his 
death  1607.  Baronius  left  materials  for  three  more  volumes,  which  were  used  by 
Raynaldus  in  his  continuation  of  the  work,  from  1198  to  1534. 


350  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Under  pope  Nicholas  III.,  the  papal  states  become  entirely  independent  of  the  empire. 


peror  without  delay,  and  assuring  them  that  unless  they  immediately 
complied  with  his  wishes  he  would  save  them  the  trouble  by  choos- 
ing one  for  them.*  This  threat  was  effectual,  and  Rudolph  of  Haps- 
burg  was  elected. 

§  109. — Pope  Gregory  died  in  1276,  and  after  Innocent  V., 
Adrian  V.  and  John  XXI.,  whose  united  reigns  amounted  to  but  a 
little  over  a  year,  was  succeeded  by  the  famous  cardinal  Tohn 
Cajetan,  who  was  elected  Pope  in  November,  1277,  and  took  the 
name  of  Nicholas  III.  It  was  under  this  Pope,  as  has  already  been 
mentioned,  in  the  chapter  on  the  temporal  power  of  the  popes  (see 
page  178),  that  the  last  tie  of  the  dependence  of  the  popes  upon 
the  empire  for  their  temporal  sovereignty  was  broken.  The  cir- 
cumstances were  these: — The  chancellor  of  the  empire  had  caused 
homage  to  be  done  to  his  imperial  master,  Rudolph,  in  the  cities  of 
Bologna,  Ravenna,  Urbino,  &c,  belonging  to  the  states  of  the 
church.  The  Pope  thinking  the  time  had  come  to  break  off  this 
nominal  dependency  on  the  empire,  remonstrated,  and  Rudolph  at 
once  yielded  to  his  wishes.  The  Pope  then  forwarded  copies  of 
all  the  grants  (both  pretended  and  real)  of  former  emperors,  and 
accompanied  them  with  a  new  form  of  donation  which  he  wished 
Rudolph  to  grant.  The  Emperor,  knowing  that  he  was  chiefly  in- 
debted to,  pope  Gregory,  one  of  the  predecessors  of  Nieholas,  for 
his  own  elevation,  and  that  he  needed  the  powerful  support  of  the 
Pope  against  his  own  enemies,  complied  immediately  with  his  re- 
quest, and  granted  the  document  confirming  all  former  grants,  as- 
signing the  limits  of  the  papal  territory,  and  releasing  for  ever  the 
Pope  and  his  successors  from  all  dependence  for  their  dominion 

upon  the  empire.f 

§  1  io. — Nicholas  III.,  who  had  thus  augmented  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  pontiffs,  and  placed  their  temporal  sovereignty  on  a  securer 
basis  than  ever  before,  died  in  the  year  1281,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Martin  IV.,  a  pope  who  was  inferior  in  arrogance  and  ambition 
to  but  few  of  his  predecessors.  As  evidence  of  this  may  be  men- 
tioned his  excommunication  of  the  emperor  of  Constantinople, 
Michael  Palasologus,  in  1281,  for  pretended  heresy  and  schism,  and 
for  having  broken  the  peace  concluded  between  the  Latin  and 
Greek  churches  at  the  council  of  Lyons,  a  few  years  before,  and 
also  his  excommunication  the  following  year,  of  Don  Pedro,  king  of 
Arragon,  whose  kingdom  he  also  placed  under  an  interdict,  on  ac- 
counf  of  his  opposition  to  Charles  of  Anjou,  whom,  as  we  have  seen, 

*  Pnecepit  principibus  Alemanniae  electoribus,  ut  de  Romanorum  rcge,  sicut 
sua  ab  antiqua  et  approbata  consuetudine  intererat,  providerent,  infra  tempus  eis 
ad  hoc  de  Papa  Gregorio  statutum:  alias  ipse  de  consensu  Cardinalium  Romani 
imperii  providere  vellet  desolationi.     (Urstisii  German  Histor.,  ii.,  93.     Gfi 
ii.,  234.)  . 

f  Raynaldi  Annal.  ad  Ann.  1279.  Also,  Annales  veteres  Mutinensium  (inAIu- 
ratorii  Script.  Rer.  Ital.) :  De  anno  1277  :  "  Rodolphus  Rex  Romanorum  donavit 
Civitatem  Bononiae  et  Comitatum  Romandiola?  Papae  Nicholas  III.,  et  sic  Ec- 
clesia  Romana  facta  full  domino,  illarum  ckitalum  et  terrarum." 


chap,  xi.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      351 

Pope  Martin  deposes  the  king  of  Arragon.        The  sentence  disregarded.  Pope  Celestine  the  hermit 

popes  Urban  and  Clement  had  aided  in  usurping  the  sovereignty  of 
Sicily.  But  the  terrors  of  these  spiritual  thunders  had,  for  some 
years  past,  been  gradually  diminishing,  and  but  little  regard  was 
paid  by  Don  Pedro  to  the  sentence  of  the  Pope.  Martin,  therefore, 
proceeded  to  issue  on  the  22d  of  March,  1283,  his  papal  bull,  de- 
posing him  from  his  kingdom  of  Arragon,  absolving  his  subjects 
from  their  allegiance,  and  forbidding  them  on  pain  of  excommuni- 
cation to  obey  him,  or  to  give  him  the  title  of  King,  and  granting 
his  kingdom  to  any  prince  who  would  seize  it;  but  of  so  little 
account  was  all  this  regarded  by  the  king  of  Arragon,  that  we  are 
informed  he  wTas  accustomed  to  call  himself,  by  way  of  derision  of 
the  Pope's  sentence,  "  Don  Pedro,  a  gentleman  of  Arragon,  the 
father  of  two  kings,  and  lord  of  the  sea."* 

The  fact  is,  that  the  long  period  of  successful  papal  usurpation 
and  tyranny  was  now  rapidly  drawing  to  a  close.  The  gloom  and 
darkness  which  had  so  long  brooded  over  the  world,  was  in  many 
places  beginning  to  disappear,  before  the  glimmering  light  of 
increasing  intelligence,  and  returning  common  sense.  The  mon- 
strous and  tyrannical  doctrines  of  Gregory  VII.  and  Innocent  III. 
had  almost  had  their  day,  and  emperors  and  kings  had  well  nigh 
ceased  to  tremble  at  the  nod  of  the  spiritual  tyrant  of  Rome,  or  like 
Henry  of  Germany,  or  John  of  England,  humbly  to  sue  for  the 
privilege  of  kissing  his  foot,  or  prostrate  to  kneel  at  the  feet  of  his 
Legate,  and  accept  their  crowns  from  his  hands,  to  be  worn  as 
his  vassals  and  tributaries.  The  period  of  papal  usurpation  intro- 
duced by  Hildebrand,  was  rapidly  drawing  to  a  close,  and  in  nine 
years  after  the  death  of  pope  Martin,  which  took  place  in  1285,  the 
last  of  the  popes  properly  belonging  to  this  period,  ascended  the 
papal  throne. 

§  111.  Honorius  IV., Nicholas  IV.  and  Celestine  V.,  successively 
occupied  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  during  these  nine  years.  Of  the 
two  former  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  in  their  efforts  to  maintain 
the  papal  authority,  they  trod  in  the  steps  of  their  predecessors. 
The  last  named  was  a  venerable  old  man  of  irreproachable  morals, 
who  had  lived  for  years  the  life  of  a  hermit.  The  circumstances  of 
his  election  were  as  singular  as  the  fact  of  a  holy  man  being  elected 
was  rare.  After  the  death  of  pope  Nicholas,  the  cardinals,  who 
were  divided  into  two  opposing  parties,  had  spent  more  than  two 
years  in  the  vain  attempt  to  agree  upon  a  successor  ;  when  one  of 
them,  after  mentioning  this  hermit,  inquired  "  why  should  we  not 
put  an  end  to  our  divisions  and  elect  him  ?"  and  in  a  sudden  burst  of 
enthusiasm  the  proposal  was  unanimously  adopted  ;  and  the  old 
hermit,  much  against  his  will,  was  persuaded  to  leave  his  retreat, 
and  assumed  the  name  of  Celestine  V.  But  it  was  an  uncommon 
thing  to  see  a  man  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  who  had  even  the  repu- 
tation of  sanctity,  and  the  austerity  of  his  manners  was  a  tacit 
reproach  upon  the  corruption  of  the  Roman  court,  and  more  espe- 

*  Villani,  lib.  vii.,  cap.  86,  quoted  by  Bower,  vi.,  p.  323. 


352  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.       .  [book  v. 


A  good  man  for  Pope  !       Persuaded  to  resign,  as  unworthy  of  the  office.        Tyranny  of  Boniface  VIII. 

ciallv  upon  the  luxury  of  the  cardinals,  and  rendered  him  extremely 
disagreeable  to  a  degenerate  and  licentious  clergy  ;  and  this  dislike 
was  so  heightened  by  the  whole  course  of  his  administration, 
which  showed  that  he  had  more  at  heart  the  reformation  and  purity 
of  the  church,  than  the  increase  of  its  opulence  and  the  propagation 
of  its  authority,  that  he  was  almost  universally  considered  as  unwor- 
thy of  the  pontificate.  Hence  it  was,  that  several  of  the  cardinals, 
and  particularly  Benedict  Cajctan,  who  succeeded  him,  advised  him 
to  abdicate  the  papacy,  which  he  had  accepted  with  such  reluctance, 
and  they  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  their  advice  followed  with  the 
utmost  facility.  The  good  man  resigned  his  dignity  the  fourth 
month  after  his  election,  and  died  in  the  year  1296,  in  the  castle  of 
Fumone,  where  his  tyrannic  and  suspicious  successor  kept  him  in 
captivity,  that  he  might  not  be  engaged,  by  the  solicitations  of  his 
friends,  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  his  abdicated  honors. 

§  112. — Cardinal  Benedict  Cajetan,  after  thus  persuading  the  inof- 
fensive old  man  to  resign,  was  himself,  as  he  had  anticipated,  ele- 
vated to  the  popedom  in  the  month  of  December,  1294,  and  assumed 
the  name  of  Boniface  VIII.  The  efforts  of  Boniface  to  exercise 
the  despotism  of  Hildebrand  were  carried  to  a  length  that  amounted 
almost  to  a  phrenzy.  But  these  insane  attempts  were  behind  the 
age  ;  it  was  half  a  century  too  late,  and  his  mad  sallies  of  ambition 
and  passion  resembled  only  the  convulsive  struggles  of  an  expiring 
man.  They  were,  in  fact,  the  death-throes  of  papal  tyranny  and 
despotism.  His  most  famous  struggle,  which  is  all  we  shall  relate, 
was  with  Philip  the  Fair,  king  of  France,  on  account  of  the  levies 
made  by  that  prince  on  the  enormous  revenues  of  the  clergy,  to 
aid  in  supporting  the  expenses  of  the  state.  With  the  hope  of  stop- 
ping these  exactions,  the  Pope  issued  a  bull,  known  by  the  initial 
words  Clericus  laicos,  absolutely  forbidding  the  clergy  of  every 
kingdom  to  pay,  under  whatever  pretext  of  voluntary  grant,  gift,  or 
loan,  any  sort  of  tribute  to  their  government  without  his  especial 
permission.  Though  France  was  not  particularly  named,  the  king 
understood  himself  to  be  intended,  and  took  his  revenge  by  a  prohi- 
bition to  export  money  from  the  kingdom.  This  produced  angry 
remonstrances  on  the  part  of  Boniface ;  but  the  Gallican  church 
adhered  so  faithfully  to  the  crown,  and  showed  indeed  so  much  wil- 
lingness to  be  spoiled  of  their  money,  that  he  could  not  insist  upon 
the  most  reasonable  propositions  of  his  bull,  and  ultimately  allowed 
that  the  French  clergy  might  assist  their  sovereign  by  voluntary 
contributions,  though  not  by  way  of  tax.  For  a  very  few  years 
after  these  circumstances,  the  Pope  and  king  of  France  appeared 
reconciled  to  each  other. 

§  113. — In  the  first  year  of  the  fourteenth  century,  however,  a 
terrible  storm  broke  out  on  the  following  occasion.  A  certain 
bishop  of  Pamiers  was  sent  by  the  Pope  as  his  nuncio,  and  had  the 
insolence  to  threaten  the  King  with  deposition,  unless  he  complied 
with  the  demands  of  his  Holiness,  in  whom,  he  asserted,  was  vested 


chap,  xi.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.        353 


Pope  Boniface's  Hildtbrandic  bull,  Uaam  Sanctam. 


all  power,  both  spiritual  and  temporal  ;*  in  consequence  of  which 
behavior,  Philip  considering  him  as  his  own  subject,  was  provoked 
to  put.  him  under  arrest  with  a  view  to  institute  a  criminal  process. 
Boniface,  incensed  beyond  measure  at  this  violation  of  ecclesiastical 
and  legatine  privileges,  published  several  bulls  addressed  to  the 
king  and  clergy  of  France,  charging  the  former  with  a  variety  of 
offences,  some  of  them  not  at  all  concerning  the  church,  and  com- 
manding the  latter  to  attend  a  council  which  he  had  summoned  to 
meet  at  Rome.  In  one  of  these  instruments  he  declares  in  concise 
and  clear  terms  that  the  king  was  subject  to  him  in  temporal  as  well 
as  spiritual  matters.  Philip  replied  by  a  short  letter  in  the  rudest 
language,  and  ordered  the  Pope's  bulls  to  be  publicly  burnt  at  Paris. 
Determined,  however,  to  show  the  real  strength  of  his  opposition,  he 
summoned  representatives  from  the  three  orders  of  his  kingdom. 
This  is  commonly  reckoned  the  first  assembly  of  the  States-Gen- 
eral A.  D.  1303.  The  nobility  and  commons  disclaimed  with  firm- 
ness the  temporal  authority  of  the  Pope,  and  conveyed  their  senti- 
ments to  Rome  through  letters  addressed  to  the  college  of  cardinals. 
The  clergy  endeavored  to  steer  a  middle  course,  and  were  reluc- 
tant to  enter  into  an  engagement  not  to  obey  the  Pope's  summons, 
though  they  did  not  hesitate  unequivocally  to  deny  his  temporal 
jurisdiction. 

§  114. — Boniface  opened  his  council  at  Rome,  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  king's  absolute  prohibition,  many  French  prelates  held  them- 
selves bound  to  be  present.  In  this  assembly  Boniface  promulgated 
his  famous  constitution,  denominated  Unam  Sanctam.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  documents  ever  issued  by  the  popes. 
It  maintains  that  the  church  is  one  body,  and  has  one  head  (the 
Pope).  Under  its  command  are  two  swords,  the  one  spiritual  and 
the  other  temporal.     But  I  will  let  the  decree  speak  for  itself. 

"Uterqueestinpotestateecclesiae,spir-  Either  sword  is  in  the  power  of  the 

itualis  scilicet  gladius  et  materialis.  Sed  church,  that  is  to  say,  the  spiritual  and 

is  quidem  pro  ecclesia,  ille  vero  ab  ec-  the  material.     The  former  is  to  be  used 

clesia  exercendus :    ille    sacerdotis,   is  by  the  church,  but  the   latter  for  the 

manu  regum  ac  militum,  sed   ad  nit-  church.     The  one  in  the  hand  of  the 

tum  et  patentiam  sacerdotis.     Opor-  priest,  the  other  in  the  hand  of  kings  and 

tet   autem    gladium    esse    sub    gladio,  soldiers,  but  at  the  will  and  pleasure 

et  temporalem     auctoritatem  spirituali  of  the  priest.    It  is  right  that  the  tem- 

subjici   potestati.     Porro  subesse  Ro-  poral  sword  and  authority  be  subject  to 

mano    pontifici    OMM  humane   crea-  the  spiritual  power.    Moreover  we  de- 

TURjE  DECLARAMUS,  DICIIHUS,  DEFINIMUS,  CLARE,  SAY,  DEFINE,  AND  PRONOUNCE 
ET  PRONUNCIAMUS  OMNINO  ESSE  DE  NECES-      THAT    EVERY    HUMAN    BEING    SHOULD   BE 

sitate  fidei."  (Exlrav.,  lib.  i.,  tit.  8,  c.     subject  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  to  be 

1.)  AN  ARTICLE  OF  NECESSARY  FAITH. 

Another  bull  issued  by  the  Pope  at  this  time,  commands  all 
persons  of  whatever  rank,  to  appear  when  personally  cited  before 
the  audience  or  apostolical  tribunal  of  Rome  :  "  since  such  is  our 
pleasure,  who,  by  divine  permission,  rule  the  world." 

*  Raynald  Annal.,  ad  Ann.  1300. 


354  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Death  of  Boniface  VIII.  Decline  of  the  power  of  papacy  from  this  time. 

§  115. — As  Philip  treated  the  bulls  of  the  Pope  with  neglect  and 
contempt,  Boniface  issued  a  bull  of  excommunication  against  him, 
and  mule  an  oiler  of  the  crown  of  France  to  the  emperor  Albert  I. 
This  prince,  however,  felt  no  eagerness  to  realize  the  liberal  prom- 
ises of  Boniface,  who  was  on  the  point  of  issuing  a  bull,  absolving 
the  subjects  of  Philip  from  their  allegiance,. and  declaring  his  for- 
feiture, when  a  very  unexpected  circumstance  interrupted  all  his  pro- 
jects. In  the  assembly  of  the  states  at  Paris,  king  Philip  preferred 
virulent  charges  against  the  Pope,  denying  him  to  have  been  legiti- 
mately elected,*  imputing  to  him  various  heresies,  and  ultimately 
appealing  to  a  general  council  and  lawful  head  of  the  church. 
Without  waiting,  however,  to  mature  this  scheme  of  a  general 
council,  Philip  succeeded  in  a  bold  and  singular  attempt.  Nogaret, 
a  minister  who  had  taken  an  active  share  in  all  the  proceed- 
ings against  Boniface,  was  secretly  dispatched  into  Italy,  and,  join- 
ing with  some  of  the  Colonna  family,  proscribed  as  Ghibelins,  and 
rancorously  persecuted  by  the  Pope,  arrested  him  at  Anagnia,  a 
town  in  the  neighborhood  of  Rome,  to  which  he  had  gone  without 
guards.  This  violent  action  was  not,  one  would  imagine,  calculated 
to  place  the  King  in  an  advantageous  light ;  yet  it  led  accidentally 
to  a  favorable  termination  of  his  dispute.  Boniface  was  soon  res- 
cued by  the  inhabitants  of  Anagnia  ;  but  rage  brought  on  a  fever, 
which  ended  in  his  death. 

§  116. — "  The  sensible  decline  of  the  papacy,"  says  Hallam,  "is 
to  be  dated  from  the  pontificate  of  Boniface  VIII.,  who  had  strained 
its  authority  to  a  higher  pitch  than  any  of  his  predecessors.  There 
is  a  spell  wrought  by  uninterrupted  good  fortune,  which  captivates 
men's  understanding,  and  persuades  them,  against  reasoning  and 
analogy,  that  violent  power  is  immortal  and  irresistible.  The  spell 
is  broken  by  the  first  change  of  success.  Imprisoned,  insulted,  de- 
prived eventually  of  life  by  the  violence  of  Philip,  a  prince  excom- 
municated, and  who  had  gone  all  lengths  in  defying  and  despising 
the  papal  jurisdiction,  Boniface  had  every  claim  to  be  avenged  by 
the  inheritors  of  the  same  spiritual  dominion.  When  Benedict  XL, 
the  successor  of  Boniface,  perhaps  learning  wisdom  from  the  fate 
of  his  predecessor,  rescinded  his  bulls,  and  admitted  Philip  the 
Fair  to  communion,  without  insisting  on  any  concessions,  he  acted 
perhaps  prudently,  but  gave  a  fatal  blow  to  the  temporal  authority 
of  Rome."f 

With  the  death  of  Boniface  we  close  the  present  division  in  our 
History  of  Romanism.  In  taking  leave  of  the  centuries  during 
which  Popery  reigned  Despot  of  the  World,  we  are  not  to  suppose 
that  the  popes  subsequent  to  Boniface  VIII.,  ever  discarded,  or 
indeed  that  the  Romish  church  either  at  that  time,  or  at  any  subse- 
quent period,  has  formally  renounced  the  doctrine,  which  the  popes 

*  The  reason  for  this  charge,  which  was  also  preferred  by  the  powerful  family 
of  the  Colonna  at  Rome,  against  Boniface,  was  that  the  resignation  of  pope  Celes- 
tine  was  not  valid  or  legal,  and  was  effected  by  means  of  Boniface. 

f  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  chap.  vii. 


chap,  xi.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      355 

Popery  unchanged  and  unchangeable  in  its  principles.  What  Popery  is,  and  what  it  has  been 

of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  used  to  justify  their  usurpa- 
tions. By  no  means.  The  memory  of  Saint  Gregory  VII.,  to 
papists,  is  as  fragrant  as  ever.  Popery  is  unchanged  and  unchange- 
able. It  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  supposed  that  the  successors  of  Boni- 
face had  renounced  the  right  of  deposing  kings  and  ruling  the  nations 
with  a  rod  of  iron,  because  the  period  of  Popery  the  World's  Despot 
is  said  to  close  with  that  pontiff,  but  only  that  by  the  successful  oppo- 
sition of  Philip  of  France,  to  this  haughty  and  imperious  Pope,  this 
assumption  of  universal  dominion  over  the  whole  earth  received 
such  a  check,  that  future  pontiffs  were  deterred  from  carrying  the 
doctrines  of  Gregory  VII.  into  practice  with  the  same  boldness  or 
to  the  same  extent  as  Hildebrand  himself  or  his  successors  and 
imitators  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries. 

In  future  periods  we  shall  discover  evidences  that  this  doctrine 
was  by  no  means  abandoned,  as  in  the  instance  of  pope  Pius  V., 
and  Elizabeth  of  England,  and  others ;  but  we  shall  see  that  in 
future  periods  the  power  of  the  pontiffs  became  so  sensibly  dimin- 
ished, that  in  order  to  carry  into  effect  their  maledictions  against 
the  sovereigns  of  the  earth,  the  knife  of  the  assassin  or  the  torch  of 
the  incendiary  were  needed  in  addition  to  the  spiritual  fulminations 
of  the  Vatican. 

In  closing  our  account  of  this  most  memorable  period  in  the  his- 
tory of  Romanism,  extending  from  Gregory  VII.,  to  Boniface  VIII., 
the  more  than  two  centuries  during  which  Popery  sat  on  the  throne 
of  the  earth,  and  reigned  Despot  of  the  World,  we  cannot  do  better 
than  borrow  the  words  of  the  eloquent  Hallam.  "  Five  centuries 
have  now  elapsed,  during  every  one  of  which  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  See  has  successively  declined.  Slowly  and  silently  reced- 
ing from  their  claims  to  temporal  power,  the  pontiffs  hardly  pro- 
tect their  dilapidated  citadel  from  the  revolutionary  concussions  of 
modern  times,  the  rapacity  of  governments,  and  the  growing  averse- 
ness  to  ecclesiastical  influence.  But,  if  thus  bearded  by  unmannerly 
and  threatening  innovation,  they  should  occasionally  forget  that' 
cautious  policy  which  necessity  has  prescribed  ;  if  they  should 
attempt  (an  unavailing  expedient  !)  to  revive  institutions  which  can 
be  no  longer  operative,  or  principles  that  have  died  away,  their 
defensive  efforts  will  not  be  unnatural,  nor  ought  to  excite  either 
indignation  or  alarm.  A  calm,  comprehensive  study  of  ecclesias- 
tical history,  not  in  such  scraps  and  fragments  as  the  ordinary  par- 
tisans of  our  ephemeral  literature  obtrude  upon  us,  is  perhaps  the 
best  antidote  to  extravagant  apprehensions.  Those  who  know 
what  rome  has  once  been,  are  best  able  to  appreciate  what  she 
is  ;  those  who  have  seen  the  thunderbolt  in  the  hands  of  the 
Gregories  and  the  Innocents,  will  hardly  be  intimidated  at  the 

SALLIES    OF    DECREPITUDE,    THE    IMPOTENT    DART    OF    PrIAM    AMID    THE 

crackling  ruins  of  Troy  !"* 

*  History  of  Middle  Ages,  page  304. 


356 


CHAPTER  XII. 

PURGATORY,    INDULGENCES,    AND    ROMISH    JUBILEES. 

§  117  _The  establishment  by  Boniface  VIII.  of  the  Romish  Ju- 
bilee, a  periodical  festival  at  which   indulgences  were  granted  to 
all  who  should  visit,  during  the  Jubilee  year,  the  churches  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Rome,  presents  us  with  a  suitable  opportunity 
of  tracing  the  origin  of  indulgences  ;  or  of  the  power  claimed 
by  the  popes,  for  certain  pecuniary  or  other  considerations,  of  re- 
mitting the  temporal  penalties   annexed  to  sin  in  this  life,  and  of 
shortening  or  remitting  altogether  the  period  of  suffering  in  the 
flames  of  the  imaginary  purgatory,  to  which  the  souls  of  the  de- 
parted were  to  be  consigned  after  death.     It  is  a  part  of  the  faith 
of  Romanists,  that  a  satisfaction  in  the  place  of  these  punishments 
has  been  instituted  in  what  they  call  the  sacrament  of  penance,  and 
that  the  Pope  has  the  power  of  remitting  that  satisfaction.     This 
act  of  remission  is  called  an  indulgence ;  it  is  partial  or  complete, 
as  the  indulgence  is  for  a  stated  time  or  plenary,  and  the  conditions 
of   repentance   and    restitution   are   in   strictness   annexed  to   it. 
Through  this  doctrine  the  popes  were,  in  fact,  invested  with  a  vast 
control  over  the  human  conscience,  even  in  the  moderate  exercise 
of  their  power,  because  it  was  a  power  which  overstepped  the 
limits  of  the  visible  world.     But  when  they  proceeded,  as,  accord- 
ing to  Dean  Waddington,  "  they  did  proceed  flagitiously  to  abuse 
it,  and  when,  through  the  progress  of  that  abuse,  people  were 
taught  to  believe,  that  perfect  absolution  from  all  the  penalties  of 
sin  could  be  procured  from  a  human  being  ;  and  procured  too,  not 
through  fervent  prayer  and  deep  and  earnest  contrition,  but  by  mili- 
tary service,  or  by  pilgrimage,  or  even  by  gold— it  was  then  that 
I  the  evil  was  carried  so  far,  as  to  leave  the  historian  doubtful  whe- 
ther anything  be  anywhere  recorded  more  astonishing  than  the 
wickedness  of  the  clergy,  except  the  credulity  of  the  vulgar."* 

§  118.— That  this  pretended  power  of  granting  indulgences  was 
,  unknown  to  the  ancients,  is  evident  from  the  writings  of  Romish 
'authors  themselves.  Thus  in  the  work  of  Alphonsus  against  here- 
sies, under  the  title  of  indulgences  he  makes  the  following  candid 
admission,  "  Among  all  the  matters  of  which  we  treat  in  this  work, 
there  is  no  one  which  the  Scriptures  less  plainly  teach,  and  of  which 
the  ancient  writers  say  less."  While  we  assent  fully  to  the  truth  ol 
this  remark,  for  the  plain  reason  that  there  can  be  no  quantity  less 
than  nothing  at  all,  we  cannot  agree  with  the  remark  which  fol- 
lows_«  nevertheless  indulgences  are  not  on  this  account  to  be  de- 
spised, because  the  use  of  them  seems  to  have  been  late  received 
in  the  church."     Alphonsus  then  proceeds  to  a  remark,  the  truth  oi 

*  Waddington's  Church  History,  p.  529. 


chap,  xii.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.       357 

Indulgences  unknown  to  the  ancients.  Confessed  by  Romanist  authors.  Fiction  of  Purgatory. 

which  cannot  be  doubted  in  relation  to  the  doctrines  of  his  own 
church — "There  are  many  things  of  which  the  ancient  writers 
were  altogether  ignorant,  that  are  known  to  those  who  lived  in  a 
later  age  '  posterioribus.' "  After  thus  plainly  speaking  out  the 
truth,  he  proceeds  to  inquire — "  what  is  there  so  wonderful  then, 
that,  in  relation  to  indulgences,  it  should  happen  that  among  the  an- 
cients there  should  be  no  mention  of  them  1  Although,"  he  adds, 
"the  testimony  op  the  sacred  Scriptures  may  be  wanting  in 
favor  of  indulgences,  yet  he  who  despises  them  is  deservedly 
accounted  a  heretic,"  &c.  Let  the  reader  mark  this  extract 
well,  as  it  declares,  without  disguise,  what  is  the  doctrine  of  Popery, 
in  distinction  from  the  grand  protestant  principle. — '  The  bible  and 
the  bible  only.' — On  account  of  its  importance  the  original  of  this 
extract  is  given  in  the  note.*- 

A  similar  testimony  to  the  novelty  of  popish  indulgences  is 
given  by  Polydore  Virgil,  another  famous  Romish  author,  who, 
after  stating  that  Boniface  VIII.  was  the  first  who  introduced  the 
Jubilee  and  granted  indulgences,  '  pcenarum  remissionem,'  to  those 
who  visited  the  thresholds  of  the  apostles,  then  adds  in  words  which 
are  worthy  of  special  attention,  "  and  then  the  use  of  pardons,  which 
they  call  indulgences,  began  to  be  famous,  which  pardons,  for  what 
cause,  or  by  what  authority  they  were  brought  in,  or  what  they  are 
good  for,  much  troubles  our  modern  divines  to  show."f 

"  If  we  could  have  any  certainty  concerning  the  origin  of  indul- 
gences" says  Cardinal  Cajetan,  "  it  would  help  us  much  in  the  dis- 
quisition of  the  truth  of  Purgatory  :  but  we  have  not  by  writing 
any  authority  either  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  or  ancient  doctors, 
Greek  or  Latin,  which  afford  us  the  least  knowledge  thereof."! 

§119. — The  truth  is,  that  Romish  indulgences,  such  as  were 
granted  in  the  days  of  Boniface  VIII.,  and  in  the  time  of  the  crusades, 
were  dependent  for  all  their  supposed  importance  upon  the  fiction  of 
Purgatory.  The  comparatively  trifling  penances  enjoined  in  this 
life,  remitted  by  indulgences,  were  looked  upon  as  of  small  account. 
It  was  the  pretended  power  of  the  popes  to  remit  hundreds  or  thou- 
sands of  years  of  the  tortures  of  purgatory,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  a 
person  who  should  die  immediately  after  receiving  plenary  indul- 

*  Inter  omnes  res  de  quibus  in  hoc  opere  disputamus,  nulla  est  quam  minus 
aperte  sacrae  liters  prodiderint,  et  de  qua  minus  vetusti  Scriptores  dixerint  .  .  . 
neque  tamen  hac  occasione  sunt  condemnandae  indulgentiae  quod  earum  usus  in 
ecclesia  videatur  sero  receptus  :  quoniam  multa  sunt  posterioribus  nota.  quae 
vetusti  illi  Scriptores  prorsus  ignoraverunt.  .  .  .  Quid  ergo  mirum  si  ad  hunc 
modum  contigerit  de  indulgentiis,  ut  apud  priscos  nulla  sit  de  eis  mentio  ?  .  .  . 
Etsi  pro  indulgentiarum  approbatione  sacrae  Scripturae  testimonium  apertum  desit, 
tamen  qui  contemnit,  hasreticus  merito  censeatur,  &c.  (Alphons.  de  Castro.  Ad- 
ver.  Hares.,  lib.  8,  Indulgentia,  as  cited  in  the  Cripplegate  lectures.) 

f  Ac  ita  veniarum  quas  indulgentias  vocant  jam  turn  usus  Celebris  esse  cccpit, 
quae  qua  de  causa,  quave  ex  auctoritate  inducts  fuerint,  aut  quantum  valere  vide- 
antur,  nostri  recentiores  theologi  ea  de  re  egregie  laborant.  (Pclydor  Virgil,  de 
Invent.  Rerum,  lib.  8,  cap.  1.) 

J  De  Ortu  Indulgentiarum  si  certitudo  habere  posset,  veritati  indagands  opem 
ferret,  &c.     (Cajel.  de  Indulg.  Opusc,  torn.  1,  tract  15,  cap.  1.) 


358  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Purgatory  established  the  importance  of  Indulgences.  Origin  of  the  purgatorian  fiction. 

gencc,  to  send  the  soul  at  once  to  heaven,  without  stopping  at  all 
at  these  purifying,  but  tormenting  fires — it  was  this  that  gave  to 
indulgences  nil  their  importance,  and  that  enabled  those  who  thus 
blasphemously  pretended  to  this  power  over  the  invisible  world,  to 
wield  such  a  tremendous  influence  over  the  ignorant  and  supersti- 
tious, and  not  only  to  enhance  their  authority,  but  to  enrich  their 
coffers  at  the  expense  of  the  deluded  and  terror-stricken  multitude. 

Now,  as  it  is  impossible  for  the  source  to  rise  higher  than  the 
fountain,  the  invention  of  indulgences  must  be  subsequent  to  that  of 
purgatory,  and  as  the  latter  can  boast  no  higher  origin  than  the  age 
of  Gregory,  about  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,*  or  at  the  very  ear- 
liest, the  time  of  Augustine,  who  died  in  430,  of  course  the  doctrine 
of  indulgences  must  be  of  still  more  recent  date. 

§  120. — Augustine,  according  to  the  learned  Edgar,f  seems  to  have 
been  the  first  Christian  author,  who  entertained  the  idea  of  purify- 
ing the  soul  while  the  body  lay  in  the  tomb.  The  African  Saint, 
though,  in  some  instances,  he  evinced  judgment  and  piety,  dis- 
played, on  many  occasions,  unqualified  and  glaring  inconsistency. 
His  opinions  on  purgatorian  punishment  exhibit  many  instances  of 
fickleness  and  incongruity.  He  declares,  in  many  places,  against 
any  intermediate  state  after  death  between  heaven  and  hell.  .  He 
rejects,  in  cmphatical  language,  "  the  idea  of  a  third  place,  as  un- 
known to  Christians  and  foreign  to  revelation."  He  acknowledges 
only  two  habitations,  the  one  of  eternal  glory  and  the  other  of  end- 
less misery.  Man,  he  avers,  "  will  appear  in  the  last  day  of  the 
world  as  he  was  in  the  last  day  of  his  life,  and  will  be  judged  in  the 
same  state  in  which  he  had  dicd."J 

But,  notwithstanding  this  unequivocal  language,  Augustine  is,  at 
other  times,  full  of  doubt  and  difficulty.  The  subject,  he  grants, 
and  with  truth,  is  one  that  he  could  never  clearly  understand.  He 
admits  the  salvation  of  some  by  the  fire  mentioned  by  the  Apostle. 
This,  however,  he  sometimes  interprets  to  signify  temporal  tribula- 
tion before  death,  and  sometimes  the  general  conflagration  after  the 
resurrection.  He  generally  extends  this  ordeal  to  all  men  without 
any  exception  :  and  he  conjectures,  in  a  few  instances,  that  this  fire 
may,  as  a  temporary  purification,  be  applied  to  some  in  the  interval 
between  death  and  the  general  judgment.  This  interpretation, 
however,  he  offers  as  a  mere  hypothetical  speculation.  He  cannot 
tell  whether  the  temporary  punishment  is  "  here  or  will  be  hereafter  : 
or  whether  it  is  here  that  it  may  not  be  hereafter."     The  idea,  he 

*  Gabriel  Biel,  on  the  Canon  of  the  Mass,  lect.  57,  saith, "  We  must  confess, 
that  before  the  time  of  Gregory  (Anno  596),  the  use  of  indulgences  was  very  little 
if  at  all  known,  but  now  the  practice  of  them  is  grown  frequent."  Dicendum 
quod  ante  tempora  B.  Gregorii,  modicus  vel  null  us  rait  usua  Indulgentiarum,  nunc 
autem  crebrescit  usus  earum.     (G.  Biel,  lect.  57.) 

t  See  Edgar's  Variations,  ch.  xvi.  passim. 

X  In  quo  enim  quemque  invenerit  suus  novissimus  dies,  in  hoc  eum  comprehen- 
det  mundi  novissimus  dies  ;  quoniam  qualis  in  die  isto  quisque  moritur,  talis  in  die 
illo  judicabitur.     (Auguslin,  ad  Hesych.,2,  743.) 


chap,  xii.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.   1073-1303.      359 

Augustine's  and  Gregory's  obscure  hints  relative  to  Purgatory.  Inconsistent  with  themselves. 

grants,  is  a  supposition  without  any  proof,  and  "  unsupported  by  any 
canonical  authority."  He  would  not,  however,  "  contradict  the  pre- 
sumption, because  it  might  perhaps  be  the  truth."* 

Augustine's  doubts  show,  to  a  demonstration,  the  novelty  of  the 
purgatorian  chimera.  His  conjectural  statements  and  his  difficulty 
of  decftion  afford  decided  proof,  that  this  dogma,  in  his  day,  was  no 
article  of  faith.  The  saint  would  never  have  made  an  acknow- 
ledged doctrine  of  the  church  a  subject  of  hesitation  and  inquiry. 
He  would  not  have  represented  a  received  opinion  as  destitute  of 
canonical  authority  :  much  less  would  he  have  acknowledged  a 
heaven  and  a  hell,  and,  at  the  same  time,  in  direct  unambiguous 
language,  disavowed  a  third  or  middle  place.  Purgatory,  there- 
fore, in  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  was  no  tenet  of  theology. 
Augustine  seems  to  have  been  the  connecting  link  between  the  ex- 
clusion and  reception  of  this  theory.  The  fiction,  after  his  day,  was, 
owing  to  circumstances,  slowly  and  after  several  ages  admitted  into 
Romanism. 

The  innovation,  however,  notwithstanding  the  authority  of  Au- 
gustine and  the  Vandalism  of  the  age,  made  slow  progress.  A  loose 
and  indetermined  idea  of  temporary  punishment  and  atonement  after 
death,  floated  at  random  through  the  minds  of  men.  The  super- 
stition, congenial  with  the  human  soul,  especially  when  destitute  of 
religious  and  literary  attainments,  continued,  in  gradual  and  tardy 
advances,  to  receive  new  accessions.  The  notion,  in  this  crude  and 
indigested  state,  and  augmenting  by  continual  accumulations,  pro- 
ceeded to  the  popedom  of  Gregory  in  the  end  of  the  sixth  century. 

§  121. — Gregory,  like  Augustine,  spoke  on  this  theme  with  striking 
indecision.  The  Roman  pontiff  and  the  African  saint,  discoursing 
on  venial  frailty  and  posthumous  atonement,  wrote  with  hesitation 
and  inconsistency.  In  his  annotations  on  Job,  Gregory  disclaims 
an  intermediate  state  of  propitiation.  "  Mercy,  if  once  a  fault  con- 
sign to  punishment,  will  not,  says  the  pontiff,  afterward  return  to 
pardon.  A  holy  or  a  malignant  spirit  seizes  the  soul,  departing  at 
death  from  the  body,  and  detains  it  for  ever  without  any  change."f 
This,  at  the  present  day,  would  hardly  pass  for  popish  orthodoxy. 
This,  in  modern  times,  would,  at  the  Vatican,  be  accounted  little 
better  than  Protestantism.  His  Holiness,  however,  dares  nobly  to 
vary  from  himself.  The  annotator  and  the  dialogist  are  not  the 
same  person,  or  at  least  do  not  teach  the  same  faith.  The  vicar- 
general  of  God,  in  his  dialogues,  "  teaches  the  belief  of  a  purga- 
torian fire,  prior  to  the  general   judgment,  for  trivial  offences."+ 

*  Sive  ibi  tantum,  sive  et  hie  et  ibi,  sive  ideo  hie  ut  non  ibi  non  redarguo,  quia 
forsitan  verum  est.  (Aug.  C.  D.  XXI.  26,  P.  649.)  In  eis  nulla  velut  canonica  con- 
stituitur  authoritas.     (Aug.  Did.  6,  131, 132.) 

f  Si  semel  culpa  ad  pcenam  pertrahit,  misericordia  ulterius  ad  veniam  non  redu- 
cet.  (Greg,  in  Job  viii.,  10.)  Humani  casus  tempore,  sive  sanctus  sive  malignus 
spiritus,  egredientem  animam  claustra  carnis  acceperit,  in  aeternum  secum  sine 
ulla  permutatione  retinebit.     (Greg,  in  Job  viii.,  8.) 

\  De  quibusdam  levibus  culpis,  esse,  ante  judicium,  purgatorius  ignis  credendus 
est.     (Greg.  Dial,  iv.,  39.) 


360  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Gregory  the  discoverer  of  Purgatory.  Progress  of  the  fiction  slow. 

Gregory  has,  by  several  authors,  been  represented  as  the  dis- 
coverer or  rather  the  creator  of  purgatory.  Otho.  a  learned  histo- 
rian of  the  twelfth  century,  and  a  man  of  extensive  information, 
accounted  this  pontiff's  fabulous  dialogues  the  foundation  of  the  pur- 
gatorian  fiction.  Bruys,  in  modern  times,  agreeing  with  Otho. 
represents  Gregory  as  the  person  who  discovered  this  middle  state 
for  venial  sinners.*  The  pontiff  himself  seems  to  confess  the  nov- 
elty of  the  system.  Many  things,  says  he,  have  in  these  last  times 
become  clear,  which  were  formerly  concealed. f  This  declaration 
is  in  the  dialogue  that  announces  the  existence  of  purgatory  ;  which, 
he  reckons,  was  one  of  the  bright  discoveries  that  distinguished  his 
age.  This  consideration  perhaps  will  account  for  the  pontiff's  incon- 
sistency. The  hierarch,  as  already  shown,  both  opposed  and  advo- 
cated the  purgatorian  theology.  The  innovation  mentioned  in  this 
manner  with  doubt  by  Augustine,  and  recommended  with  inconsis- 
tency by  Gregory,  men  of  high  authority  in  their  day  continued  to 
spread  and  claim  the  attention  and  belief  of  men. 

The  progress  of  the  fabrication,  however,  was  slow.  Its  move- 
ments to  perfection  were  as  tardy,  as  its  introduction  into  Chris- 
tendom had  been  late.  Its  belief  obtained  no  general  establish- 
ment in  the  Christian  commonwealth  for  ages  after  Gregory's  death. 
The  council  of  Aix  la  Chapelle,  in  836,  decided  in  direct  opposi- 
tion to  posthumous  satisfaction  or  pardon.  This  synod  mentions 
"  three  ways  of  punishment  for  men's  sins."  Of  these,  two  are  in 
this  life  and  one  after  death.  "  Sins,"  said  this  assembly,  "  are,  in  this 
world,  punished  by  the  repentance  or  compunction  of  the  transgres- 
sor, and  by  the  correction  or  chastisement  of  God.  The  third,  after 
death,  is  tremendous  and  awful,  when  the  judge  shall  say,  depart 
from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and 
his  angels."J  The  fathers  of  this  council  knew  nothing  of  purga- 
tory, and  left  no  room  for  its  expiation.  The  innovation,  in  998, 
obtained  an  establishment  at  Clugny.  Odilo,  whom  Fulbert  calls  "  an 
archangel,"  and  Baronius  the  "  brightest  star  of  the  age,"  opened  an 
extensive  mart  of  prayers  and  masses  for  the  use  of  souls  detained 
in  purgatory.  Fulbert's  archangel  seems,  in  this  department,  to 
have  excelled  all  his  predecessors.  A  few,  in  several  places,  had 
begun  to  retail  intercessions  for  the  purgatorians.  But  Odilo  com- 
menced business  on  a  much  larger  scale,  upon  the  establishment  of 
the  feast  of  All-souls  in  993,  prompted  by  the  howlings  of  the  devils 
of  Etna,  in  consequence  of  the  efficacy  of  the  prayers  of  Odilo's 
holy  monks,  in  snatching  from  their  hands  the  souls  of  those  who 
were  tormented  in  purgatorian  fires. 

*  Gregoire  en  fit  la  (purgatoire)  decouverte  dans  ses  beaux  dialogues.  {Bruys} 
1,  378.     Otho,  Ann.  1146.) 

f  In  his  extremis  temporibus,  tam  multa  animabus  clarescunt,  qua;  ante  latue- 
runt.     {Gregory,  Dial.  IV.,  40.) 

\  Tribus  modis  peccata  mortalium  vindicantur  ;  dnobus  In  hac  vita:  tertio  vero 
in  futura  vita.  Tertia  autem  extat  valde  pertimescenda  et  terribilis,  qua-  non  in 
hoc  sed  in  future  justissimo,  Dei  judicio  fiet  saeculo,  quando  Justus  judex  dictums 
est,  discedite  a  me,  malediciti,  in  ignem  sternum.     (Labb.,  6, 844.     Brab.,  2, 71 1 .) 


chap,  xn.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      3G1 

Drithclin's  visit  to  the  purgatorial)  regions.  Horrible  description  of  torments. 

§  122. — The  most  dreadful  descriptions  of  the  torments  endured 
in  these  imaginary  regions,  founded  upon  dreams,  visions  or  super- 
natural revelations,  were  given  by  fanatical  or  designing  priests  and 
monks,  calculated  to  awaken  the  terror  of  the  superstitious,  and  to 
induce  them  to  leave  no  means  untried  which  might  shorten  their 
own  period  of  suffering,  or  by  a  better  fortune,  enable  them  to 
avoid  altogether  the  necessity  of  making  a  visit  to  purgatory,  on 
their  way  to  heaven.  A  single  instance  of  these  descriptions  will 
be  sufficient  to  give  an  idea  of  the  general  character  of  the  whole. 
It  is  related  by  Bellarmine  and  others  that  one  Drithelm,  dur- 
ing a  visit  to  the  spiritual  world,  was  led  on  his  journey  by 
an  angel  in  shining  raiment,  and  proceeded,  in  the  company  of  his 
guide,  toward  the  rising  of  the  sun.  The  travellers,  at  length, 
arrived  in  a  valley  of  vast  dimensions.  This  region,  to  the  left,  was 
covered  with  roasting  furnaces,  and,  to  the  right,  with  icy  cold,  hail, 
and  snow.  The  whole  valley  was  filled  with  human  souls,  which  a 
tempest  seemed  to  toss  in  all  directions.  The  unhappy  spirits, 
unable  in  the  one  part  to  bear  the  violent  heat,  leaped  into  the  shiv- 
ering cold,  which  again  drove  them  into  the  scorching  flames  which 
cannot  be  extinguished.  A  numberless  multitude  of  deformed  souls 
were,  in  this  manner,  whirled  about  and  tormented  without  inter- 
mission in  the  extremes  of  alternate  heat  and  cold.  This,  according 
to  the  angelic  conductor  who  piloted  Drithelm,  is  the  place  of  chas- 
tisement for  such  as  defer  confession  and  amendment  till  the  hour  of 
death.  All  these,  however,  will,  at  the  last  day,  be  admitted  to 
heaven :  while  many,  through  alms,  vigils,  prayers,  and  especially 
the  mass,  will  be  liberated  even  before  the  general  judgment.* 

§  123. — With  such  horrible  materials  to  work  upon  the  fears  ot 
the  superstitious  multitude — ever  ready,  in  the  dark  ages,  to  swal- 
low the  grossest  absurdities  of  monkish  imposture,  and  cherishing 
implicit  faith  in  the  almost  unbounded  power  of  their  spiritual 
guides— it  was  no  difficult  thing  to  base  upon  the  fiction  of  purga- 
tory the  doctrine  of  indulgences  ;  first  to  excite  the  fears  of  the 
multitude  by  portraying  in  vivid  colors  the  torments  of  the  one,  and 
then  by  working  upon  those  fears,  and  inculcating  the  unlimited 
power  of  the  Pope  and  the  priesthood  over  these  terrible  regions,  to 
lay  a  foundation  for  the  establishment  of  the  other.f  "  So  long," 
says  a  Roman  Catholic  author,  "  as  there  was  no  fear  of  purga- 
tory, no  man  sought  indulgences,  for  all  the  account  of  indulgence 
depends  on  purgatory.     If  you  deny  purgatory,  what  need  of  indul- 

*  Bell.,  1,7.     Faber,  2,449.     Edgar,  456. 

t  There  is  much  force  in  the  following  sarcastic  but  truthful  rebuke,  by  arch- 
bishop Tillotson,  of  the  popish  fictions  of  Purgatory  and  Indulgences :— "  We 
make  no  money,"  says  that  learned  prelate,  "  of  the  mistakes  of  the  people  ;  nor 
do  we  fill  their  heads  with  fears  of  new  pkces  of  torment,  to  make  them  empty 
their  purses  in  a  vainer  hope  to  be  delivered  out  of  them  :  we  do  not,  like  them, 
pretend  a  mighty  bank  and  treasure  of  merits  in  the  church,  which  they  sell  for 
ready  money,  giving  them  bills  of  exchange  from  the  Pope  on  Purgatory;  when 
they  who  grant  them  have  no  reason  to  believe  they  will  avail  them,  or  be  accepted 
in  the  other  world."     (Til,  vol.  iii.,  serm.  30,  p.  320.) 


362  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Indulgences  to  reward  the  crusaders  ill  Palestine,  and  the  pious  butchers  of  the  Waldeiisian  heretics. 

gences?     Indulgences  began  after  men  were  frighted  with  the 

PAINS  OF  PURGATORY."* 

A  similar  opinion  is  expressed  by  Navarrius,  the  Pope's  peniten- 
tiary, who  asks,  "  What  is  the  cause  that  among  the  ancients  so 
little  mention  is  made  of  indulgences,  and  among  the  moderns  they 
are  in  such  use  ?  John  of  Rochester,  most  holy  and  reverend  for 
his  dignity  of  bishop  and  cardinal,  hath  taught  us  the  reason,  saying 
that  the  explicit  faith  of  purgatory  or  indulgences  was  not  so  neces- 
sary in  the  primitive  church  as  now ;  and  again,  while  there  was 
no  heed  taken  to  purgatory,  and  no  man  inquired  after  indulgences, 
because  thereupon  dependeth  the  property  and  worth  of  them." 
'  Quare  autem  apud  antiquos  tarn  rara,  et  apud  rcccntiorcs  tarn  fre- 
quens  Indulgentiarum  mentio  V  &,c.  (Navar.  Com.  de  Joel,  et  In- 
dulge p.  445.) 

The  practice  of  granting  indulgences  remitting  for  certain  pecu- 
niary or  other  considerations,  a  portion  or  the  whole  of  the  pains 
of  purgatory,  was  gradually  grafted  upon  the  belief  of  that  fiction, 
but  was  little  used  for  several  centuries  after  the  invention  of  purga- 
tory. Pope  Urban  II.,  the  originator  of  the  crusades,  in  the  elev- 
enth century,  appears  to  have  been  the  first  who  made  any  exten- 
sive use  of  these  indulgences,  as  a  recompense  for  those  who  engag- 
ed in  the  glorious  enterprise  of  conquering  the  Holy  land  ;  though 
it  is  admitted  by  Cardinal  Baronius,  that  Gregory  VII.  had  some 
few  years  earlier  granted  the  full  remission  of  all  their  sins,  to 
those  who  should  fight  against  his  celebrated  enemy,  the  unfortu- 
nate Henry  IV. 

The  same  use  was  made  of  this  imaginary  power  of  the  Pope 
and  the  priesthood,  in  exciting  the  fierce  and  fanatical  multitude  a 
century  or  two  later,  against  the  persecuted  Albigenses  of  the  South 
of  France.  Plenary  remission  of  sins,  and  immediate  admission  to 
heaven,  if  they  should  die  in  the  enterprise,  were  liberally  promised 
to  all  who  should  engage  in  the  pious  work  of  exterminating  with 
fire  and  sword,  the  Waldensian  heretics  ;f  and  some  who  from 
their  sex  or  age  could  take  no  part  in  this  holy  war,  would  cast  a 
stone  into  the  air,  with  an  exclamation  that  it  was  aimed  "  against 
the  wicked  Raimond  and  the  heretics,"  in  order  that  they  might  claim 
a  share  in  these  papal  indulgences. 

§  124. — In  the  twelfth  century,  according  to  Mosheim,  the 
Roman  pontiffs  thought  proper  to  limit  the  power  of  the  bishops, 
who  had  lately  been  driving  a  lucrative  trade  in  the  sale  of  indul- 
gences, and  assumed,  almost  entirely,  this  profitable  traffic  to  them- 

*  Quamdiu  nulla  fuerat  de  purgatorio  cura,  nemo  quaesivit  indulgentias,  nam 
ex  illo  pendet  omnis  inivlgeiUiarum  exislimalio.  Si  tollas  purgatorium,  quorsum 
indulgentiis  opus  erit  ?  Cjeperunt  igitur  indulgentue,  postquam  ad  purgatord 
cruciatus  aliquandiu  trepidatum  est.  (Johan.  Rojfen.  Assert.  Lutheran  Con- 
ful.,  cited  in  Crip  lee.) 

*  Plenam  peccaminum  veniam  indulgemus,  et  in  retributione  justorum  salutis 
seternaD  pollicemur  augmentum.  {Labb.,  14,  64.  Bury,  3,  13.  Du  Pin,  2,  335. 
Edgar,  218.) 


chap,  xu.]     POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      363 

Works  of  Supererogation.  Still  the  doctiine  of  Rome.  Jubilee  bull  of  1824. 

selves.  In  consequence  of  this  new  measure,  the  court  of  Rome 
became  the  general  magazine  of  indulgences;  and  the  pontiffs, 
when  either  the  wants  of  the  church,  the  emptiness  of  their  coffers, 
or  the  demon  of  avarice,  prompted  them  to  look  out  for  new  sub- 
sidies, published,  not  only  a  universal,  but  also  a  complete,  or  what 
they  called  a  plenary  remission  of  all  the  temporal  pains  and  penal- 
ties", which  the  church  had  annexed  to  certain  transgressions.  They 
went  still  farther ;  and  not  only  remitted  the  penalties,  which  the 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  laws  had  enacted  against  transgressors,  but 
audaciously  usurped  the  authority  which  belongs  to  God  alone,  and 
impiously  pretended  to  abolish  even  the  punishments  which  are  re- 
served in  a  future  state  for  the  workers  of  iniquity.  Such  proceed- 
ings stood  much  in  need  of  a  plausible  defence,  but  this  was  im- 
possible. To  justify  therefore  these  scandalous  measures  of  the 
pontiffs,  the  monstrous  and  absurd  doctrine  of  Works  of  Superero- 
gation was  now  invented,  which  was  modified  and  embellished  by 
St.  Thomas  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  which  contained  among 
others  the  following  enormities  :  "  That  there  actually  existed  an 
immense  treasure  of  merit,  composed  of  the  pious  deeds,  and  vir- 
tuous actions,  which  the  saints  had  performed  beyond  what  was  ne- 
cessary for  their  own  salvation,  and  which  were  therefore  applica- 
ble to  the  benefit  of  others  ;  that  the  guardian  and  dispenser  of  this 
precious  treasure  was  the  Roman  pontiff;  and  that  of  consequence 
he  was  empowered  to  assign  to  such  as  he  thought  proper,  a  por- 
tion of  this  inexhaustible  source  of  merit,  suitable  to  their  respec- 
tive amount  of  guilt,  and  sufficient  to  deliver  them  from  the  punish- 
ment due  to  their  crimes."  "  It  is  a  most  deplorable  mark,"  adds 
Mosheim,  "  of  the  power  of  superstition,  that  a  doctrine,  so  absurd 
in  its  nature,  and  so  pernicious  in  its  effects,  should  still  be  retained 
and  defended  in  the  church  of  Rome."* 

§  125. — It  was  reserved  for  the  ingenuity  of  pope  Boniface  VIII. 
to  devise  an  expedient  whereby  this  gainful  traffic  in  indulgences 
might  realize,  in  a  single  year,  an  amount  of  money  equal,  perhaps, 

*  As  a  proof  that  this  doctrine  of  Works  of  Supererogation  has  not  been  aban- 
doned, during  the  century  that  has  almost  elapsed  from  the  death  of  Mosheim, 
and  that  the  Pope  still  claims  the  possession  of  the  key  of  that  superabundant  store 
of  merit,  consisting  not  only  of  the  merits  of  Christ,  but  also  of  the  Virgin  and 
all  the  saints,  we  quote  the  following  extract  from  the  Jubilee  Bull  of  pope 
Leo,  issued  from  the  Vatican  at  Rome,  in  1824.  "We  have  resolved,"  says  he, 
"  by  virtue  of  the  authority  given  to  us  from  heaven,  fully  to  unlock  that  sacred 
treasure  composed  of  the  merits,  sufferings,  and  virtues  of  Christ  our  Lord,  and 
of  his  virgin  mother,  and  of  all  the  saints  which  the  author  of  human  sal- 
vation has  intrusted  to  our  dispensation.  To  you,  therefore,  venerable 
brethren,  patriarchs,  primates,  archbishops,  bishops,  it  belongs  to  explain  with  per- 
spicuity the  power  of  indulgences :  what  is  their  efficacy  in  the  remission,  not 
only  of  the  canonical  penance,  but  also  of  the  temporal  punishment  due  to  the 
divine  justice  for  past  sin  ;  and  ivhat  succor  is  afforded  out  of  this  heavenly  treasure, 
from  the  merits  of  Christ  and  his  saints,  to  such  as  have  departed  real  penitents 
in  God's  love,  yet  before  they  had  duly  satisfied  by  fruits  worthy  of  penance  for 
sins  of  commission  and  omission,  and  are  now  purifying  in  the  fire  of 
purgatory." 


364  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 

Romish  Jubilee  established  by  Boniface  VIII.  Jubilee  for  indulgences  on  a  smaller  scale  in  Ireland. 

to  the  united  previous  gains  of  a  century.  This  was  by  the  esta- 
blishment in  the  year  1300,  of  the  famous  Jubilee,  which  is  still 
celebrated  at  Home  at  stated  periods,*  and  continues  to  be  a  profit- 
able source  of  enriching  the  coffers  of  the  popes,  though  the  income 
arising  therefrom,  amidst  the  light  of  the  nineteenth  century,  must, 
of  course,  fall  vastly  short  of  the  immense  revenue  extorted  from 
the  fears  of  the  ignorant  and  the  superstitious  at  the  comparatively 
dark  and  gloomy  period  of  its  original  establishment. 

Boniface  was,  doubtless,  the  inventor  of  the  Jubilee;  notwith- 

*  These  Jubilees  for  plenary  indulgence,  are  sometimes  granted  on  a  smaller 
sca'e,  by  the  special  favor  of  his  Holiness,  the  Pope.  Thus,  for  instance,  a  few- 
years  ago,  a  plenary  indulgence  in  the  form  of  a  Jubilee,  was  sent  by  pope  Pius 
VII.,  to  Dr.  Moylan,  bishop  of  Cork,  granted  on  the  14th  of  May,  1809,  and  pub- 
lished in  Cork,  Anno  1813,  as  appears  by  the  following  extracts  from  the  doctor's 
pastoral  address  : 

"  Beloved  Brethren, — Animated  with  the  warmest  desires  of  promoting  your 
eternal  welfare,  we  resolved  immediately  on  completing  our  cathedral  chapel,  to 
establish  a  mission  in  it  of  pious  exercises  and  instructions  for  the  space  of  a 
month,  in  order  to  induce  our  brethren  to  attend  tbereat,  and  to  profit  by  those 
effectual  means  of  sanctification,  we  have  applied  to  the  holy  See  for  a  solemn 
plenary  indulgence,  in  the  form  of  a  Jubilee,  which  the  holy  father  was  most  graci- 
ously pleased  to  grant  by  a  bull,  as  follows : 

" '  Pius  VII.,  by  divine  Providence,  pope,  grants  unto  each  and  to  every  one  of 
the  faithful  of  Christ,  who,  after  assisting  at  least  eight  times  at  the  holy  exercise 
of  the  mission  (in  the  new  cathedral  of  Cork),  shall  confess  his  or  her  sins,  with 
true  contrition,  and  approach  unto  the  holy  communion — shall  visit  the  said  cathe- 
dral chapel,  and  there  offer  up  to  God  for  some  time,  pious  and  fervent  prayers  for 
the  propagation  of  the  holy  Catholic  faith,  and  to  our  intention,  a  plenary  indul- 
gence, applicable  to  the  souls  in  purgatory  by  way  of  suffrage,  and  in  this  form  of 
a  Jubilee.' 

"  Such,  beloved  brethren,  is  the  great,  the  inestimable  grace  offered  to  us  by  the 
vicar  of  Jesus  Christ.  Let  sinners,  by  its  means,  become  just,  and  let  the  just,  by  it, 
become  more  justified.  Behold,  the  treasures  of  God's  grace*  are  now  open  to  you  I 
The  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ,  invested  with  hi^s  authority,  and  animated  by  his 
Spirit,  expect  you  with  a  holy  impatience,  ready  to  ease  you  of  that  heavy  burden  of 
sin,  under  which  you  have  so  long  labored.  Were  your  sins  as  red  as  scarlet,  by  the 
grace  of  the  absolution  and  application  of  this  plenary  indulgence,  your  souls  shall 
become  white  as  snow,  &c. 

"  Wherefore,  dearly  beloved,  that  you  may  all  know  that  which,  according  to 
the  bull  of  his  Holiness,  is  necessary  to  gain  the  benefit  of  this  plenary  indulgence, 
granted  in  the  form  of  a  Jubilee,  you  will  observe, 

"  First,  That  it  will  commence  in  the  new  cathedral  chapel  on  the  first  Sunday 
in  Advent,  being  the  28th  day  of  November  instant,  and  to  continue  to  the  festival 
of  St.  John  the  evangelist,  the  27th  day  of  December.  Second,  to  gain  this  ple- 
nary indulgence,  it  is  necessity  to  be  truly  penitent,  to  make  a  good  confession,  &c, 
according  to  the  above  bull  and  intention  of  our  holy  father  the  Pope,  five  paters, 
and  five  aves,  and  a  creed,  to  the  above  intention,  fulfil  the  above  obligations. 
Thirdly,  All  priests  approved  of  by  us  to  hear  confessions  can,  during  the  above 
time,  absolve  all  such  persons  as  present  themselves  with  due  dispositions  at  con- 
fession, in  order  to  obtain  this  plenary  indulgence,  from  all  sins  and  censures  re- 
served to  the  holy  See  or  to  us,  they  enjoining  on  such  persons  as  are  thus  absolv- 
ed, a  salutary  penajice. 

"  We  order  this  pastoral  letter  and  instruction  to  be  read  in  every  chapel  in  the 
diocese,  in  town  and  country,  at  every  mass,  on  Sunday  the  14th,  the  21st,  the 
28th  of  November  instant,  and  on  Sunday  the  5th  of  December  next.  Given  at 
Cork,  Nov.  2, 1813."  (Letters  of"  Amicus  Hibcrnicus;,  Rev.  P.  Roc,  Dublin,  1816.) 


chap,  xii.]      POPERY  THE  WORLD'S  DESPOT— A.  D.  1073-1303.      3G5 

Pomp  and  splendor  of  the  Jubilee  of  Boniface.  Immense  sums  obtained  by  means  of  it 

standing  the  vague  and  fabulous  story  related  by  Cardinal  Cajetan, 
about  the  aged  Savoyard,  107  years  old,  who,  upon  his  arrival  at 
Rome,  is  said  to  have  asserted,  that  at  the  close  of  the  preceding 
century,  he  had  visited  that  city  on  a  similar  occasion,  in  company 
with  his  father,  and  that  now  in  his  extreme  old  age,  he  had  tra- 
velled to  Rome  in  consequence  of  his  father's  words  to  him  on  his 
former  visit,  "  that  if  he  lived  to  the  end  of  the  next  century,  and 
then  came  to  Rome,  he  would  obtain  a  plenary  indulgence,  or  full 
remission  of  all  his  sins."*  It  would  be  of  very  little  importance 
if  this  story  were  true,  as  it  would  only  throw  the  origin  of  this 
popish  invention  a  century  or  two  back,  yet  it  is  worthy  of  remark, 
that  if  the  Jubilee  had  been  before  observed,  there  would  doubtless 
have  been  some  historical  record  of  the  fact,  and  its  truth  would 
not  have  been  dependent  upon  the  pretended  recollection  of  an  ob- 
scure old  man. 

§  126. — The  pomp  and  splendor  of  this  Jubilee  of  Boniface,  the 
countless  multitudes  that  thronged  the  city,  and  the  immense 
amount  of  treasure  that  was  left  behind  by  the  pilgrims,  are  the 
themes  upon  which  contemporary  and  succeeding  writers  delight 
to  dwell  with  rapture  and  admiration.  Some  relate  that  on  the 
first  day  of  the  Jubilee,  the  Pope  presented  himself  before  the  peo- 
ple to  give  them  his  blessing,  in  his  gorgeous  pontifical  robes,  and 
on  the  second  day  in  an  imperial  mantle,  with  two  swords  carried 
before  him,  denoting  his  supreme,  temporal,  and  spiritual  power. 
Villani,  the  contemporary  Florentine  historian,  who  was  at  Rome, 
on  this  occasion,  gives  an  amusing  account  of  the  innumerable  mul- 
titudes who  visited  that  city  to  avail  themselves  of  these  indul- 
gences, and  thus  escape  the  pains  of  purgatory,  so  that  the  whole 
city  had  the  appearance  of  a  vast  crowd,  and  in  passing  from'  one 
part  of  the  city  to  another,  it  was  difficult  to  press  through  the 
multitude.!  i 

Cardinal  Cajetan  relates  that  the  offerings  made  at  the  tombs  of 
St.  Peter  and  Paul,  in  brass  money  alone,  and,  of  course,  princi- 
pally by  the  poorer  pilgrims,  amounted  to  fifty  thousand  florins  of 
gold,  and  hence  leaves  his  readers  to  imagine  the  almost  incalcu- 
lable sums  contributed  by  the  more  wealthy  in  gold  and  silver  ;f 
and  another  writer  describes  "  a  couple  of  priests,  standing  at  the 
altar  of  St.  Paul,  night  and  day,  holding  in  their  hands  small  rakes. 
'  rastellas,'    and   raking   up   '  rastellantes,'   an   infinite    amount   of 

money."§ 

§  127. — In  the  year  1343,  pope  Clement  VI.,  being  unwilling  to  let 

*  The  work  from  which  this  story  is  derived,  is  entitled  "  Relatio  de  Cenlesimo 
sen  Jubilcco  anno"  by  James  Cajetan,  cardinal  of  St.  George.  The  false  and 
fabulous  character  of  the  story  has  been  well  exposed  by  M.  Chais,  in  his  "  Let 
Ires  sur  les  Jubiles"  torn  i.,  p.  53. 

f  Villani,  lib.  viii.,  c.  36.     Bower,  vi.,  356. 

J  Apud.  Raynald.  Annal.,  ad  Ann.  1300. 

5  "  Papa  innumerabilem  pecuniam  ab  iisdem  recepit  quia,  die  et  nocte,  duo  clerici 
stabant  ad  altare  Sancti  Pauli,  tenentes  in  eorum  manibus  rastellos,  rastellantes 
pecuniam  intinitam."     (Muralori.) 


36G  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v. 


Jubilee  of  Clement  VI.  Vast  number  present.  Altered  eventually  to  25  years 

so  favorable  an  opportunity  slip  of  enriching  his  coffers,  reduced  the 
time  of  a  Jubilee  from  once  to  twice  in  a  century,  and  issued  his  bull 
for  another  celebration  in  1350.  "This  bull  being  everywhere 
published,  pilgrims  nocked  in  such  crowds  to  Rome,  from  all  parts 
of  the  then  known  world,  that  one  would  have  thought,"  says 
Petrarch,  who  was  present,  "  that  the  plague,  which  had  almost 
unpeopled  the  world,  had  not  so  much  as  thinned  it :"  and  another 
spectator  tells  us  that  on  Passion-Sunday,  when  the  famous  Ve- 
ronica was  shown,  the  crowd  was  so  great,  that  many  were 
stifled  on  the  spot.  Matthew  Villani,  who  has  continued  the  valu- 
able history  of  his  brother  John  Villani,  and  was  at  this  time  in 
Rome,  says  it  was  impossible  to  ascertain  the  present  number  of 
pilgrims,  constantly  in  that  city,  from  the  beginning  of  the  Jubilee 
year  to  the  end,  but  that,  by  the  computation  of  the  Romans,  it 
daily  amounted  to  between  a  million  and  twelve  hundred  thousand 
from  Christmas,  1349,  to  Easter,  which,  in  1350,  fell  on  the  28th  of 
March,  and  to  eight  hundred  thousand  from  Easter  to  Ascension- 
Day  and  Whitsunday  ;  that  notwithstanding  the  heats  of  that  sum- 
mer, and  the  busy  harvest  time,  it  was  no  day  under  two  hundred 
thousand,  and  that  the  concourse  at  the  end  was  equal  to  that  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year.*  Meyer  writes,  that  "  out  of  such  an  immense 
multitude  of  persons  of  both  sexes,  of  all  ages  and  conditions,  scarce 
one  in  ten  had  the  good  luck  to  return  home,  but  died  either  of  the 
fatigues  of  so  long  a  journey,  or  for  want  of  necessaries."!  The 
time  of  the  popish  Jubilee  was  subsequently  altered  to  twenty-five 
years,  at  which  it  still  continues.  The  last  was  held  in  1825,  and 
the  next  will,  of  course,  take  place  in  1850. 

*  Villani,  1.  i.,  c.  56.  t  Bower  vi.,  471. 


367 


BOOK  VI. 


POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE. 


FROM   THE   DEATH  OF   BONIFACE   VIII.    A.  D.    1303,   TO  THE   COMMENCEMENT   OF    THE 
COUNCIL    OF    TRENT,    A.  D.    1545. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    RESIDENCE    OF    THE    POPES     AT    AVIGNON,    AND    THE    GREAT    WEST- 
ERN   SCHISM. 

§  1. — IN  tracing  the  history  of  Romanism  hitherto,  we  have  seen 
that  its  progress  has  been  constantly  onward.  Springing  up  by 
degrees,  in  various  early  forms  of  error,  we  have  traced  the  pro- 
gress of  Popery  in  embryo,  till  the  establishment  of  papal  su- 
premacy cemented  those  errors  into  a  system,  and  the  newly-ac- 
quired authority  of  the  pretended  successor  of  St.  Peter  rendered 
them  obligatory  upon  all.  From  Popery  at  its  birth  in  606,  we 
have  followed  that  anti-Christian  power  in  its  onward  march,  till, 
increasing  in  pride  and  strength,  it  united  the  temporal  sovereignty 
to  the  spiritual  supremacy  in  756.  From  that  epoch,  we  have  seen 
it  steadily  advancing  step  by  step,  with  giant  strides,  till,  at  length, 
trampling  upon  the  pride  of  the  mightiest  monarchs,  and  marching 
onward  through  seas  of  blood— the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus 
— we  have  beheld  the  professed  successors  of  the  humble  apostle 
Peter,  claiming  and  exercising  universal  sovereignty  over  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  ;  and  successfully  daring,  for  more  than  two  cen- 
turies—from Hildebrand  to  Boniface — to  fulminate  their  excommu- 
nications at  the  heads  of  emperors  and  kings,  to  clothe  whole  na- 
tions in  mourning  and  sackcloth  by  the  mysterious  and  terrible 
power  of  their  interdicts,  and  to  claim  for  themselves  the  same  un- 
limited obedience  and  submission  from  all  the  dwellers  upon  earth, 
as  is  due  to  Almighty  God  himself,  of  whom  they  declared  them- 
selves the  vicegerents.  In  centuries  of  universal  degeneracy  and 
darkness,  we  have  seen  them  doing  all  this,  in  spite  of  the  greatest 
moral  turpitude  and  profligacy  of  character,  and  their  total  want 
of  resemblance  to  HIM  who  was  meek  and  lowly  of  heart,  and 
who  said,  "  my  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world." 

We  have  now  followed  the  march  of  Popery  to  its  culminating 
point,  and  henceforward  we  are  to  contemplate  its  retrograde  mo- 


3G8  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Decline  of  the  tyrnnnicul  power  of  the  popes  from  the  time  of  Boniface  VIII. 

tion  ;  not  in  pride,  but  in  power ;  not  in  willingness,  but  in  ability 
to  carry  into  exercise  those  tyrannical  and  bloody  principles  which 
it  has  never  renounced,  and  of  the  retention  of  which  we  shall  yet 
have  abundant  evidences  in  succeeding  centuries. 

From  the  age  of  pope  Boniface  and  king  Philip,  we  shall  see 
this  mighty  power  which  had  so  long  reigned  as  Despot  of  the 
world,  under  the  repeated  blows,  at  one  period,  of  some  puissant 
monarch  disgusted  with  its  tyranny  and  pride  ;  and  at  another,  of 
some  bold  and  fearless  reformer — of  a  Wickliff,  a  Huss,  a  Jerome, 
a  Luther — aiming  with  strong  and  sturdy  arm,  at  its  very  founda- 
tions,— shaking  upon  a  tottering  throne, — and  trembling  for  its 
very  existence  ;  and  yet  striving,  in  efforts  which  may  be  compared 
to  the  convulsive  death-throes  of  an  expiring  giant,  to  crush  all  its 
assailants,  and  to  hold  the  nations  of  the  earth  yet  longer  in  its 
slavish  chains. 

§  2. — Up  to  the  commencement  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the 
progress  of  Popery  was  like  that  of  a  young  Hercules-— with 
strength  enough,  even  in  his  cradle,  to  strangle  his  assailants — from 
birth  to  boyhood,  from  adolescence  to  manhood,  from  manhood  to 
giant  strength.  The  attempt  of  Boniface  to  wield  the  power  of  a 
Gregory,  was  like  Hercules  arraying  himself  in  the  poisoned  tunic 
of  the  Centaur.  From  that  hour  the  giant  strength  of  Popery  was 
paralysed ;  the  might  of  the  Romish  Hercules  had  departed,  and 
monarchs  and  nations  no  longer  quaked  at  the  sight  of  his  club. 

"  The  reign  of  Boniface,"  says  a  recent  historian,  "  was  fatal  to 
the  papal  power;' he  exaggerated  its  pretensions  at  the  moment 
when  the  world  had  begun  to  discover  the  Weakness  of  its  claims ; 
in  the  attempt  to  extend  its  influence  further  than  any  of  his  pre- 
decessors, he  exhausted  the  sources  of  his  strength  ;  and  none  of  his 
successors,  however  ardent,  ventured  to  revive  pretensions  which 
had  excited  so  many  wars,  shed  so  much  blood,  and  dethroned  so 
many  kings.  The  death  of  Boniface  marks  an  important  era  in 
the  history  of  Popery ;  from  this  time  we  shall  see  it  concentrating 
its  strength,  and  husbanding  its  resources  ;  fighting  only  on  the  de- 
fensive, it  no  longer  provokes  the  hostility  of  kings,  or  seeks  cause 
of  quarrel  with  the  emperors.  The  bulls  that  terrified  Christen- 
dom must  repose  as  literary  curiosities  in  the  archives  of  St.  Ange- 
lo,  and  though  the  claims  to  universal  supremacy  will  not  be  re- 
nounced, there  will  be  no  effort  made  to  enforce  them.  A  few 
pontiffs  will  be  found  now  and  then  reviving  the  claims  of  Gregory, 
of  Innocent,  and  of  Boniface ;  but  their  attempts  will  be  found  de- 
sultory and  of  brief  duration,  like  the  last  flashes,  fierce  but  few, 
that  break  out  from  the  ashes  of  a  conflagration."* 

§  3. — In  addition  to  the  moral  influence  of  the  triumph  of  Philip 
over  Boniface,  of  royal  over  papal  power,  the  power  of  the  popedom 
was  very  much  weakened  throughout  the  fourteenth  century  by  the 

*  See  Manual  of  Ancient  and  Modern  History,  by  W.  C.  Taylor,  LL.D.,  of 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  p.  447. 


chap,  i.]     POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING   THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  369 

The  residence  of  the  popes  in  France,  called  the  Seventy  years'  captivity.  The  Avignon  Popes. 

removal  of  the  papal  court  from  Italy  to  France,  from  Rome  to 
Avignon,  and  still  more  by  the  violent  contest  called  the  Great 
Western  Schism,  at  the  close  of  the  seventy  years'  captivity  in 
Babylon  (as  the  residence  of  the  popes  at  Avignon  has  been  called, 
by  way  of  derision),  between  rival  popes,  elected  by  the  French  and 
Italian  factions  respectively,  at  Avignon  and  Rome.  After  the  brief 
reign  of  pope  Benedict,  the  successor  of  Boniface  VIIL,  king  Philip 
of  France  succeeded  by  his  skill  and  address  in  securing  the  elec- 
tion of  one  of  his  own  subjects  to  the  vacant  See,  who  took  the 
name  of  Clement  V.,  fixed  his  residence  in  France,  and  passed  the 
whole  nine  years  of  his  reign  in  his  native  land,  without  once  visit- 
ing Rome,  the  ancient  seat  of  papal  grandeur  and  power.  Pope 
Clement,  throughout  the  whole  of  his  pontificate,  whether  from  gra- 
titude to  his  royal  patron,  or  from  fear  of  sharing  the  fate  of  Boni- 
face, was  the  obedient  tool  of  king  Philip.  At  the  request  or  com- 
mand of  the  King  he  revoked  the  bull  Unarn  Sanctum  and  other 
decrees  of  Pope  Boniface  against  France,  created  several  French 
cardinals,  and  condemned  and  suppressed,  upon  the  most  absurd 
and  improbable  charges,  the  order  of  the  Knights  Templar,  in  a 
council  held  at  Vienne  in  1309.* 

§  4. — The  Avignon  popes  who  succeeded  Clement  were,  John 
XXII.,  elected  in  1316,  whose  reign  is  distinguished  by  his  fierce, 
though  unsuccessful  contest  with  the  emperor  Louis  of  Bavaria,  on  ac- 
count of  that  monarch  taking  upon  him  the  administration  of  the  em- 
pire, without  asking  permission  of  the  Pope  ;  Benedict  XII.,  elected 
in  1343,  who  put  an  end  to  the  quarrel  with  Louis,  and  made  some 
commendable  efforts  to  redress  the  grievances  of  the  church,  and 
to  correct  the  horrible  abuses  of  the  monastic  orders  ;  Clement  VI., 
elected  in  1342,  a  man  of  excessive  vanity  and  ambition,  who 
renewed  the  quarrel  with  Louis  of  Bavaria,  and,  like  Boniface  VIII., 
attempted  to  wield  the  weapons  of  Hildebrand  by  issuing  his  male- 
dictions against  the  Emperor,  which,  however,  were  treated  by  that 
prince  with  derision  and  contempt;  Innocent  VI.  elected  in  1352, 
who  reigned  ten  years  with  comparative  moderation ;  Urban  V. 
elected  in  1362,  who  returned  to  the  ancient  palace  of  the  Vatican 
at  Rome  in  1367,  but  probably  at  the  persuasions  of  the  French 
cardinals,  came  back  to  Avignon  in  1370,  where  he  soon  after  died; 
and  Gregory  XL,  who,  partly  in  consequence  of  a  solemn  deputa- 
tion from  the  Roman  people,  and  partly  in  consequence  of  the  pre- 
tended revelations  of  a  wretched  fanatic,  who  has  since  been  can- 
onised as  Saint  Catharine  of  Sienna,  f  removed  his  court  to  Rome 
in  1374,  where  he  died  in  1378. 

*  For  the  nature  of  these  charges  and  tne  proofs  of  the  unjust  condemnation  of 
the  Templars,  see  Sismondi's  Italian  Republics,  chap.  xix.  Bower  in  vita  Clem. 
V.,&c. 

f  This  popish  Saint  Catharine  either  supposed  or  pretended  that  on  one  occa- 
sion she  had  been  blessed  by  a  vision,  in  which  the  Saviour  appeared  to  her, 
accompanied  by  the  Holy  Mother  and  a  numerous  host  of  saints,  and  in  their  pre- 
sence he  solemnly  espoused  her,  placing  on  her  ringer  a  golden  ring,  adorned  with 


370  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Popular  tumult  at  Rome,  demanding  of  Ihe  cardinals  a  Roman  pope. 


§  5. — The  place  of  the  death  of  a  pope  was  at  that  time  of  more 
lasting  importance  to  the  church  than  his  f  ving  residence,  because 
the  election  of  a  successor  could  scarcely  fail  to  be  affected  by  the 
local  circumstances  under  which  he  m  ght  be  chosen.  There  could 
be  no  security  for  the  continuance  of  the  papal  residence  at  Rome, 
until  the  crown  should  be  again  placed  upon  the  head  of  an  Italian. 
At  Avignon,  the  French  cardinals,  who  were  more  numerous,  were 
certain  to  elect  a  French  pope ;  but  the  accident  which  should 
oblige  the  conclave  to  assemble  in  an  Italian  city,  might  probably 
lead,  through  the  operation  of  external  influences,  to  the  choice  of 
an  Italian. 

The  number  of  cardinals  at  the  death  of  Gregory  XL,  was 
twenty-three,  of  whom  six  were  absent  at  Avignon,  and  one  was 
legate  in  Tuscany.  The  remaining  sixteen,  alter  celebrating  the 
funeral  ceremonies  of  the  deceased,  and  appointing  certain  officers 
to  secure  their  deliberations  from  violence,  prepared  to  enter  into 
conclave.  But  the  rights  of  sepulture  were  scarcely  performed, 
when  the  leading  magistrates  of  Rome  presented  to  them  a  remon- 
strance to  this  effect:  "  On  behalf  of  the  Roman  senate  and  people, 
they  ventured  to  represent  that  the  Roman  church  had  suffered  for 
seventy  years  a  deplorable  captivity  by  the  translation  of  the  holy 
See  to  Avignon.  That  the  faithful  were  no  longer  attracted  to 
Rome,  either  by  devotion,  which  the  profmation  of  the  churches 
precluded,  or  by  interest ;  since  the  Pope,  the  source  of  patronage, 
had  scandalously  deserted  his  church — so  that  there  was  danger, 
lest  that  unfortunate  city  should  be  reduced  to  a  vast  and  frightful 
solitude,  and  become  an  outcast  from  the  world,  of  which  it  was 
still  the  spiritual  empress,  as  it  once  had  been  the  temporal.  Lastly, 
that,  as  the  only  remedy  for  these  evils,  it  was  absolutely  necessary 
to  elect  a  Roman,  or  at  least  an  Italian  pope — especially  as  there 
was  every  appearance  that  the  people,  if  disappointed  in  their  just 
expectation,  would  have  recourse  to  compulsion. 

§  G. — The  cardinals  replied,  that  as  soon  as  they  should  be  in  a  con- 
clave they  would  give  to  those  subjects  their  solemn  deliberation, 
and  direct  their  choice  according  to  the  inspiration  of  the  holy 
Spirit.  They  repelled  the  notion  that  they  could  be  influenced  by 
any  popular  menace  ;  and  pronounced  (according  to  one  account), 
an  express  warning,  that  if  they  should  be  compelled  to  elect  under 
such  circumstances,  the  elected  would  not  be  a  pope,  but  an  intru- 
der. They  then  immediately  entered  into  conclave.  In  the  mean- 
time the  populace,  who  had  already  exhibited  proofs  of  impatience, 
and  whom  the  answer  of  the  cardinals  was  not  well  calculated  to 

four  pearls  and  a  diamond.  After  the  vision  had  vanished,  the  ring  still  remained, 
sensible  and  palpable  to  herself,  though  invisible  to  every  other  eye.  Nor  was 
this  the  only  favor  which  she  boasted  to  have  received  from  the  Lord  Jesus :  she 
had  sucked  the  blood  from  the  wound  in  His  side  ;  she  had  received  His  heart  in 
exchange  for  her  own  ;  she  bore  on  her  body  the  marks  of  His  wounds — though 
these  two  were  imperceptible  by  any  sight  except  her  own.  (Fkury,  book  xcvii., 
6ec.  40.     Spondanus,  Ann.  1376.) 


chap,  i.]    POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.    371 

Urban  VI.  elected.  He  severely  reprimands  the  luxury  of  the  bishops. 

satisfy,  assembled  in  great  crowds  about  the  place  of  meeting,  and 
continued  in  tumultuous  assemblage  during  the  whole  deliberation 
of  the  conclave,  so  that  the  debates  of  the  sacred  college  were 
incessantly  interrupted  by  the  loud  and  unanimous  shout — '  Romano 
lo  volemo  lo  Papa — Romano  lo  volemo — o  almanco  Italiano  !' — 
"  We  will  have  a  Roman  for  a  Pope — a  Roman,  or  at  least,  at  the 
very  least,  an  Italian  !"  These  were  not  circumstances  for  delay 
or  deliberation.  If  any  inclination  toward  the  choice  of  an  Italian 
had  previously  existed  in  the  college,  it  was  now  confirmed  into 
necessity  ;  and  on  the  very  day  following  their  retirement,  the  car- 
dinals were  agreed  in  their  election.  Howbeit,  they  studiously 
passed  over  the  four  Italian  members  of  their  own  body,  and  casting 
their  eyes  beyond  the  conclave,  selected  a  Neapolitan,  named  Bar- 
tolomeo  Prignano,  the  archbishop  of  Bari. 

The  announcement  was  not  immediately  published,  probably 
through  the  fear  of  popular  dissatisfaction,  because  a  Roman  had  not 
been  created  ;  and  presently,  when  the  impatience  of  the  people 
still  further  increased,  the  bishop  of  Marseilles  went  to  the  window 
and  said,  "  Go  to  St.  Peter's,  and  you  shall  learn  the  decision." 
Whereupon  some  who  heard  him,  understanding  that  the  cardinal 
of  St.  Peter's  had  been  chosen,  rushed  into  the  palace  of  that  pre- 
late, and  plundered  it,  for  such  was  the  custom  then  invariably 
observed  on  the  election  of  a  pope.  In  the  meantime  the  other  car- 
dinals escaped  from  the  conclave  in  great  disorder  and  trepidation, 
without  dignity  or  attendants,  or  even  their  ordinary  habiliments  of 
office,  and  sought  safety,  some  in  their  respective  palaces,  and 
others  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  or  even  beyond  the  walls  of  the' 
city.  On  the  following  day,  the  people  were  undeceived ;  and  as 
they  showed  no  strong  disinclination  for  the  master  who  had  been 
really  chosen  for  them,  the  archbishop  of  Bari,  who  took  the  name 
of  Urban  VI.,  was  solemnly  enthroned,  and  the  scattered  cardinals 
reappeared,  and  rallied  round  him  in  confidence  and  security. 

§  7. — The  ceremony  of  coronation  was  duly  performed,  and  several 
bishops  were  assembled  on  the  very  following  day,  at  vespers  in 
the  pontifical  chapel,  when  the  Pope  unexpectedly  addressed  them 
in  the  bitterest  language  of  reprobation.  He  accused  them  of  hav- 
ing deserted  and  betrayed  the  flocks  which  God  had  confided  to 
them,  in  order  to  revel  in  luxury  at  the  court  of  Rome  ;  and  he 
applied  to  their  offence  the  harsh  reproach  of  perjury.  One  of  them 
(the  bishop  of  Pampeluna)  repelled  the  charge,  as  far  as  himself 
was  concerned,  by  reference  to  the  duties  which  he  performed  at 
Rome  ;  the  others  suppressed  in  silence  their  anger  and  confusion. 
A  few  days  afterward,  at  a  public  consistory,  Urban  repeated  his 
complaints  and  denunciations,  and  urged  them  still  more  generally 
in  the  presence  of  his  whole  court.  The  cardinals  continued,  not- 
withstanding, their  attendance  at  the  Vatican  for  a  few  weeks  longer, 
and  then,  as  was  usual  on  the  approach  of  the  summer  heats,  they 
withdrew  from  the  city,  with  the  Pope's  permission,  and  retired  to 
Anagni.     Of  the  sixteen  cardinals  who  had  elected  pope  Urban, 


372  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Offended  with  pope  Urban,  the  cardinals  elect  another  pope,  Clement  VII. 


eleven  were  French,  one  a  Spaniard,  and  four  Italians.  These  four 
alone  remained  at  Rome.  The  others  were  no  sooner  removed 
from  the  immediate  inspection  of  Urban,  than  they  commenced,  or 
at  least  more  boldly  pursued  their  measures  to  overthrow  him.  On 
the  one  hand,  they  opened  a  direct  correspondence  with  the  court 
of  France  and  university  of  Paris  ;  on  the  other,  they  took  into  their 
service  a  body  of  mercenaries,  commanded  by  one  Bernard  de  la 
Sale,  a  Gascon,  and  then  they  no  longer  hesitated  to  treat  the  elec- 
tion of  Urban  as  null,  through  the  violence  which  had  attended  it. 
To  give  consequence  to  this  decision,  they  assembled  with  great 
solemnity  in  the  principal  church,  and  promulgated,  on  the  9th  of 
August,  a  public  declaration,  in  the  presence  of  many  prelates  and 
other  ecclesiastics,  by  which  the  archbishop  of  Bari  was  denounced 
as  an  intruder  into  the  pontificate,  and  his  election  formally  can- 
celled. 

They  then  retired,  for  greater  security,  to  Fondi,  in  the  kingdom 
of  Naples.  Still  they  did  not  venture  to  proceed  to  a  new  election 
in  the  absence,  and  it  might  be  against  the  consent,  of  their  Italian 
brethren.  A  negotiation  was  accordingly  opened,  and  these  last 
immediately  fell  into  the  snare,  which  treachery  had  prepared  for 
ambition.  To  each  of  them  separately  a  secret  promise  was  made 
in  writing,  by  the  whole  of  their  colleagues,  that  himself  should  be 
the  object  of  their  choice.  Each  of  them  believing  what  he  wished, 
they*  pressed  to  Fondi  with  joy  and  confidence.  The  college  im- 
mediately entered  into  conclave,  and  as  the  French  had,  in  the  mean- 
time, reconciled  their  provincial  jealousies,  Robert,  the  cardinal  of 
Geneva,  was  chosen  by  their  unanimous  vote.  This  event  took 
place  on  the  20th  of  September,  1378,  the  new  Pope  assumed  the 
name  of  Clement  VII.,  and  was  installed  with  the  customary  cere- 
monies.f 

§  8. — Such  was  the  origin  of  the  great  Western  schism  which 
divided  the  Roman  church  for  about  forty  years,  and  accelerated, 
more  than  any  other  event,  the  decline  of  papal  authority.  Whether 
Urban  or  Clement  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  lawful  Pope,  and  true 
successor  of  St.  Peter,  is  even  to  this  day,  as  Mosheim  justly 
observes,  a  matter  of  doubt,  nor  will  the  records  and  writings, 
alleged  by  the  contending  parties,  enable  us  to  adjust  that  point 
with  any  certainty.J 

Urban  remained  at  Rome  ;  Clement  went  to  Avignon  in  France. 
His  cause  was  espoused  by  France  and  Spain,  Scotland,  Sicily, 
and  Cyprus,  while  all  the  rest  of  Europe  acknowledged  Urban  to  be 

*  They  were  now  reduced  to  three,  by  the  death  of  the  cardinal  of  St.  Peter's. 

f  See  Waddington's  Church  History,  chap,  xxxiii.  Sismondi's  Italian  Repub- 
lics, chap.  1. 

I  Platina,  the  Romish  historian  of  the  Popes,  says,  "  In  the  time  of  Urban  IV. 
arose  the  22d  (or  26th)  schism,  of  all  schisms  the  worst,  and  most  puzzling.  For 
it  was  so  intricate  that  not  even  the  most  learned  and  conscientious  were  able  to 
decide  to  which  of  the  pretenders  they  were  to  adhere,  and  it  continued  to  the 
time  of  Martin  V."  (more  than  forty  years). 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.     373 


Violence  of  this  great  Western  schism. Council  of  Pisa. 

the  true  vicar  of  Christ,  and  the  genuine  link  in  the  chain  of  apos- 
tolic succession. 

§  9. — The  dissension  between  pope  Urban  and  his  successors  at 
Rome,  and  pope  Clement  and  his  successors  in  France,  was  foment- 
ed with  such  dreadful  success,  and  arose  to  such  a  shameful  height, 
that  for  the  space  of  forty  years  the  church  had  two  or  three  differ- 
ent heads  at  the  same  time,  each  of  the  contending  popes  forming 
plots,  and  thundering  out  anathemas  against  their  competitors.    The 
distress  and  calamity  of  these  times  is  beyond  all  power  of  descrip- 
tion ;  for,  not  to  insist  upon  the  perpetual  contentions  and  wars  be- 
tween the  factions  of  the  several  popes,  by  which   multitudes  lost 
their  fortunes  and  lives,  all  sense  of  religion  was  extinguished  in 
most  places,  and  profligacy  rose  to  a  most  scandalous  excess.    The 
clergy,  while  they  vehemently  contended  which  of  the  reigning 
popes  was  the  true  successor  of  Christ,  were  so  excessively  corrupt, 
as  to  be  no  longer  studious  to  keep  up  even  an  appearance  of  religion 
or  decency  ;  and  in  consequence  of  all  this,  many  plain,  well-mean- 
ing people,  who  concluded  that  no  one  could  possibly  partake  of 
eternal  life,  unless  united  with  the  vicar  of  Christ,  were  overwhelm- 
ed with  doubt,  and   plunged   into   the  deepest   distress  of  mind. 
Nevertheless  these  abuses  were,  by  their  consequences,  greatly 
conducive  both  to  the  civil  and  religious  interests  of  mankind  ;  for 
by  these  dissensions  the  papal  power  received  an  incurable  wound, 
and  kings  and   princes,  who  had  formerly  been  the  slaves  of  the 
lordly  pontiffs,  now  became  their  judges  and  masters.     And  many 
of  the  least  stupid  among  the  people  had   the  courage  to  disregard 
and  despise  the  popes,  on  account  of  their  odious  disputes  about 
dominion,  to  commit  their  salvation  to  God  alone,  and  to  admit  it  as 
a  maxim,  that  the  prosperity  of  the  church  might  be  maintained, 
and  the  interests  of  religion  secured  and  promoted  without  a  visible 
head,  crowned  with  a  spiritual  supremacy.* 

§  10. — At  length,  however,  it  was  resolved  to  call  a  general  coun- 
cil for  the  purpose  of  terminating  this  disgraceful  schism,  which  was 
accordingly  assembled  at  Pisa  on  the  25th  of  March,  1409.  At 
this  time  the  Roman  pope  was  Gregory  XII.,  and  the  French  pope 
Benedict  XII.  The  latter  had,  while  a  cardinal,  taken  a  solemn 
oath,  if  elected  pope,  to  resign  the  papacy,  should  it  be  necessary 
for  the  peace  of  the  church.  When  required  to  fulfil  this  promise, 
he  positively  refused,  and  being  besieged  in  Avignon  by  the  king 
of  France,  he  made  his  escape  to  Perpignan.  In  consequence  of 
being  thus  deserted  by  their  pope,  eight  or  nine  of  his  cardinals 
united  with  the  cardinals  of  the  Roman  pope  Gregory,  in  calling 
the  council  of  Pisa,  in  order  to  heal  the  divisions  and  factions  that 
had  so  long  rent  the  papal  empire. 

This  council,  however,  which  was  designed  to  close  the  wounds 
of  the  church,  had  an  effect  quite  contrary  to  that  which  was  uni- 
versally expected,  and  only  served  to  open  a  new  breach,  and  to 

*  Mosheim,  iii.,  page  319. 


374  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [bookvx. 

Th«'  council  choose  another  pope,  Alexander  V.,  making  three  popes  at  the  same  time. 

excite  new  divisions.  Its  proceedings  indeed  were  vigorous,  and 
its  measures  were  accompanied  with  a  just  severity.  A  heavy 
sentence  of  condemnation  was  pronounced  the  5th  day  of  June, 
against  the  contending  pontiff's,  who  were  both  declared  guilty  of 
heresy,  perjury,  and  contumacy,  unworthy  of  the  smallest  tokens  of 
honor  and  respect,  and  separated  ipso  facto  from  the  communion  of 
the  church.  This  step  was  followed  by  the  election  of  one  pontiff 
in  their  place.  The  election  was  made  on  the  25th  of  June,  and 
fell  upon  Peter  of  Candia,  known  on  the  papal  list  by  the  name  of 
Alexander  V.,  but  all  the  decrees  and  proceedings  of  this  famous 
council  were  treated  with  contempt  by  the  condemned  pontiffs, 
who  continued  to  enjoy  the  privileges,  and  to  perform  the  functions 
of  the  papacy,  as  if  no  attempts  had  been  made  to  remove  them 
from  that  dignity.  "  The  deposed  popes,  Gregory  and  Benedict, 
protested  against  these  proceedings,  and  each  convoked  another 
council,  the  one  at  Civitat  de  Frioul,  the  other  at  Perpignan.  With 
much  difficulty  they  succeeded  in  assembling  each  a  few  prelates 
devoted  to  their  cause,  yet  they,  nevertheless,  bestowed  upon  these 
assemblies  the  name  of  oecumenical  councils,  which  they  had  refused 
to  give  that  of  Pisa.  It  is  certain,  said  they,  that  the  church  is  the 
Pope,  and  it  suffices  that  the  Pope  be  present  in  any  place,  for  the 
church  to  be  there  also,  and  where  the  Pope  is  not  in  the  body  or 
in  mind,  no  church  is."* 

§  11. — Thus  was  the  holy  Catholic  church,  which  boasts  so  much  of 
its  unity,  split  up  into  three  contending  and  hostile  factions,  under  three 
pretended  successors  of  St.  Peter,  who  loaded  each  other  with  re- 
ciprocal calumnies  and  excommunications,  and  even  to  the  present 
day,  the  problem  remains  undecided,  which  of  the  three  is  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  genuine  link  in  the  chain  of  apostolical  succession. 
Doubtless  they  had  all  an  equal  claim,  and  that  was  no  claim  at  all. 
If  succession  should  be  tested  by  possession  of  the  same  spirit  and 
character,  it  would  be  found  that  these  three  ambitious  and  factious 
ecclesiastics,  and  heads  of  an  infallible  church,  were  better  entitled 
to  the  character  of  the  successors  of  Judas  the  traitor,  or  Simon  the 
sorcerer,  rather  than  of  Paul  or  Peter  the  apostle. 

In  the  year  1410,  Alexander  V.,  who  had  been  elected  pope  at 
the  council  of  Pisa,  died,  and  the  sixteen  cardinals  who  attended 
him  at  Bologna,  immediately  chose  as  his  successor,  the  notorious 
and  abandoned  man  who  assumed  the  title  of  John  XXIII.  and  who 
afterward  made  such  a  figure  in  the  celebrated  council  of  Constance. 

The  year  after  his  election,  pope  John  XXIII.,  preached  a  cru- 
sade against  Ladislaus  of  Hungary,  who  was  contending  with 
Louis  II.  of  Anjou,  for  the  crown  of  Naples,  on  account  of  the 
former  adhering  to  the  cause  of  the  rival  pope  Gregory  XII.  In 
the  terrible  bull  of  crusade  which  he  fulminated  against  Ladislaus, 

*  See  the  recent  valuable  work  of  Emite  de  Bonneclwse,  Librarian  to  the  king 
of  France,  entitled  the  "  Reformation  of  John  Huss,  and  the  Council  of  Constance," 
translated  from  the  French  by  Campbell  Mackenzie,  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin. — 
Introd.,  chap.  iv. 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  13(3-1515.    375 

Fierce  and  bloody  edict  of  pope  John,  against  king  Ladislaus,  for  favoring  his  rival. 

on  the  9th  of  September,  1411,  he  enjoined,  under  pain  of  excom- 
munication, ipso  facto,  all  patriarchs,  archbishops,  and  prelates,  to 
declare,  on  Sundays  and  fast-days,  with  bells  ringing,  and  tapers 
burning,  and  then  suddenly  extinguished  and  Jlung  on  the  ground, 
that  Ladislaus  was  excommunicated,  perjured,  a  schismatic,  a  blas- 
phemer, a  relapsed  heretic,  and  a  supporter  of  heretics,  guilty  of 
lese-majesty,  and  the  enemy  of  the  Pope  and  the  church.  John 
XXIII.,  in  the  same  manner,  excommunicated  Ladislaus's  children 
to  the  third  generation,  as  well  as  his  adherents  and  well-wishers  : 
he  commanded,  that  if  they  happened  to  die,  even  with  absolution, 
they  should  be  deprived  of  ecclesiastical  sepulture :  he  declared  that, 
whoever  should  afford  burial  to  Ladislaus  and  his  partisans  should 
be  excommunicated,  and  should  not  be  absolved  until  he  had  disinter- 
red their  bodies  with  his  own  hands.  The  Pope  prayed  all  emperors, 
kings,  princes,  cardinals,  and  believers  of  both  sexes,  by  the  sprink- 
ling of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  (horrible  !)  to  save  the  church  by 
persecuting  without  mercy,  and  exterminating  Ladislaus  and  his 
defenders.  They  who  should  enter  on  this  crusade,  were  to  have 
the  same  indulgences  as  persons  proceeding  to  the  conquest  of  the 
Holy  land,  and  in  case  they  happened  to  die  before  the  accomplish- 
ment of  their  aim,  should  enjoy  all  the  same  privileges  as  if  they 
had  died  in  accomplishing  it.* 

A  second  bull,  published  at  the  same  time,  and  in  which  Angelo 
Corrario  (Gregory  XII.)  is  termed  "  the  son  of  malediction,  a  heretic 
and  a  schismatic,"  was  addressed  to  the  pontifical  commissioners  : 
it  promises  complete  remission  of  sins  to  all  persons  preaching  up 
the  crusade,  and  to  those  collecting  funds  for  the  cause  ;  it  suspends 
or  annuls  the  effect  of  all  other  indulgences  accorded  even  by  the 
apostolic  See.  These  two  bulls,  issued  against  a  Christian  prince, 
and  for  reasons  purely  temporal,  show  the  extent  of  the  rage  which 
animated  the  See  of  Rome,  and  of  the  excesses  into  which  it  allow- 
ed itself  to  be  drawn  :  they  set  Bohemia  in  flames. 

§  12. — This  fierce  and  bloody  manifesto  kindled  the  zeal  of  the 
celebrated  John  Huss  of  Bohemia,  who  was  shocked  at  the  abomi- 
nable impiety  of  the  Pope  and  his  bull,  and  published  a  calm  and 
dignified  reply  to  it.  "  I  shall  affirm  nothing,"  said  he,  "  but  what 
is  in  conformity  with  the  holy  Scriptures  ;  and  I  have  no  intention 
of  resisting  the  power  which  God  has  given  to  the  Roman  pontiff: 
I  shall  resist  nothing  but  the  abuse  of  this  authority.  Now,  war  is 
permitted  neither  to  the  Popes,  nor  to  the  bishops,  nor  to  the  priests, 
particularly  for  temporal  reasons.  If,  in  fact,  the  disciples  of  Jesus 
Christ  were  not  allowed  to  have  recourse  to  the  sword  to  defend 
him  who  was  the  chief  of  the  church,  against  those  who  wanted  to 
seize  on  him ;  and  if  St.  Peter  himself  was  severely  reproved  for 
doing  so,  much  more  will  it  not  be  permissible  to  a  bishop  to  engage 
in  a  war  for  temporal  domination  and  earthly  riches. 

"  If,"  continues  Huss,  "  the  Pope  and  his  cardinals  had  said  to 

*  Hist,  et  Monum.  Hus.,  Tom.  i.,  p.  212. 
23 


378  HISTORY  OF  HOMANISM.  [book  vi. 

opposition  of  John  Muss  to  the  Pope's  bull  of  crusade.  An  arsenal  a  bishop's  library. 

Christ,  *  Lord,  if  you  wish,  we  will  exhort  the  whole  universe  to 
compass  the  destruction  of  Ladislaus,  Gregory,  and  their  accom- 
plices,' the  Saviour  would  undoubtedly  have  answered  to  them  as 

he  did  to  his  apostles,  when  they  consulted  him  if  they  should  take 
vengeance  on  the  Samaritans:  '1  am  not  come  to  destroy  men's 
lives,  but  to  save  them.'  (Luke  ix.)  Jesus  did  not  smite  his  enemy, 
the  high-priest's  servant,  when  marching  against  him,  but  healed 
his  wound. 

"  Let  him,  therefore,  who  pleases,  declare  that  he  is  bound  to 
obey  the  bull,  even  unto  the  extermination  of  Ladislaus  and  his 
family;  for  my  part  1  would  not,  without  a  revelation — a  positive 
order  from  God — raise  my  hand  against  Ladislaus  and  his  parti- 
zans ;  but  I  would  address  an  humble  prayer  to  God,  to  bring  into 
the  way  of  truth  those  who  are  going  astray  <  for  he  who  is  the 
chief  of  the  whole  church,  prayed  tor  his  persecutors,  saying: 
'  Father,  pardon  them  ;  they  know  not  what  they  do  !'  (Luke  xxiii., 
31);  and  I  am  of  opinion  that  Christ,  his  mother,  and  his  disciples,  were 
greater  than  the  Pope  and  his  cardinals."*  In  a  subsequent  chap- 
ter, we  shall  see  the  consequences  which  resulted  to  the  Bohemian 
reformer,  for  his  temerity  in  thus  venturing  to  attack  the  abomina- 
tions of  Rome. 

In  the  meanwhile,  in  consequence  of  these  disgraceful  squabbles 
of  the  pretended  successors  of  St.  Peter,  the  different  states  of  the 
continent  were  so  many  theatres  of  war  and  rapine,  and  the  clergy. 
instead  of  employing  all  their  efforts  to  put  an  end  to  the  evil,  fre- 
quently excited  it  by  their  example.  The  schism  afforded  the 
ecclesiastics  perpetual  opportunities  for  insurrection  :  the  bishops 
were  men  of  war  rather  than  churchmen,  and  one  of  them,  whim 
newly  elected  to  his  bishopric,  having  requested  to  be  shown  the 
library  of  his  predecessors,  was  led  into  an  arsenal,  in  which  all 
kinds  of  arms  were  piled  up.  "  Those,''  was  the  observation  made 
to  him,  "  are  the  books  which  theij  made  use  of  to  defend  the  church : 
imitate  their  example."  "  And  how,"  asks  Bonnechose,  "  could  it 
possibly  not  have  been  so,  when  three  popes  showed  much  more 
anxiety  to  destroy  one  another,  than  ardor  to  gain  over  believers 
to  God  and  Jesus  Christ?  Among  them,  the  most  warlike,  as  well 
as  the  most  interested  in  exciting  the  martial  tendency  of  his  parti- 
zans,  was  John  XXIIL,  whose  temporal  power  over  Rome  and  her 
dependencies  was  as  insecure  as  his  spiritual  authority  was  feeble 
over  men's  minds. "f 

§  13. — The  general  council  was  summoned  to  meet  at  Constance, 
in  the  year  1414,  by  pope  John,  who  was  engaged  in  this  measure, 
by  the  entreaties  of  the  emperor  Sigismund,  and  also  from  an  ex- 
pectation that  the  decrees  of  this  grand  assembly  would  be  favor- 
able to  his  interests.  He  appeared  in  person,  attended  with  a  great 
number  of  cardinals  and  bishops,  at  the  council,  which  was  also 
honored  with  the  presence  of  the  Emperor  himself,  and  ol  a  great 

*  Hist,  et  Monum.  IIus.,  Tom.  i.,  p.  215,  &c. 
f  Bonnechose,  book  i.,  chap.  3, 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  377 

Council  of  Constance.        Papal  schism  healed  by  the  election  of  pope  Martin  V.  Birth  of  VVickliff. 

number  of  German  princes,  and  with  that  of  the  ambassadors  of 
all  the  European  states,  whose  monarchs  or  regents  could  not  be 
personally  present  at  the  decision  of  this  important  controversy. 
The  object  of  the  council,  viz. :  the  healing  of  the  papal  schism,  was 
accomplished  by  the  deposition  of  John  XXIII. ,  and  also  of  Bene- 
dict XIII.,  the  Avignon  pope,  and  the  voluntary  resignation  which 
the  Italian  pontiff,  Gregory  XII.  (probably  making  a  virtue  of  ne- 
cessity), sent  to  the  council,  and  by  the  unanimous  election  of  Car- 
dinal Otta  de  Calonna,  who  was  soon  after  crowned  with  much 
pomp,  and  took  the  name  of  Martin  V.  There  are  other  matters 
connected  with  the  proceedings  of  the  council  of  Constance,  of  far 
deeper  interest  to  the  Christian  student  of  history,  than  the  healing 
of  this  disgraceful  schism ;  but  these  particulars  must  be  reserved 
to  the  chapters  devoted  particularly  to  those  courageous  and  noble- 
minded  opposers  of  papal  abominations,  Wickliff,*  of  England,  Huss 
of  Bohemia,  and  Jerome  of  Prague. 


CHAPTER  II. 

WICKLIFF,  THE  ENGLISH  REFORMER.  THE  CONDEMNATION  OF  HIS  WORKS, 
AND  THE  BURNING  OF  HIS  BONES,  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF 
CONSTANCE. 

§  14. — At  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  great  papal 
Schism  of  the  West,  in  1378,  the  celebrated  Wickliff,  the  morning 
star  .of  the  Reformation,  as  he  has  been  justly  called,  was  employ- 
ing all  the  influence  of  his  great  reputation,  and  the  splendor  of  his 
commanding  talents,  against  many  of  the  corruptions  of  Popery. 
Of  the  two  rival  occupants  of  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  England  had 
embraced  the  side  of  Urban,  and  the  mendicant  Franciscans  and 
Dominicans  were  employing  themselves  with  diligence  in  advo- 
cating his  cause,  and  in  exciting  the  popular  hatred  and  fury  against 
his  rival,  Clement. 

Wickliff,  who  was  born  in  the  year  1324,  and  was  consequently 
about  fifty-four  years  old  at  this  time,  had  nearly  twenty  years  be- 
fore distinguished  himself  by  his  bold  attacks  upon  these  corrupt 
mendicant  orders,  and  his  feelings  of  abhorrence  toward  them  were 
renewed  by  their  activity  on  behalf  of  pope  Urban  at  this  time. 
Each  of  the  popes  endeavored  to  stimulate  his  adherents  to  take  up 

*  The  name  of  this  early  reformer  has  been  spelled  in  no  less  than  sixteen  dif- 
ferent ways..  Wiclif  is  adopted  by  his  biographer  Lewis,  and  is  used  in  the  oldest 
document  containing  his  name.  Vaughan,  the  ablest  of  his  biographers,  uses 
Wycliffe.    In  the  present  work  Wickliff  is  adopted  as  the  most  popular  form. 


378  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Wickliff's  bold  protestations  against  the  crimes  and  the  claims  of  the  Pope  and  his  priesthood. 

arms  against  his  rival,  by  the  same  promises  of  spiritual  blessings, 
and  the  same  denunciations  of  divine  wrath,  as  had  been  used  to 
obtain  supporters  to  the  crusades,  or  military  expeditions  for  the 
recovery  of  the  Holy  land  from  the  infidels.  These  military  expe- 
ditions were  represented  as  equally  meritorious,  and  were  desig- 
nated by  the  same  title,  while  all  the  nefarious  practices  employed 
in  support  of  the  crusades  were  employed  on  the  present  occasion. 
The  popish  bishop  of  Norwich  raised  a  considerable  army  by  the 
bulls  of  pope  Urban,  promising  full  remission  of  sins,  and  a  place 
in  paradise  to  all  who  assisted  his  cause  by  money  or  in  person  ! 

This  military  prelate  headed  his  troops,  and  invaded  France,  by 
which  kingdom  pope  Clement  was  supported.  But  his  campaign 
was  unsuccessful :  he  returned  to  England  in  a  few  months  with 
the  scanty  remains  of  his  army,  and  was  the  subject  of  general  de- 
rision. Against  such  proceedings  Wickliff  spoke  boldly.  He  says, 
"  Christ  is  a  good  shepherd,  for  he  puts  his  own  life  for  the  saving 
of  the  sheep.  But  anti-Christ  is  a  ravening  wolf,  for  he  ever  does 
the  reverse,  putting  many  thousand  lives  for  his  own  wretched  life. 
By  forsaking  things  which  Christ  has  bid  his  priests  forsake,  he 
might  end  all  this  strife.  Why  is  he  not  a  fiend  stained  foul  with 
homicide,  who,  though  a  priest,  fights  in  such  a  cause  ?  If  man- 
slaying  in  others  be  odious  to  God,  much  more  in  priests  who  should 
be  the  vicars  of  Christ.  And  I  am  certain  that  neither  the  Pope, 
nor  all  the  men  of  his  council,  can  produce  a  spark  of  reason  to 
prove  that  he  should  do  this."  Wickliff  speaks  of  the  two  popes, 
as  fighting,  one  against  the  other,  with  the  most  blasphemous  leas- 
ings  (or  falsehoods)  that  ever  sprang  out  of  hell.  But  they  were 
occupied,"  he  adds,  "  many  years  before  in  blasphemy,  and  in  sin- 
ning against  God  and  his  church.  And  this  made  them  to  sin  more, 
as  an  ambling  blind  horse,  when  he  beginneth  to  stumble,  continues 
to  stumble  until  he  casts  himself  down." 

§  15. — Another  circumstance  had  assisted  not  only  to  call  Wickliff 
into  public  notice,  but  also  to  excite  against  him  the  hatred  of  the 
Pope  and  the  priesthood.  This  was  the  decision  of  the  English 
parliament  in  1365,  to  resist  the  claim  of  pope  Urban  who  at- 
tempted the  revival  of  an  annual  payment  of  a  thousand  marks,* 
as  a  tribute,  or  feudal  acknowledgment,  that  the  kingdoms  of  Eng- 
land and  Ireland  were  held  at  the  pleasure  of  the  pope.  His  claim 
was  founded  upon  the  surrender  of  the  crown  by  king  John  to  pope 
Innocent  III.  The  payment  had  been  discontinued  for  thirty-three 
years,  and  the  recent  victories  of  Cressy  and  Poictiers,  with  their 
results,  had  so  far  strengthened  the  power  of  England,  that  the  de- 
mand by  the  pontiff,  of  the  arrears,  with  the  continuance  of  the 
tribute,  upon  pain  of  papal  censure,  was  unanimously  rejected  by 
the  King  and  parliament.  The  reader  must  recollect  that  this  was 
not  a  question  bearing  only  upon  the  immediate  point  in  dispute  ; 
the  grand  subject  of  papal  supremacy  was  involved  therein,  and 

*  A  mark  is  13s.  id.  sterling — about  three  dollars. 


chap,  n.]     POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  379 

Insolence  of  a  monk.  Wickliff  calls  the  Pope  "  the  most  cursed  of  clippers  and  purse- ker vers." 

the  refusal  to  listen  to  the  mandate  of  the  Pope  necessarily  tended 
to  abridge  the  general  influence  of  the  clergy.  A  measure  of  this 
description  was  almost  unknown  in  the  history  of  Europe  at  that 
day.  Such  claims  were  not  lightly  relinquished  by  the  papacy,  and 
shortly  after  this  decision  of  the  parliament,  a  monk  wrote  in  de- 
fence of  the  papal  usurpations,  asserting  that  the  sovereignty  of 
England  was  forfeited  by  withholding  the  tribute,  and  that  the 
clergy,  whether  as  individuals  or  as  a  general  body,  were  exempted 
from  all  jurisdiction  of  the  civil  power,  a  claim  which  had  already 
excited  considerable  discussions  in  the  preceding  reigns.  Wickliff 
was  personally  called  upon  by  this  writer  to  prove,  if  he  were  able, 
the  fallacy  of  these  opinions,  which  he  did  in  an  able  and  masterly 
manner,  concluding  his  treatise  with  a  prediction  long  ago  fulfilled. 
"  If  I  mistake  not,"  said  the  bold  reformer,  "  the  day  will  come  in 
which  all  exactions  shall  cease,  before  the  Pope  will  prove  such  a 
condition  to  be  reasonable  and  honest." 

§  16. — Wickliff  had  long  been  the  subject  of  papal  and  prelatical 
vengeance  for  his  opposition  to  transubstantiation,  and  other  popish 
errors,  and  had  only  been  shielded  from  the  rage  of  his  enemies  by 
the  powerful  protection  of  John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancaster. 
This  danger,  after  denouncing  the  Pope  as  "  anti-Christ,  the  proud, 
worldly  priest  of  Rome,  the  most  cursed  of  clippers  and  purse- 
kervers,"  was  greater  than  ever ;  yet  he  shrunk  not  from  duty 
through  fear  of  the  consequences,  and  in  the  words  of  the  ablest  of 
his  biographers,  "  The  language  of  his  conduct  was — '  To  live,  and 
to  be  silent  is  with  me  impossible — the  guilt  of  such  treason  against 
the  Lord  of  heaven  is  more  to  be  dreaded  than  many  deaths.  Let 
the  blow  therefore  fall.  Enough  I  know  of  the  men  whom  I  op- 
pose, of  the  times  on  which  I  am  thrown,  and  of  the  mysterious 
providence  which  relates  to  our  sinful  race,  to  expect  that  the  stroke 
will  ere  long  descend.  But  my  purpose  is  unalterable  ;  I  wait  its 
coming.'  "* 

Amidst  these  labors  and  persecutions  Wickliff  was  assailed  by 
sickness.  While  at  Oxford  he  was  confined  to  his  chamber,  and 
reports  of  his  approaching  dissolution  were  circulated.  The  men- 
dicants considered  this  to  be  a  favorable  opportunity  for  obtaining 
a  recantation  of  his  declarations  against  them.  Perhaps  they  con- 
cluded that  the  sick-bed  of  Wickliff  would  resemble  many  others 
they  had  witnessed,  and  their  power  would  be  there  felt  and  ac- 
knowledged. A  doctor  from  each  of  the  privileged  orders  of  beg- 
gars, attended  by  some  of  the  civil  authorities  of  the  city,  entered 
the  chamber  of  Wickliff.  They  at  first  expressed  sympathy  for 
his  sufferings,  with  hopes  for  his  recovery.  They  then  suggested 
that  he  must  be  aware  of  the  wrongs  the  mendicants  had  expe- 
rienced from  him,  especially  by  his  sermons,  and  other  writings  ; 
as  death  now  appeared  at  hand,  they  concluded  that  he  must  have 

*  Life  and  Opinions  of  John  de  Wycliffe,  D.D.,  by  Robert  Vaughan,  in  2  vols. 
London,  1828— vol.  ii.,  p.  257. 


380 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  VI. 


Wicklifi's  reproof  of  the  mendicant  friars. 


Specimen  of  his  translation  of  the  Scriptures. 


feelings  of  compunction  on  this  account ;  therefore  they  expressed 
their  hope  that  he  would  not  conceal  his  penitence,  but  distinctly 
recall  whatever  he  had  hitherto  said  against  them.  The  suffering 
reformer  listened  to  this  address  unmoved.  When  it  was  concluded, 
he  made  sighs  for  his  attendants  to  raise  him  in  his  bed ;  then  fixing 
his  eyes  on  the  mendicants,  he  summoned  all  his  remaining  strength, 
and  loudly  exclaimed,  "  I    shall,   not  die,  hut    live,   and   shall 

AGAIN     DECLARE     THE     EVIL     DEEDS    OF    THE    FRIARS."       The     appalled 

doctors,  with  their  attendants,  hurried  from  the  room,  and  they 
speedily  found  the  prediction  fulfilled.  "  This  scene,"  it  has  well 
been  remarked,  "  would  afford  a  striking  subject  for  an  able  artist,"* 
and  we  have  endeavored,  by  the  help  of  our  skilful  artist,  to  repre- 
sent it  in  the  accompanying  engraving.    (See  Engraving.) 

§  17. — But  however  much  the  intrepid  rector  of  Lutterworth  ex- 
posed himself  to  papal  hatred,  by  his  work  "  on  the  Schism  of  the 
Popes,"  he  completed  in  the  year  1383  an  infinitely  more  impor- 
tant work,  which  excited  to  a  still  higher  pitch  the  enmity  and  rage 
of  his  popish  opponents.  This  was  the  translation  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  into  the  English  language  from  the  Latin,  a  work  which 
cost  him  the  labor  of  several  years.f     The  feelings  of  Romanists 

*  Life  of  Wickliff  in  British  Reformers,  vol.  i.,  p.  23. 

f  The  following  specimen  of  Wickliff 's  translation  may  be  interesting  to  the 
curious  in  such  matters,  and  may  serve  to  show  the  changes  in  the  English  lan- 
guage since  his  day. 


1  Jon,  cap.  i. —  Wicklijfs  version. 

That  thing  that  was  fro  the  bigyn- 
nyng,  which  we  herden,  which  we  sigen 
with  oure  igen,  which  we  biheelden 
and  oure  hondis  touchiden  of  the  word 
of  liif.  and  the  liif  is  schewid,  and  we 
saigen,  and  we  witnessen  and  tellen  to 
you  euerlesting  liif  that  was  anentis  the 
fadir  and  apperide  to  us.  therefore  we 
tellen  to  you  that  thing  that  we  sigen 
and  herden,  that  also  ye  haue  felowschip 
with  us  and  oure  felowschip  be  with  the 
fadir  and  with  his  sone  iesu  crist.  and 
we  writen  this  thing  to  you,  that  ye 
haue  ioie,  and  that  youre  ioie  be  ful. 
and  this  is  the  tellyng  that  we  herden 
of  him  and  tellen  to  you,  that  god  is 
ligt  and  titer  ben  no  derknessis  in  hym. 
if  we  seien  that  we  hau  felowschip  with 
him,  and  we  wandren  in  derknessis,  we 
lien  and  doen  not  treuthe.  but  if  we 
walken  in  ligt  as  also  he  is  in  ligt  we 
hau  felowschip  togidre,  and  the  blood 
of  iesu  crist  his  sone  clenseth  us  fro  al 
synne,  if  we  seien  that  we  haue  no 
synne  we  disseyuen  ussilff,  and  treuthe  is 
not  in  us.  if  we  knowlechen  oure 
synnes,  he  is  feithful  and  iust  that  he 


1  John,  chap.  i. — Common  version. 

That  which  was  from  the  beginning, 
which  we  have  heard,  which  we  have 
seen  with  our  eyes,  which  Ave  have 
looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have  han- 
dled, of  the  word  of  life  (for  the  life 
was  manifested,  and  we  have  seen  it, 
and  bear  witness,  and  show  unto  you 
that  eternal  life  which  was  with  the 
Father,  and  was  manifested  unto  us)  ; 
that  which  we  have  seen  and  heard 
declare  we  unto  you,  that  ye  also  may 
have  fellowship  with  us  ;  and  truly  our 
fellowship  is  with  the  father,  and  with 
his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  And  these  things 
write  we  unto  you,  that  your  joy  may 
be  full.  This  then  is  the  message 
which  we  have  heard  of  him,  and  de- 
clare unto  you,  that  God  is  light,  and  in 
him  is  no  darkness  at  all.  If  we  say 
that  we  have  fellowship  with  him,  and 
walk  in  darkness,  we  lie,  and  do  not  the 
truth  :  but  if  we  walk  in  the  light,  as 
he  is  in  the  light,  we  have  fellowship 
one  with  another,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  his  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all 
sin.  If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we 
deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is  not 


VVickhlie  rebuking  the  Mendicant  Friars. 


1  tie  dead  body  of  a  Pope  lying  in  State 


chap,  n.]    POPERY  OX  A  TOTTEFJXG  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.     383 

• ■ — ■ 

A  popish  priest's  lament  that  the  Bible  should  be  made  common  to  the  laity  and  to  womeu. 


relative  to  this  first  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  English 
language,  are  well  illustrated  by  a  passage  from  the  historical  work 
of  a  popish  contemporary  of  Wickliff,  Knighton,  a  canon  of  Lei- 
cester. "Christ  delivered  his  gospel,"  says  he,  "  to  the  clergy  and 
>rs  of  the  church,  that  they  might  administer  to  the  laity  and  to 
weaker  persons,  according  to  the  state  of  the  times,  and  the  wants 
of  man.  But  this  master  John  Wickliff  translated  it  out  of  Latin' 
into  English,  and  thus  laid  it  more  open  to  the  laity,  and  to  women, 
who  can  read,  than  it  formerly  had  been  to  the  most  learned  of  the 
clergy,  even  to  those  of  them  who  had  the  best  understanding. 
And  in  this  way  the  gospel  pearl  is  cast  abroad,  and  trodden  under 
foot  of  swine,  and  that  which  was  before  precious  both  to  clergy 
and  laity,  is  rendered  as  it  were  the  common  jest  of  both  !  The 
jewel  of  the  church  is  turned  into  the  sport  of  the  people,  and  what 
was  hitherto  the  principal  gift  of  the  clergy  and  divines,  is  made  for 
ever  common  to  the  laity"  What  would  this  popish  hater  of  the 
bible  have  said  could  he  have  foreseen  how  "  common  to  the  laity," 
and  even  to  "  women,"  the  Holy  Scriptures  would  have  become  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  when  the  whole  of  God's  word  can  be  pur- 
chased for  an  English  shilling  ?  Then  a  copy  of  the  Scriptures 
could  not  be  procured  by  the  artisan  short  of  the  entire  earnings 
of  years ;  now  it  can  be  procured  by  the  poorest  laborer  for 
less  than  the  earnings  of  a  day.  True,  the  copies  of  Wickliff's 
Bible  were  multiplied'  with  astonishing  rapidity,  considering  that 
printing  was  not  invented,  and  each  one  had  to  be  transcribed  with 
the  patient  labor  of  the  pen ;  still  it  is  evident  that  the  possession 
even  of  a  New  Testament  could  only  be  hoped  for  by  those  who 
were  comparatively  rich.* 

^8. — Notwithstanding  the  malice  of  the  Pope  and  the  priests  to- 
ward Wickliff,  for  thus  opening  to  the  common  people  the  Scrip- 
tures, in  which  they  might  learn  for  themselves  the  errors  of  Rome, 
through  the  kindness  of  a  protecting  providence,  he  was  permitted 
to  die  peacefully  on  his  bed,  December  31,  1384. 

The  popish  "clergy  in  England  were  so  incensed  at  the  in- 
creasing circulation  of  the  English  Bible,  that  in  1390,  a  few  years 
after  the  reformer's  death,  the  prelates  brought  forward  a  bill  in  the 
house  of  lords  for  suppressing  Wickliff's  translations.  The  duke 
of  Lancaster  is  said  to  have  interfered  on  this  occasion,  boldly  de- 
claring, "  We  will  not  be  the  dregs  of  all,  seeing  that  other  nations 

forgyve  to  us  oure  synnes,  and  dense  us  in  us.  If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is 
fro°al  wickidnesse.  and  if  we  seien  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins, 
that  we  hau  not  synned,  we  maken  him  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteous- 
a  Her,  and  his  word  in  not  in  us.  ness.     If  we  say  that  we  have  not  sin- 

ned, we  make  him  a  liar,  and  his  word 
is  not  in  us. 
*  From  the  register  of  Alnwick,  bishop  of  Norwich,  in  1429,  it  appears  that 
the  cost  of  a  testament  of  Wickliff's  version,  was  21.  16s.  8d.  (equal  to  more  than 
20Z.,  or  one  hundred  dollars  of  our  present  money).  At  that  time  five  pounds  were 
considered  a  sufficient  allowance  for  the  annual  maintenance  of  a  tradesman  or  a 
curate.  {Life  of  Wickliff  in  British  Reformers,  vol.  i.,  p.  25.) 


384  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

_ — » 

Popish  efforts  to  stop  the  circulation  of  the  English  Scriptures.  Wickliff's  bold  expostulations. 

have  the  law  of  God,  which  is  the  law  of  our  faith,  written  in  their 
own  language."  He  added  that  he  would  maintain  our  having  the 
divine  law  in  our  own  tongue,  against  those,  whoever  they  should 
be,  who  first  brought  in  the  bill.  The  Duke  being  seconded  by 
others,  the  bill  was  thrown  out.  Three  years  previously,  in  1387, 
a  severe  statute  had  been  revived  at  Oxford,  which  is  thus  de- 
scribed in  a  prologue  for  the  English  Bible,  written  by  one  of 
Wickliff's  followers: — "Alas!  the  greatest  abomination  that  ever 
was  heard  among  Christian  clerks  is  now  purposed  in  England  by 
worldly  clerks  and  feigned  religious,  and  in  the  chief  university 
of  our  realm,  as  many  true  men  tell  with  great  wailing.  This  hor- 
rible and  devilish  cursedness  is  purposed  of  Christ's  enemies,  and 
traitors  of  all  Christian  people,  that  no  man  shall  learn  divinity,  or 
holy  writ,  but  he  that  hath  done  his  form  in  art,  that  is,  who  hath 
commenced  in  arts,  and  hath  been  regent  two  years  after.  Thus 
it  would  be  nine  or  ten  years  before  he  might  learn  holy  writ."  In 
the  course  of  half  a  century,  however,  when  these  priests  of 
Rome,  after  having  burned  the  bones  of  Wickliff,  because  they 
could  not  burn  him  alive,  had  at  their  command  the  fire  and  the 
faggot,  we  shall  see  that  they  were  more  successful  in  their  efforts 
to  prevent  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  English  language. 
§  19. — It  would  be  interesting  to  present  to  the  reader  copious 
specimens  of  the  bold  and  earnest  manner  in  which  Wickliff  argued 
against  the  priests  of  Rome  in  favor  of  the  circulation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  the  vulgar  tongue,  but  the  limits  and  design  of  this  work 
forbid,  and  I  must  refer  those  who  wish  to  study  further  the  life  and 
writings  of  Wickliff  to  the  authorities  mentioned  in  the  note.*  A 
single  specimen  I  must  quote  of  his  vigorous  mode  of  reproving 
those  popish  priests  who  withheld  from  the  people  the  possession  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  attached  a  greater  importance  to  the  decisions 
of  popes  and  councils  than  to  the  dictates  of  the  unerring  word. 
•'All  those,"  says  Wickliff,  "who  falsify  the  pope's  bulls,  or  a  bish- 
op's letter,  are  cursed  grievously  in  all  churches,  four  times  in  the 
year.  Lord,  why  was  not  the  gospel  of  Christ  admitted  by  our 
worldly  clerks  into  this  sentence  ?  Hence  it  appeareth,  that  they 
magnify  the  bull  of  a  pope  more  than  the  gospel ;  and  in  proof  of 
this,  they  punish  men  who  trespass  against  the  bulls  of  the  pope 
more  than  those  who  trespass  against  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Accord- 
ingly, the  men  of  this  world  fear  the  pope  and  his  commandments 
more  than  the  gospel  of  Christ,  or  the  commands  of  God.  It  is 
thus  that  the  wretched  beings  of  this  world  are  estranged  from 

*  See  Vaughan's  life  and  writings  of  Wickliff,  chap.  viii.  ;  Lewis's  life  of 
Wickliff,  passim  ;  Baber's,  ditto,  prefixed  to  his  edition  of  Wickliff's  New  Testa- 
ment, and  especially  Wickliff's  tract,  entitled  "  Anti-Christ's  labor  to  destroy  holy 
writ,"  published  from  the  MS.  in  the  Library  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cam- 
bridge, in  the  British  Reformers,  vol.  i.,  page  172 — 178.  I  am  happy  to  inform 
the  reader  that  this  valuable  set  of  works,  the  Lives  and  Writings  of  the  British 
Reformers,  in  12  volumes,  has  recently  been  made  accessible  to  the  American 
reader,  by  its  republication  from  the  London  edition  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Publication. 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.     385 

Articles  from  WicklifT's  works  condemned  by  the  council  of  Constance. 

faith,  and  hope,  and  charity,  and  become  corrupt  in  heresy  and  blas- 
phemy, even  worse  than  heathens.  True  teaching  is  the  debt  most 
due  to  holy  church,  and  is  most  charged  of  God,  and  most  profitable 
to  Christian  souls.  As  much,  therefore,  as  God's  word,  and  the 
bliss  of  heaven  in  the  souls  of  men,  are  better  than  earthly  goods  , 
so  much  are  these  worldly  prelates,  who  withdraw  the  great  debt 
of  holy  teaching,  worse  than  thieves,  more  accursedly  sacrilegious 
than  ordinary  plunderers,  who  break  into  churches  and  steal  thence 
chalices  and  vestments,  or  ever  so  much  gold.  The  greatest  of  all 
sins  is  to  deprive  men  of  faith,  and  of  the  mirror  of  Christ's  life, 
which  is  the  ground  of  his  well-being  hereafter." 

§  20. — About  thirty  years  after  the  death  of  WicklifT,  the  coun- 
cil of  Constance  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  healing  the  western 
schism,  and  purging  the  church  of  heresy.  One  principal  business 
of  the  council  was  to  examine  the  opinions  of  John  Huss,  of  Bohe- 
mia, which  had  lately  given  much  trouble  to  the  bigoted  and  blinded 
adherents  of  Popery  in  that  kingdom.  Before,  however,  smiting,  in 
the  person  of  John  Huss,  such  doctrines  as  were  subversive  of  the 
power  of  the  priests,  it  was  thought  advisable  to  brand  with  repro- 
bation the  source  from  which  they  had  been  taken.  The  council 
remembered  that,  toward  the  close  of  the  preceding  century,  the 
world  had  seen  a  celebrated  heresiarch  go  unpunished  ;  it  recol- 
lected that  WicklifT  had  peaceably  expired  in  the  very  country 
where  his  doctrines  had  been  condemned  ;  that  his  mortal  remains 
reposed  in  consecrated  ground  ;  and  that  his  writings  were  in  cir- 
culation throughout  Europe.  In  citing  him  before  it,  the  council 
proceeded  against  his  genius  and  his  dead  body.  Forty-five  propo- 
sitions, attributed  to  WicklifT,  and  already  condemned  in  England, 
had  been  similarly  dealt  with  at  Rome,  in  1412,  in  a  council  con- 
voked by  John  XXIII.  These  same  articles  were  again  brought 
forward  at  Constance,  and  formed  the  principal  ground  of  the  accu- 
sation laid  against  him.  This  great  cause  was  brought  before  the 
council  and  judged,  but  without  any  discussion,  in  the  eighth 
session. 

The  assembly  was  as  solemn  as  any  of  the  preceding  ones.  The 
Emperor  was  present;  Cardinal  de  Viviers  occupied  the  president's 
chair,  and  the  Patriarch  of  Antioch  celebrated  mass.  The  passage 
of  the  gospel  chosen  to  be  read  for  the  occasion  was  that  beginning 
with  the  words,  "  Beware  of  false  prophets." 

§  21. — Among  the  articles  attributed  to  WicklifT,  and  solemnly 
condemned  by  the  council,  were  five,  which  were  so  many  violent 
attacks  directed  against  the  convents  and  monks  of  all  the  orders, 
who,  under  the  appearance  of  poverty,  drew  together  as  much 
wealth  as  possible,  and  who  were  the  most  indefatigable  champions 
of  the  privileges  and  the  abuses  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  WicklifT 
designated  them  by  the  appellation  of  Satan's  synagogue.  One  of 
the  articles  condemned  under  this  head,  was  the  following  : — "  Monks 
ought  to  earn  their  livelihood  by  the  labor  of  their  hands,  and  not  by 
begging."     This  proposition  was  declared  to  be  false,  rash,  and 


38G  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  si. 


Wickliff's  bones  condemned  by  the  council  lo  be  dug  up  and  burnt. 


founded  on  error,  because  it  was  written  that  the  birds  of  the  air 
reaped  not,  neither  did  they  spin.  By  the  birds  thus  mentioned,  said 
the  council,  were  to  be  understood  the  saints  who  flew  toward 
heaven  (!  !) 

Three  other  articles  combated  the  Roman  doctrine  relative  to  the 
mass,  and  denied  the  bodily  presence  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Eucharist,  one  directly  asserting  the  folly  of  be- 
lieving in  indulgences,  and  another  speaking  of  the  Pope  as  Anti- 
Christ.  But  the  most  remarkable  condemnation  of  this  infallible 
general  council,  was  that  of  Wickliff's  proposition,  which  de- 
clares the  famous  decretals  of  early  POPES  to  be  false  and  apo- 
cryphal. The  spurious  character  of  these  forged  decretals  has 
since  been  proved  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  and  is  admitted 
(since  it  is  impossible  to  deny  it)  even  by  Romanists  ;  so  that,  after 
all>  the  infallible  council  was  wrong — the  papists  themselves  being 
judges — and  the  poor  dead  heretic  was  right,  whose  opinions  were 
so  unceremoniously  condemned,  and  whose  mouldering  bones  were 
so  savagely  ordered  to  be  dug  up  from  his  grave  and  burnt  ! 

The  published  works  of  Wickliff  were  condemned  en  masse,  but  his 
Dialogus  and  Trialogus*  were  thought  worthy  of  special  mention. 

"  As  to  Wickliff  himself,"  says  L'Enfant,  "  the  council  declared, 
that,  since  they  had,  after  the  strictest  inquiry,  decided  that  the  said 
Wickliff  died  an  obstinate  .heretic,  therefore  they  condemn  his 
memory,  and  order  his  bones  to  be  dug  up,  if  they  can  be  distin- 
guished from  the  bones  of  the  faithful,  and  thrown  upon  a  dung- 
hill.'^ 

§  22. — This  savage  sentence  was  not  enforced  till  the  year  1428, 
at  the  command  of  pope  Martin  V.,  but  then  the  popish  execution- 
ers of  the  dead  reformer's  bones,  in  their  willing  zeal,  transcended 
the  sentence  of  the  council.  They  dug  his  remains  from  the  grave 
in  the  chancel  of  the  church  at  Lutterworth,  where  they  had  peace- 
fully reposed  for  over  forty  years,  burnt  them  to  ashes,  and  then 
cast  them  into  a  neighboring  brook,  called  the  Swift.  "  And  so," 
says  Fox,  "was  he  resolved  into  three  elements,  earth,  fire  and 
water  ;  they  thinking  thereby  to  abolish  both  the  name  and  doc- 
trine of  Wickliff  for  ever.  Not  much  unlike  to  the  example  of  the 
old  pharisees  and  sepulchre  knights,  who  when  they  had  brought 
the  Lord  to  the  grave,  thought  to  make  him  sure  never  to  rise 
again.  But  these  and  all  others  must  know,  that  as  there  is  no 
council  against  the  Lord,  so  there  is  no  keeping  down  of  verity,  but 
it  will  spring  and  come  out  of  dust  and  ashes,  as  appeared  right 
well  in  this  man.  For  though  they  digged  up  his  body,  burned  his 
bones,  and  drowned  his  ashes,  yet  the  word  of  God  and  truth  of 
his  doctrine,  with  the  fruit  and  success  thereof,  they  could  not  burn. 

*  See  an  extract  of  this  famous  production  of  the  reformer  in  the  volume  of  the 
British  Reformers  before  referred  to,  occupying  five  pages,  179 — 183.  See  also  a 
summary  of  the  Trialogus,  including  several  extracts  in  L'Enfant's  history  of  the 
council  of  Constance,  in  2  vols,  quarto  ;  London,  1739  :  vol.  i.,  pp.  231 — 241. 

f  L'Enfant's  Council  of  Constance,  vol.  i.,  231. 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  387 

The  scattering  of  his  ashes  an  emblem  of  the  dispersion  of  his  doctrine.  John  Huss,  of  Bohemia. 

which  yet  to  this  day,  for  the  most  part  of  his  articles,  do  remain, 
notwithstanding  the  transitory  body  and  bones  of  the  man  were  thus 
consumed  and  dispersed." 

I  will  close  this  account  of  the  "  morning  star  of  the  Reforma- 
tion," by  citing  the  words  of  Fuller  the  historian,  in  reference  to  the 
bones  of  Wickliff — words  which  are  worthy  to  be  written  in  letters 
of  gold.  "  The  brook  Swift  did  convey  his  ashes  into  Avon,  the 
Avon  into  Severn,  the  Severn  into  the  narrow  seas,  they  into  the 
main  ocean.  And  thus  the  ashes  of  Wickliff  are  the  emblem 
of  his  doctrine,  which  is  now  dispersed  all  the  world  over."* 


CHAPTER  III. 

JOHN     HUSS     OF     BOHEMIA.       HIS     CONDEMNATION    AND     MARTYRDOM    BY 
THE    COUNCIL    OF    CONSTANCE. 

§  23. — During  the  latter  years  of  the  venerable  Wickliff,  a  youth 
was  growing  up  in  an  obscure  village  in  Bohemia,  who  was  des- 
tined to  bear  the  torch  of  gospel  truth  which  the  English  reformer 
had  kindled,  into  the  very  recesses  of  popish  darkness,  to  seal,  with 
the  blood  of  martyrdom,  his  testimony  against  the  corruptions  of 
anti-Christ,  and  to  transmit,  with  a  martyr's  hand,  that  torch  of  truth 
through  a  long  succession  of  spiritual  descendants.  This  youth 
was  John  Huss,  or  John  of  Huss,  or  Hussenitz,  the  small  village  of 
Bohemia  which  was  rendered  illustrious  by  his  birth,  on  the  6th  of 
July,  1373.  At  the  death  of  Wickliff  in  1384,  Huss  was  a  boy  of 
eleven,  pursuing  his  studies  at  a  school  in  the  town  of  Prachatitz, 
and  aiming  by  his  diligence  and  assiduity  to  reward  the  care  and 
the  tenderness  of  a  kind  and  widowed  mother. f 

It  is  related  of  the  youthful  John  Huss,  that  when  he  was  one 
evening  reading  by  the  fire  the  life  of  St.  Laurence,  his  imagination 

*  Fuller's  Church  History  of  Britain,  from  the  birth  of  Christ  till  1646 — book 
iv.,  page  171.  If  Fuller  could  thus  speak  two  centuries  ago,  what  would  he  have 
said,  had  he  been  living  now,  and  beheld  the  doctrines  of  Wickliff  and  the  New 
Testament  spreading  in  India,  Burmah,  Persia,  China,  Africa  and  the  Islands  of 
the  South  Seas  ? 

f  See  UEnfanfs  Council  of  Constance,  book  i.,  chap.  20 — to  which  valuable 
and  authentic  work,  together  with  the  work  of  Bonnechose,  I  am  indebted  for  most 
of  the  facts  in  the  present  chapter.  The  work  of  L'Enfant  is  the  great  store- 
house of  facts  and  authorities,  to  which  subsequent  writers,  including  Bonnechose, 
have  had  recourse,  in  reference  to  the  lives  of  Huss  and  Jerome,  and  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  council  of  Constance,  which  condemned  them  to  the  flames.  It  is 
a  work,  the  accuracy  of  which  rests  not  merely  upon  the  authority  of  the  learned 
L'Enfant — though  that  is  highly  respectable — but  upon  the  testimony  of  Romish 
writers  themselves,  who  are  constantly  referred  to  by  L'Enfant. 


388  HISTORY  OP  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Ilu  -  '■■>  first  feelings  at  tlie  perusal  of  the  writings  of  Wickliff.  Bis  subsequent  favorable  opinion. 

kindled  at  the  narration  of  the  martyr's  sufferings,  and  he  thrust 
his  own  hand  into  the  flames.  Being  suddenly  prevented  by  one  of 
his  fellow-pupils  from  holding  it  there,  and  then  questioned  as  to  his 
design,  he  replied  :  "  I  was  only  trying  what  part  of  the  tortures  of 
this  holy  man  I  might  be  capable  of  enduring."  To  the  exemplary 
moral  character  and  excellent  mental  ability  of  Huss,  even  Romish 
writers  have  borne  testimony.  "  Thus,"  says  the  Jesuit  Balbinus, 
"  John  Huss  was  even  more  remarkable  for  his  acuteness  than  his 
eloquence  ;  but  the  modesty  and  severity  of  his  conduct,  his  austere 
and  irreproachable  life,  his  pale  and  melancholy  features,  his  gentle- 
ness and  affability  to  all,  even  the  most  humble,  persuaded  more  than 
the  greatest  eloquence."* 

§  24. — In  the  boyhood  of  Huss,  the  writings  of  Wickliff  were  al- 
ready known  in  Bohemia.  They  had  probably  been  brought  there  from 
England,  in  consequence  of  the  intercourse  between  the  two  coun- 
tries, resulting  from  the  fact  that  the  queen  of  Richard  II.,  at  that 
time  king  of  England,  was  a  Bohemian  princess,  the  sister  of  king 
Wenceslaus.  At  the  first  perusal  of  Wickliff  s  writings,  it  is  said 
that  he  read  them  with  a  pious  horror ;  but  in  after  years,  when  his 
judgment  became  more  matured,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  corrup- 
tions and  disorders  of  the  popes  and  the  priests  more  extensive,  he 
formed  a  far  more  favorable  opinion  of  the  doctrines  of  the  English 
reformer,  though  he  clung,  even  to  the  close  of  his  life,  to  some 
Romish  opinions  which  were  rejected  by  Wickliff.  It  is  even 
related  of  him,  by  jEneas  Sylvius,  afterwards  pope  Pius  II.,  that 
after  entering  upon  the  priesthood  he  was  accustomed,  in  his  dis- 
courses from  the  pulpit  of  Bethlehem,  to  address  his  earnest  vow  to 
Heaven,  that,  "  whenever  he  should  be  removed  from  this  life,  he 
might  be  admitted  to  the  same  regions  where  the  soul  of  Wickliff 
resided  ;  since  he  doubted  not,  that  he  wTas  a  good  and  holy  man, 
and  worthy  of  a  habitation  in  heaven."f 

As  the  disgraceful  schism  continued,  Huss,  who  had  now  entered 
upon  the  priesthood,  studied  more  seriously  the  writings  of  Wick- 
liff, and  spoke  of  them  with  greater  praise.  He  put  himself  for- 
ward, neither  as  the  leader  of  a  sect,  nor  an  innovator  :  he  laid 
claim  to  no  admiration,  or  submission,  or  eulogium,  from  others  ; 
he  simply  drew  his  force  from  the  authority  of  the  Divine  word, 
which  he  preached  in  his  chapel  of  Bethlehem  with  an  indefatigable 
zeal,  and  which,  it  was  asserted,  the  priests  had  disfigured  or  veiled 
to  such  a  degree,  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  Holy  Word  was  then  for 

*  Subtilior  tamen  quam  eloquentior  semper  est  habitus  Hussus  ;  seel  mores  ad 
omnem  servitutem  conformati,  vita  horrida  et  sine  deliciis,  omnibus  abrupta,  quam 
nullus  accusare  posset,  tristis  et  exhausta  facies,  languens  corpus,  et  parata  omni- 
bus obvia,  etiam  vilissimo  caique,  benevolentia,  omni  lingua  facundius  perorabant. 
— (Balbinus,  Epit.  Rer.  Bohem.,  p.  431.) 

}  "  Qui,  cum  se  libenter  audiri  animadverteret,  multa  de  libris  Viclefi  in  medium 
attulit,  asserens  in  iis  omnem  veritatem  contineri;  adjiciensque  crebro  inter  praedi- 
candum,  se,  postquam  ex  luce  migraret,  ea  loca  proficisci  cupere,  ad  qua?  Viclefi 
anima  pervenisset;  quern  virum  fuisse  bonum,  sanctum,  cceloque  dignum  non 
dubitaret."     (JEn.  Syl.  Hist.  Boh.,  1.  xxxv.) 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  389 

Huss  gives  himself  to  his  destined  work.  WicklitTs  writings  burnt  in  Bohemia". 

the  first  time  brought  forward  in  Bohemia.  Less  daring  than  Wick- 
liff,  John  Huss  admitted  in  principle  the  greater  part  of  the  dis- 
tinctive dogmas  of  the  Roman  Church,  which  the  former  rejected. 
In  certain  ones,  such  as  the  efficacy  of  prayers  for  the  dead,  the 
worship  of  saints,  auricular  confession,  and  the  power  of  the  priests 
to  give  absolution  and  to  excommunicate,  he  blamed  the  principle 
much  less  than  the  abuse.  Upon  the  grand  fundamental  principle 
of  the  appeal  to  the  Scriptures  as  the  only  infallible  authority,  Huss 
agreed  perfectly  with  the  English  reformer,  and  this  contained  in 
itself  the  seeds  of  a  complete  revolution  in  the  anti-scriptural  church 
of  Rome.  He  also  agreed  with  him  in  the  necessity  of  bringing 
back  the  clergy  to  discipline  and  morality,  and  this,  in  that  corrupt 
age,  arrayed  against  him  the  whole  priesthood  as  a  body. 

§  25. — Huss  had  to  encounter  a  severe  conflict  with  himself, 
before  he  could  venture  to  declare  himself  openly  as  the  reformer 
of  the  abuses  of  the  church  and  the  clergy.  Referring  to  a  passage 
in  Ezekiel  viii.  8,  9,  "  And  when  I  had  digged  in  the  wall,  behold 
a  door.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  Go  in  and  behold  the  wicked 
abominations  that  they  do  here,"  he  exclaims,  "  I  also,  I,  have  been 
raised  up  by  God  to  dig  in  the  wall,  in  order  that  the  multiplied  abo- 
minations of  the  holy  place  may  be  laid  open.  It  has  pleased  the 
Lord  to  draw  me  forth  from  the  place  where  I  was,  like  a  brand 
from  the  burning.  Unhappy  slave  of  my  passions  as  I  was,  it  was 
necessary  that  God  himself  should  rescue  me,  like  Lot  from  the 
burning  of  Sodom  ;  and  I  have  obeyed  the  voice  which  said  to  me, 
Dig  in  the  wall.  ....  I  next  beheld  a  door,  and  that  door  was  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  through  which  I  contemplated  the  abominations  of 
the  monks  and  the  priests,  laid  open  before  me  and  represented 
under  divers  emblems.  Never  did  the  Jews  and  Pagans  commit 
such  horrible  sins  in  presence  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  those  bad  Chris- 
tians and  hypocritical  priests  commit  every  day  in  the  midst  of  the 
Church."*  From  that  time  (about  1407),  Huss  gave  himself  to 
what  he  conceived  his  destined  work,  grappling  with  the  whole 
body  of  the  clergy,  and  boldly  reproving  their  scandalous  and 
immoral  lives,  from  the  obscure  curate  or  monk,  to  the  luxurious 
cardinals  and  rival  pontiffs  of  a  corrupt  and  apostate  church. 

§  26. — On  the  20th  December,  1409,  pope  Alexander  V.  issued 
his  bull  against  the  doctrines  and  writings  of  WicklifF,  forbidding 
all  to  preach  or  teach  his  doctrines  in  private  chapels  or  any  places 
whatever.  In  obedience  to  this  bull,  the  archbishop  of  Prague 
and  primate  of  Bohemia  caused  upwards  of  two  hundred  volumes, 
beautifully  written  and  richly  ornamented,  to  be  burned  without  any 
further  proceedings,!  which  act  gave  birth  to  very  formidable 
resentments.  The  price  of  books,  which  at  that  period  were  all 
manuscripts,  was,  before  the  invention  of  printing,  elevated  in  pro- 
portion to  their  rarity,  and   their  destruction  almost  always  caused 

*  Hist,  et  Monument.  J.  Hus.,  p.  503. 

f  Supra  ducenta  volumina  fuis&e  traduntur.    (JSneas  Sylvhis,  Hist.  Boh.,  p.  69.) 


390  HISTORY  OV  ROMAN!      i  [book  vi. 


The  Pope  Laya  an  interdict  on  the  city  of  Prague,  on  account  of  Hush.  Muss's  pious  letters. 

a  serious  loss  to  the  possessors.  A  great  number  of  the  books 
burned  by  the  Archbishop  belonged  to  members  of  the  University 
of  Prague.  That  dignitary  had  therefore  violated  their  privileges, 
and  John  Huss  undertook  their  defence,  being  doubly  offended  by 
this  act  of  episcopal  despotism,  both  in  his  authority  as  rector,  and 
in  his  esteem  for  Wickliff.  Upon  the  accession  of  pope  John 
XXIII.  in  1410,  that  violent  and  vicious  pontiff  immediately  sum- 
moned the  Bohemian  reformer  to  appear  before  his  court  at  Bo- 
logne,  and  upon  Huss  refusing  to  comply  with  the  summons,  he  was 
excommunicated,  the  city  of  Prague  laid  under  an  interdict,  and  the 
priests  forbidden  to  perform  the  rites  of  baptism  or  burial,  so  long 
as  John  Huss  continued  in  the  city.  Against  this  sentence,  Huss 
appealed  from  the  pretended  vicar  of  God  to  the  tribunal  of  God 
himself.  "  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  said  he,  "  real  God  and  real 
man,  when  encompassed  by  pontiffs,  scribes,  pharisees,  and  priests, 
at  once  his  judges  and  accusers,  gave  his  disciples  the  admirable 
example  of  submitting  their  cause  to  the  omniscient  and  omnipotent 
God.  In  pursuance  of  this  holy  example,  I  now  appeal  to  God, 
seeing  that  I  am  oppressed  by  an  unjust  sentence,  and  by  the  pre- 
tended excommunication  of  the  pontiff's  scribes,  pharisees,  and 
judges  seated  in  the  chair  of  Moses, — I,  John  Huss,  present  this  my 
appeal  to  Jesus  Christ,  my  Master  and  my  Judge,  who  knows  and 
protects  the  just  cause  of  the  humblest  of  men." 

§  27. — The  persecuted  reformer,  though  enjoying  the  protection  of 
the  roval  family,  chose  to  retire  for  the  present  to  his  native  village, 
from  whence  he  wrote  to  his  spiritual  children  to  explain  to  them 
the  cause  of  his  retirement,  in  the  following  pious  and  affecting 
strain.  "  Learn,  beloved,"  says  he,  "  that  if  I  have  withdrawn  from 
the  midst  of  you,  it  is  to  follow  the  precept  and  example  of  Jesus 
Christ,  in  order  not  to  give  room  to  the  ill-minded  to  draw  on  them- 
selves eternal  condemnation,  and  in  order  not  to  be  to  the  pious  a 
cause  of  affliction  and  persecution.  I  have  retired  also  through  an 
apprehension  that  impious  priests  might  continue  for  a  longer  time 
to  prohibit  the  preaching  of  the  Word  of  God  amongst  you ;  but  I 
have  not  quitted  you  to  deny  the  divine  truth,  for  which,  with  God's 
assistance,  /  am  willing  to  die."*  In  another  of  these  admirable 
letters,  he  exhorts  them  not  to  be  cast  down. by  terror,  if  the  Lord 
should  try  some  among  them.  Then  alluding  to  the  example  of 
Jesus,  he  says  :  "  He  came  to  the  aid  of  us  miserable  sinners,  sup- 
porting hunger,  thirst,  cold,  heat,  watching  and  fatigue  ;  when  giv- 
ing us  his  Divine  instructions,  ^  suffered  weighty  sorrows  and 
grave  insults  from  the  priests  and  scribes,  to  such  a  point  that  they 
called  him  a  blasphemer,  and  declared  that  he  had  a  devil ;  assert- 
ing that  he,  whom  they  had  excommunicated  as  a  heretic,  and 
whom  they  had  driven  from  their  city  and  crucified  as  an  accursed 
one,  could  not  be  God.  If,  then,  Christ  had  to  support  such  things — 
he,  who  cured  all  kinds  of  diseases  by  his  mere  word,  without  any 

*  Hist,  et  Monum.  Hus..  t.  i.,  p.  117. 


chap,  m.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.    391 

His  presentiment  of  martyrdom.  His  noble  and  illustrious  friend,  Jerome  of  Prague. 

recompense  on  earth — who  drove  out  devils,  raised  the  dead,  and 
taught  God's  holy  word — who  did  no  harm  to  any  one,  who  com- 
mitted no  sin,  and  who  suffered  every  indignity  from  the  priests, 
simply  because  he  laid  open  their  wickedness — why  should  we  be 
astonished,  in  the  present  day,  that  the  ministers  of  anti-Christ,  who 
are  far  more  covetous,  more  debauched,  more  cruel,  and  more  cun- 
ning, than  the  Pharisees,  should  persecute  the  servants  of  God — 
overwhelm  them  with  indignitv,  curse,  excommunicate,  imprison, 
and  kill  them  ?" 

In  some  of  his  letters,  written  about  the  same  time,  Huss  mani- 
fests a  vague  presentiment  of  martyrdom.  It  is  thus,  that,  writing 
to  the  new  rector  of  the  University  of  Prague,  he  says  :  "  I  know 
well  that,  if  I  persevere  in  what  is  just,  no  evil,  whatever  it  may 
be,  will  be  able  to  turn  me  from  the  paths  of  truth.  If  I  desire  to 
live  piously  in  Christ,  it  is  necessary  for  me  to  suffer  for  his  name. 
.  .  .  What  are  to  me  the  riches  of  the  age  !  What  the  indigni- 
ties, which,  endured  with  humility,  prove,  purify,  and  illuminate, 
the  children  of  God  !  What,  in  fact,  is  death,  should  I  be  torn  from 
this  wretched  existence  !  He  who  loses  it  here  below,  triumphs 
over  death  itself,  and  finds  the  real  life.  •  As  for  me,  I  have  no  desire 
to  live  in  this  corrupt  age  : — I  shall,  I  trust,  affront  death  itself,  if 
the  mercy  of  the  Lord  comes  to  my  aid."  Huss  goes  on  to  draw 
an  energetic  picture  of  the  licentiousness  of  the  clergy,  in  which 
body  he  sees  anti-Christ ;  and  then,  giving  free  vent  to  his  grief,  he 
exclaims :  "  Wo,  then,  to  me,  if  I  do  not  preach  against  an  abomi- 
nation of  the  kind  !  Wo  to  me  if  I  do  not  lament,  if  I  do  not 
write  !  .  .  .  Already  the  great  eagle  takes  its  flight,  and  cries, 
*  Wo  !  wo  !  to  the  inhabiters  of  the  earth  !'  "* 

§  28. — Amidst  all  the  dangers  and  trials,  however,  to  which  the 
godly  Huss  was  exposed,  there  were  many  of  his  friends  who,  in 
the  face  of  danger,  remained  faithful  to  the  doctrine  he  had  taught 
them  and  to  their  beloved  teacher.  But  amongst  them  all,  the  most 
illustrious  was  he  whose  name  has  been  handed  down  to  posterity, 
inseparable  from  his  own — Jerome  of  Prague,  doctor  of  theology. 
This  learned  and  eloquent  doctor  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  men 
of  his  time.  He  had  studied  at  Oxford,  and  had  defended  most 
brilliant  theses  at  Paris  against  Gerson,  as  well  as  the  most  cele- 
brated universities  of  Europe.  Even  before  his  return- to  Bohemia, 
he  had  signalized  himself  by  a  strong  opposition  to  the  church  of 
Rome.  He  was  thrown  into  prison  at  Vienna,  as  a  favorer  of 
Wickliff ;  and,  being  set  at  liberty  at  the  request  of  the  University 
of  Prague,  he  came  to  join  John  Huss  in  this  city.  In  a  short  time, 
he  guarded  no  measures  with  respect  to  the  Pope  and  the  cardinals  : 
and,  amongst  other  problems,  he  openly  proposed  the  following : — 
Whether  the  Pope  possessed  more  power  than  another  priest — and 
whether  the  bread  in  the  Eucharist,  or  the  body  of  Christ,  possessed 
more  virtue  in  the  mass  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  than  in  that  of  any 

*  Hist,  et  Mon.  Hus.,  Epist.  iv.,  t.  i.,  p.  118. 


392  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Jerome's  contrast.  Huss'a  faithful  rebukes  of  papal  indulgences. 

other  officiating  ecclesiastic  ?  One  day,  Jerome  and  some  of  his 
friends  drew  a  sketch  of  Christ's  disciples,  on  one  side,  following 
with  naked  feet  their  Master  mounted  on  an  ass  ;  whilst  on  the  other 
they  represented  the  pope  and  the  cardinals,  in  great  state,  on  superb 
horses,  and  preceded,  as  usual,  with  drums  and  trumpets.  Those 
pictures  were  exposed  in  public  ;  and  it  is  easy  to  conceive  the 
effect  that  they  ought  to  produce  on  an  excitable  and  enthusiastic 
multitude.     (See  Engraving.) 

Such  was  Jerome  of  Prague,  whom  his  contemporaries  have 
recognized  as  superior  in  intellectual  powers  to  John  Huss  ;  but  the 
latter,  by  his  manner  of  living,  his  character,  and  his  piety,  possessed 
so  "reat  an  authority,  that  Jerome  always  felt  its  ascendency.  John 
Huss  was  the  master,  Jerome  the  disciple  ;  and  nothing  does  more 
honor  to  those  two  men  than  this  deference — this  voluntary  humili- 
ation of  genius  at  the  feet  of  virtue. 

§  29. — The  opposition  of  both  Jerome  and  Huss  to  the  Pope's  bull 
of  crusade  against  Ladislaus  issued,  as  we  have  already  seen  (page 
375).  by  John  XXIII.  in  1411,  tended  to  increase  the  hatred  of  that 
pontiff  to  the  Bohemian  reformers.  Huss  did  not  content  himself 
with  attacking  the  bull,  but  animadverted  with  considerable  sever- 
ity, against  the  Pope's  pretended  power  of  indulgences,  of  granting 
the  full  remission  of  their  sins  to  such  as  should  engage  in  the  pious 
work  of  butchering  all  who  opposed  his  Holiness  in  his  views  of 
ambition.  After  referring  to  the  sentiments  of  Augustine  and  Gre- 
gory, Huss  says :  "  When,  then,  those  two  great  saints  have  not 
dared  to  promise  remission  of  sins  even  to  those  who  have  done 
penance,  with  what  countenance  can  pope  John,  in  his  bull,  promise 
the  most  entire  remission  of  sins,  and  the  recompense  of  eternal 
salvation,  to  his  accomplices  !  If,  notwithstanding  the  example  of 
Christ,  the  Pope  strives  for  temporal  domination,  it  is  evident  that 
he  sins  in  that,  as  do  those  who  aid  him  in  that  object.  How,  then, 
could  the  indulgence  granted  for  a  criminal  act  be  of  any  value  ?" 
The  Pope  cannot  know,  without  an  especial  revelation,  if  he  is 
predestined  to  salvation;  he  cannot,  therefore,  give  such  indulgence 
to  himself;  it  is  not,  besides,  contrary  to  the  faith,  that  many  popes 
who  have  granted  ample  indulgences  are  damned.  Of  what  value. 
therefore,  are  their  indulgences  in  the  sight  of  God  ?  No  saint  in 
Scripture  has  granted  indulgences  for  the  absolution  of  the  penalty 
of  the  trespass  during  a  certain  number  of  years  and  days :  our 
doctors  have  never  dared  to  name  any  of  the  Fathers  as  having 
instituted  and  published  indulgences;  because,  in  fact,  they  are 
ignorant  of  their  origin :  and  if  these  indulgences,  which  are  repre- 
sented as  so  salutary  to  mankind,  have  slumbered,  as  it  were,  for 
the  space  of  a  thousand  years  and  more,  the  reason  most  probably 
is,  that  covetousness  had  not  at  that  period,  as  at  present,  reached  its 
highest  point.  In  order  to  show  the  absurdity  of  the  pretended 
power  to  pardon  the  sins  of  those  who  should  contribute  money 
toward  the  Pope's  crusade,  Huss  uses  the  following  illustration : 
"  Of  two  men,"  says  he,  "  one  has  been  an  offender  all  his  life ;  but 


JLKu)]  t     s     CO.NTR4S1 


Primitive  Christianity — Chrisr.  the  Master. 


Papal  Christianity.     Tire  Pope,  the  Servant. 
"The    sr\  ant  is  l»<  "aster." 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  395 


Hus9  loses  the  favor  of  the  King.  Invites  a  discussion  at  Prague  on  the  Pope's  bull  of  Crusade. 

provided  he  pays  a  sum  of  money,  he  can  obtain,  by  means  of  a 
very  slight  contrition,  remission  of  his  sins,  and  of  their  consequent 
penalty :  the  other  is  a  man  of  worth  who  has  never  committed  but 
venial  sins  ;  yet,  if  he  gives  nothing,  he  shall  have  no  pardon.  Now, 
according  to  the  bull,  if  those  two  men  should  happen  to  die,  the 
former — the  criminal — will  go  straight  to  heaven,  escaping  the  pains 
of  purgatory  ;  and  the  second — the  just  man — will  have  to  undergo 
them.  Were  such  indulgences  really  available  in  heaven,  we  ought 
to  pray  to  God  that  war  might  be  waged  against  the  Pope,  in  order 
that  he  might  throw  open  all  the  treasures  of  the  Church  !"* 

In  reading  these  extracts  from  the  writings  of  Huss,  it  is  impos- 
sible not  to  think  of  the  still  more  severe  and  pointed  rebukes  of 
Luther,  a  hundred  years  later,  of  this  blasphemous  pretence  of  par- 
doning sin  for  money,  excited  by  the  conduct  of  the  infamous  Tet- 
zel,  the  indulgence-peddler  of  pope  Leo  X. 

§  30. — This  noble  reply  of  Huss  to  the  bulls  of  John  XXIII.,  while 
it  increased  his  favor  and  influence  with  the  people,  drew  on  him  the 
hostility  of  the  court.  The  King  was  then  at  war  with  Ladislaus  ;  his 
favor,  like  that  of  the  greater  part  of  princes,  was  subordinate  to 
his  political  interests  :  he,  therefore,  accepted  the  bulls,  and  with- 
drew for  a  time  his  support  from  John  Huss.  Prague  was  then 
divided  between  two  powerful  parties.  All  who  had  favors  to  ex- 
pect from  the  King  or  the  people  declared  themselves  in  support  of  the 
bulls  ;  and  to  this  period  must  be  assigned  the  rupture  between  Huss 
and  Stephen  Paletz,  an  influential  member  of  the  clergy.  Paletz  had 
been  his  friend  and  disciple  ;  but  being  as  anxious  for  the  advancement 
of  his  fortune  as  Huss  was  for  the  progress  of  the  truth,  he  preached 
in  favor  of  the  bulls  and  the  indulgences.  These  reverses,  however, 
did  not  shake  the  resolution  of  Huss.  He  caused  a  placard  to  be  put 
upon  the  doors  of  the  churches  and  monasteries  of  Prague,  inviting 
the  public,  and  particularly  all  doctors,  priests,  monks  and  scholars, 
to  come  forward  and  discuss  the  following  theses :  "  Whether,  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  Jesus  Christ,  Christians  could,  with  a  safe  con- 
science, approve  of  the  crusade  ordered  by  the  Pope  against  Ladis- 
laus and  his  followers, — and  whether  such  a  crusade  could  turn  to 
the  glory  of  God,  to  the  safety  of  the  Christian  populations,  and  to 
the  welfare  of  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia  ?" 

On  the  appointed  day,  the  concourse  was  prodigious ;  and  the 
rector,  in  alarm,  endeavored,  though  in  vain,  to  dissolve  the  assem- 
bly. A  doctor  of  canon  law  stood  up  and  delivered  a  defence  of 
the  Pope  and  the  bulls ;  then,  falling  upon  John  Huss,  he  said — 
"  You  are  a  priest ;  you  are  subordinate  to  the  Pope,  who  is  your 
spiritual  father.  It  is  only  filthy  birds  that  defile  their  own  nest ; 
and  Ham  was  cursed  for  having  uncovered  his  father's  shame."  At 
these  words,  the  people  murmured,  and  were  in  great  commotion. 
Alreadv  were  stones  beginning  to  fly,  when  John  Huss  interfered 
and  calmed  the  storm.     After  him,  the  Impetuous  Jerome  of  Prague 

*  Hist,  et  Monum.  Hus.,  Tom.  i.,  p.  215,  &c. 
24 


396  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Popular  tumult  at  Prague.  Valuable  testimony  of  cardinal  Peter  D'Ailly. 

addressed  the  multitude,  and  terminated  a  vehement  harangue  with 
these  words :  "  Let  those  who  are  our  friends  unite  with  us  ;  Huss 
and  I  are  going  to  the  palace,  and  we  will  let  the  vanity  of  those 
indulgences  be  seen." 

Jerome  was,  however,  persuaded  not  to  go  to  the  palace,  but  the 
feelings  of  the  excited  multitude  could  not  be  calmed.  On  the  fol- 
lowing Sunday  an  event  occurred  which  raised  this  excitement  to 
an  almost  ungovernable  pitch.  A  report  was  in  circulation  that 
three  men  had  been  thrown  into  prison  by  the  magistrates,  for  hav- 
ing harangued  against  the  Pope  and  indulgences.  The  students 
rose ;  arms  were  taken  up,  and  Huss,  followed  by  the  people  and 
the  scholars,  proceeded  to  the  town-house,  and  demanded  that  the 
prisoners'  lives  should  be  spared.  Two  thousand  men  were  in  arms 
in  the  square.  "Return  peaceably  to  your  homes,"  cried  John 
Huss  to  them  ;  "  the  prisoners  are  pardoned."  The  crowd  shouted 
their  applause  and  withdrew  ;  but,  a  short  time  after,  blood  was 
seen  to  flow  in  abundance  from  the  prison.  The  senators  had  de- 
termined on  the  most  dangerous  course, — that  of  endeavoring  to 
inspire  terror,  after  having  exhibited  it  themselves.  An  executioner 
had  been  introduced,  and  had  beheaded  the  prisoners,  and  it  was 
their  blood  which  had  escaped.  At  this  sight  a  furious  tumult 
arose.  The  doors  of  the  prison  were  burst  open,  the  bodies  taken 
off,  and  transported  in  linen  shrouds  under  the  vault  of  the  chapel 
of  Bethlehem.  There  they  were  interred  with  groat  honors,  the 
scholars  singing  in  chorus  over  their  tomb, — "  They  are  saints  who 
have  given  up  their  body  for  the  gospel  of  God"  Indignation  gra- 
dually pervaded  the  whole  of  Bohemia,  and  John  Huss,  in  his  vio- 
lent invectives  against  the  Pope,  used  but  little  moderation.  He 
attacked,  in  the  most  unmeasured  language,  the  despotism  and 
simony  of  the  pontiff,  as  well  as  the  debauchery  and  display  of  the 
priests ;  he  rejected  also  the  traditions  of  the  Church  respecting 
fasts  and  abstinence,  and  he  opposed  to  every  other  authority  that 
of  the  Scriptures.  The  popish  doctors  of  Prague  formed  a  league 
against  him,  and  accused  him  of  belonging  to  the  sect  of  the  Armi- 
nians,  who  relied  on  the  authority  of  Scripture  only,  and  not  on  that 
of  the  church  and  the  holy  fathers.  To  this  Huss  replied,  that  on 
the  point  in  question  he  was  of  the  same  opinion  as  St.  Augustine, 
who  acknowledged  the  Scriptures  alone  as  the  foundation  of  his 
faith. 

§  31. — The  testimony  of  Peter  D'Ailly,  cardinal  of  Cambray,  as 
to  the  real  cause  of  the'  dissatisfaction  in  Bohemia,  considering  the 
source  from  whence  that  testimony  is  derived,  is  valuable.  "  It  is." 
said  he,  "  on  account  of  the  simoniacal  heresy  and  the  other  iniqui- 
ties which  are  practised  at  the  Court  of  Rome,  that  there  have 
arisen,  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  sects  which  have  spread  from  the 
head  to  the  other  members  in  this  kingdom,  where  a  thousand  things 

highly  insulting  to  the  Pope^re  publicly  uttered Thus  it  is 

that  the  notorious  vices  of  the  Court  of  Rome  trouble  the  Catholic 
faith,  and  corrupt  it  by  errors.     It  is  to  be  desired,  certainly,  that 


chap,  in.]    POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1515.  397 


Huss  writes  the  Six  Errors,  members  of  Anti-Christ,  &.c.  Summoned  to  the  council  of  Constance. 

those  heresies,  and  their  authors,  were  rooted  out  of  all  those  pro- 
vinces ;  but  I  do  not  see  that  this  result  can  be  accomplished,  unless 
the  court  of  Rome  can  be  brought  back  to  its  ancient  morals  and 
its  praiseworthy  customs."  In  the  meanwhile,  the  disgraceful 
schism  of  the  rival  popes  continued,  and  furnished  the  partizans  of 
Huss  with  arguments  for  combating  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope. 
"  If  we  must  obey,"  said  they,  "  to  whom  is  our  obedience  to  be 
paid  ?  Balthazar  Cossa,  called  John  XXIII.,  is  at  Rome, — Angelo 
Corario,  named  Gregory  XII.,  is  at  Rimini, — Peter  de  Lune,  who 
calls  himself  Benedict  XIII.,  is  in  Arragon.  If  one  of  them,  in  his 
quality  of  the  Most  Holy  Father,  ought  to  be  obeyed,  how  does  it 
come  to  pass  that  he  cannot  be  distinguished  from  the  others,  and 
why  does  he  not  begin  by  subduing  them  ?" 

§  32. — During  a  second  retirement  of  John  Huss  to  his  native 
village  of  Hussenitz,  he  published  a  short  but  energetic  treatise, 
under  the  title  of  The  Six  Errors.  The  first  was  the  error  of  the 
priests,  who  boasted  of  making  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
mass,  and  of  being  the  creator  of  their  Creator.  The  second  con- 
sisted in  declaring — /  believe  in  the  popes  and  the  saints.  The  third 
was  the  pretension  of  the  priests  to  be  able  to  remit  the  trespass 
and  the  penalty  of  sin  to  whom  they  pleased.  The  fourth  error 
was  implicit  obedience  to  superiors,  no  matter  what  they  ordered. 
The  fifth  consisted  in  not  making  a  distinction,  in  their  effect,  be- 
tween a  just  excommunication  and  one  that  was  not  so.  And, 
lastly,  the  sixth  error  was  simony,  which  John  Huss  designated  a 
heresy,  and  of  which  he  accused  the  greater  part  of  the  clergy. 
This  little  work,  which  attacked  the  clergy  in  particular,  was  pla- 
carded on  the  door  of  the  chapel  of  Bethlehem  ;  it  ran  with  won- 
derful rapidity  through  the  whole  of  Bohemia,  and  its  success  was 
immense.  He  wrote  also  at  this  period  his  treatise  on  the  Abomi- 
nation of  the  Monks,  the  purport  of  which  is  sufficiently  explained 
by  its  title  ;  and  another,  entitled,  Members  of  Anti- Christ,  a  vigor- 
ous and  fearless  exposure  of  the  vices  and  disorders  of  the  Pope 
and  his  court. 

§  33. — Upon  the  assembling  of  the  Council  of  Constance  in  1414, 
John  Huss  was  immediately  summoned  to  attend  it.  Had  he  re- 
fused to  obey  the  summons,  doubtless,  as  he  himself  asserted  at 
Constance,  the  powerful  barons  of  Bohemia,  who  favored  his  cause, 
would  have  protected  him,  in  their  fortified  castles,  from  the  rage 
of  his  enemies — and  even  king  Wenceslaus  would  not  have  ven- 
tured to  deliver  him  up.  In  this  event,  the  eyes  of  the  Bohemian 
reformer  might  gradually  have  been  opened  yet  more  fully  to  the 
abominations  of  Popery,  and  the  scenes  of  the  glorious  Reforma- 
tion of  Germany  might  have  been  witnessed  a  hundred  years  ear- 
lier than  the  age  of  Luther.  But,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
Reformation,  the  providence  of  God  required  yet  another  bloody 
sacrifice  to  be  offered  in  view  of  the  world — a  sacrifice,  in  defiance 
of  the  most  solemn  promise  of  protection  and  safety — in  order  to 
exhibit  yet  more  fully  the  cruel  and  perfidious  character  of  the  papal 


398  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Copy  of  the  Emperor's  safe-conduct.  Huss's  misgivings  whether  he  should  ever  return  alive. 

anti-Christ ;  and  John  Huss  was  destined  to  be  that  sacrifice. 
Upon  the  reception  of  the  summons,  Huss  prepared  to  depart  for 
Constance.  He  obtained  a  safe-conduct  (a  document  promising  him 
protection  upon  the  faith  of  the  grantor)  from  king  Wenceslaus, 
and  demanded  a  similar  one  from  the  emperor  Sigismund,  which 
he  received  while  on  his  journey.  This  document,  the  violation  of 
which,  at  the  advice  of  the  popish  cardinals  and  prelates  at  Con- 
stance, stamps  such  indelible  disgrace  upon  all  who  thus  openly 
declared  the  doctrine,  that  no  faith  is  to  be  kept  with  heretics, is 
of  so  much  importance  that  I  shall  transcribe  it.  It  was  couched 
in  the  following  terms  :*  "  Sigismund,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King 
of  the  Romans,  &c,  to  all  ecclesiastical  and  secular  princes,  &c, 
and  to  all  our  other  subjects,  greeting.  We  recommend  to  you  with 
a  full  affection, — to  all  in  general,  and  to  each  in  particular,  the 
honorable  master,  John  Huss,  bachelor  in  divinity,  and  master  of 
arts,  the  bearer  of  these  presents,  journeying  from  Bohemia  to  the 
council  of  Constance,  whom  we  have  taken  under  our  protection  and 
safe-guard,  and  under  that  of  the  empire,  enjoining  you  to  receive 
him  and  treat  him  kindly,  furnishing  him  with  all  that  shall  be 
necessary  to  speed  and  assure  his  journey,  as  well  by  water  as  by 
land,  without  taking  anything  from  him  or  his,  for  arrivals  or 
departures,  under  any  pretext  whatever  ;  and  calling  on  you  to  allow 

him  TO    PASS,  SOJOURN,  STOP,  AND    RETURN     FREELY    AND     SURELY,f 

providing  him  even,  if  necessary,  with  good  passports,  for  the  honor 
and  respect  of  his  Imperial  Majesty. — Given  at  Spires,  this  18th  day 
of  October  of  the  year  1414,  the  third  of  our  reign  in  Hungary, 
and  the  fifth  of  that  of  the  Romans" 

§  34. — Notwithstanding  these  precautions,  it  appears  that  the 
intrepid  and  faithful  reformer  had  some  doubts  whether  he  should 
ever  be  permitted  to  return  alive.  He  probably  knew  enough,  from 
the  past  history  of  Rome,  to  produce  misgivings  whether  his  popish 
enemies  would  hesitate  to  violate  a  promise,  however  solemn,  if 
made  to  a  heretic  ;  and  therefore  he  "  set  his  house  in  order,"  and 
arranged  all  his  worldly  affairs,  before  leaving  that  home,  to  which 
he  might  never  return.  He  made  some  bequests,  in  the  event  of 
his  death,  and  wrote  several  farewell  letters,  which  are  intensely 
interesting,  as  exhibiting  his  evident  growth  in  piety  and  spiritual- 
ity, as  he  drew  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  martyr's  sufferings  and  the 
martyr's  crown. 

In  one  of  these  letters,  addressed  to  his  beloved  friends  in  Prague, 
he  writes — "  I  am  departing,  my  brethren,  with  a  safe-conduct  from 
the  king  to  meet  my  numerous  and  mortal  enemies I  con- 
fide altogether  in  the  all-powerful  God,  in  my  Saviour ;  I  trust  that 
he  will  listen  to  your  ardent  prayers,  that  he  will  infuse  his  pru- 

*  L'Enfant's  Council  of  Constance,  vol.  i.,  p.  61  ;  Bonnechose,  book  ii.,  ch.  i. 

f  "  OMNIQUE  PRORSUS  IMPEDIMENTS)  REMOTO  TRANSIRE,  STARE,  MORARI,  ET  RE- 
DIRE  libere  permittatis."  "  Venir  librement  et  d'en  revenir,"  Dupin.  For  the 
original  of  the  document,  see  Acta  publico,  apud  Bzovium,  Ann.  1414,  Sec.  17  ; 
quoted  in  Latin  by  Gieseler,  III.,  351,  and  Waddington,  p.  465. 


chap,  m.]    POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.    399 


Huss's  farewell  letters  on  setting  out  for  the  council.  His  evident  growth  in  spirituality  and  grace. 

dence  and  his  wisdom  into  my  mouth,  in  order  that  I  may  resist 
them ;  and  that  he  will  accord  me  his  Holy  Spirit  to  fortify  me  in 
his  truth,  so  that  I  may  face,  with  courage,  temptations,  prison,  and 
if  necessary,  a  cruel  death.  Jesus  Christ  suffered  for  his  well- 
beloved  ;  and,  therefore,  ought  we  to  be  astonished  that  he  has  left 
us  his  example,  in  order  that  we  may  ourselves  endure  with  patience 
all  things  for  our  own  salvation  ?  He  is  God,  and  we  are  his  crea- 
tures ;  He  is  the  Lord,  and  we  are  his  servants ;  He  is  master  of 
the  world,  and  we  are  contemptible  mortals: — yet  he  suffered! 
Why,  then,  should  we  not  suffer  also,  particularly  when  suffering  is 
for  us  a  purification  !  Therefore,  beloved,  if  my  death  ought  to 
contribute  to  his  glory,  pray  that  it  may  come  quickly,  and  that  he 
may  enable  me  to  support  all  my  calamities  with  constancy.  But 
if  it  be  better  that  I  return  amongst  you,  let  us  pray  to  God  that  I 
may  return  without  stain, — that  is,  that  I  may  not  suppress  one  tittle 
of  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  in  order  to  leave  my  brethren  an  excel- 
lent example  to  follow.  Probably,  therefore,  you  will  never  more 
behold  my  face  at  Prague  ;  but  should  the  will  of  the  all-powerful 
God  deign  to  restore  me  to  you,  let  us  then  advance  with  a  firmer 
heart  in  the  knowledge  and  the  love  of  his  law."* 

In  another  letter,  which  Huss  addressed,  when  setting  out,  to  the 
priest  Martin,  his  disciple,  he  speaks  of  himself  with  the  greatest 
humility.  He  accuses  himself,  as  if  they  were  so  many  grave 
offences,  of  having  felt  pleasure  in  wearing  rich  apparel,  and  of 
having  wasted  hours  in  frivolous  occupations.  He  adds  these  affect- 
ing instructions :  "  May  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  salvation  of 
souls,  occupy  thy  mind,  and  not  the  possession  of  benefices  and 
estates.  Beware  of  adorning  thy  house  more  than  thy  soul ;  and, 
above  all,  give  thy  care  to  the  spiritual  edifice.  Be  pious  and 
humble  with  the  poor ;  and  consume  not  thy  substance  in  feasting. 
Shouldst  thou  not  amend  thy  life  and  refrain  from  superfluities,  I 
fear  that  thou  wilt  be  severely  chastened,  as  I  am  myself — I,  who 
also  made  use  of  such  things,  led  away  by  custom,  and  troubled 
by  a  spirit  of  pride.  Thou  knowest  my  doctrine,  for  thou  hast 
received  my  instructions  from  thy  childhood ;  it  is  therefore  useless 
for  me  to  write  to  thee  any  further.  But  I  conjure  thee,  by  the 
mercy  of  our  Lord,  not  to  imitate  me  in  any  of  the  vanities  into 
which  thou  hast  seen  me  fall."f  He  concludes  by  making  some 
bequests,  and  disposing,  as  if  by  will,  of  several  articles  which  be- 
longed to  him  ;  and  then,  on  the  cover  of  the  letter,  he  adds  this  pro- 
phetic phrase,  "  I  conjure  thee,  my  friend,  not  to  break  this  seal  until 
thou  shalt  have  acquired  the  certitude  that  I  am  dead."  Thus  evi- 
dent is  it,  that  God  was  preparing  his  servant  for  the  sufferings  of 
martyrdom  and  the  joys  of  Heaven. 

In  the  month  of  October,  1414,  Huss  bade  adieu  to  his  chapel  of 
Bethlehem,  which  he  was  no  more  to  behold,  and  to  his  friends  and 

*  Hist,  et  Monum.,  J.  Huss,  t.  i.,  p.  72,  Epist.  i. 
f  Ibid.,  Epist.  ii. 


400  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Huss  arrested  in  violation  of  the  safe-conduct.        Popish  efforts  to  reconcile  Sigismund  to  this  treachery- 


disciples.  He  left  behind  his  faithful  Jerome,  and  their  parting  was 
not  without  emotion.  "  Dear  master,"  said  Jerome  to  him,  "  be 
firm  :  maintain  intrepidly  what  thou  hast  written  and  preached 
against  the  pride,  avarice,  and  other  vices  of  the  churchmen,  with 
arguments  drawn  from  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Should  this  task  be- 
come too  severe  for  thee — should  I  learn  that  thou  hast  fallen  into 
any  peril,  I  shall  fly  forthwith  to  thy  assistance." 

§  35. — In  shameful  violation  of  the  safe-conduct  of  the  Emperor, 
almost  immediately  upon  the  arrival  of  Huss  at  Constance,  he  was 
placed  under  arrest  by  order  of  the  Pope  and  cardinals,  and  com- 
mitted to  a  loathsome  prison.  When  this  was  known  at  Prague,  the 
city  was  thrown  into  commotion.  A  number  of  protests  were  at 
once  signed.  Several  barons  and  powerful  noblemen  wrote  press- 
ing letters  to  the  Emperor,  reminding  him  of  the  safe-conduct  which 
he  had  received  from  Sigismund  himself.  "  John  Huss,"  observed 
they,  "departed  with  full  confidence  in  the  guarantee  given  him  in 
your  Imperial  Majesty's  letter.  Nevertheless,  we  now  understand 
that  he  has  been  seized  on,  though  having  that  in  his  possession ; 
and  not  only  seized  on.  but  cast  into  prison,  without  being  either 
convicted  or  heard.     Every  one   here,  princes  or  barons,  rich  or 

poor,  has  been  astonished  to  hear  of  this  event Each  man 

asks  his  neighbor  how  the  holy  Father  could  so  shamefully  have 
violated  the  sanctity  of  the  law,  the  plain  rules  of  justice,  and  finally, 
your  Majesty's  safe-conduct, — how,  in  fact,  he  could  thus  have 
thrown  into  prison,  without  cause,  a  just  and  innocent  man. 

The  enemies  of  Huss  were  not  less  active  in  their  efforts  to  de- 
stroy, than  his  defenders  to  save  him.  They  circumvented  Sigis- 
mund, and  dexterously  took  advantage  of  his  prejudices,  his  blind 
devotion,  and  his  zeal — more  remarkable  for  energy  than  sound 
judgment — for  the  extinction  of  the  schism.  They  adduced  argu- 
ments of  great  length  to  prove  that  he  was  perfectly  at  liberty  not  to 
keep  faith  with  a  man  accused  of  heresy :  they  persuaded  him  that 
he  possessed  no  right  to  accord  a  safe-conduct  to  John  Huss  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  council ;  and  that,  the  council  being  above 
the  Emperor,  could  free  him  from  his  word.  Yet,  notwithstanding 
the  attempts  of  these  popish  priests  to  silence  the  clamors  of  Sigis- 
mund's  conscience,  at  so  base  an  act  of  treachery,  the  Emperor 
did  not  abandon  the  victim  to  their  power  without  considerable 
resistance.  It  was  like  yielding  up  the  helpless  lamb  to  a  conclave 
of  wolves  thirsting  for  his  blood,  and  it  required  all  the  efforts  of 
popish  sophistry  to  convince  Sigismund,  even  for  the  passing  mo- 
ment, that  such  a  violation  of  his  solemnly  pledged  faith  was  law- 
ful ;  and  the  remembrance  of  this  perfidious  abandonment  of  the 
man  he  had  engaged  to  protect,  haunted  and  disquieted  him  in  the 
subsequent  years  of  his  life.  Two  years  after  the  council,  when  no 
longer  blinded  by  the  sophistries  and  seduced  by  the  persuasion  of 
the  bitter  enemies  of  Huss,  the  Emperor  wrote  to  the  barons  of 
Bohemia  in  the  following  terms :  "  I  am  unable  to  express  it — how 
much  I  was  afflicted  by  his  ill  fortune.     The  active  measures  that  I 


chap,  m.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  401 

Huss  before  the  council.  His  condemnation  and  degradation. 

took  in  his  favor  are  matters  of  public  notoriety, — for  I  went  so  far 
as  several  times  to  leave  the  assembly  in  anger,  and  had  even  once 
quitted  the  city ;  upon  which  the  Fathers  of  the  council  sent  to 
inform  me,  that  if  I  stopped  the  course  of  their  justice,  they  had 
nothing  to  do  at  Constance.  I  therefore  determined  to  abstain  from 
any  further  interference :  for  if  I  interested  myself  further  in  John 
Huss's  favor,  the  council  would  have  been  dissolved."* 

§  36. — It  would  be  a  tedious  task  to  relate  the  particulars  of  the 
various  audiences  of  Huss  before  the  council ;  the  charges  which 
were  brought  against  him,  the  doctrines  that  he  was  alleged  to 
have  taught  (some  of  which  he  denied,  and  others  he  defended), 
the  cruel  insult,  abuse,  and  mockery  that  he  received  from  his 
oppressors,  and  the  meekness,  yet  firmness  and  holy  boldness  with 
which  he  conducted  himself,  through  the  whole  of  the  proceedings. 
All  his  letters,  and  all  the  testimony  of  contemporary  writers,  serve 
to  prove  that  at  this  last  period  of  his  life,  his  angelic  meekness  and 
resignation  were  as  constant  as  his  misfortunes.  If  indignation  had 
formerly  characterized  some  of  his  acts  and  writings  with  an  im- 
press of  extra  violence  or  bitterness,  these  defects  had  given  place  to 
their  opposite  virtues,  and,  through  the  sanctifying  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  he  had  never  been  more  meet  for  the  crown  of  immortality 
in  heaven  than  at  the  moment  when  his  enemies  were  preparing  to 
inflict  martyrdom  on  him  on  earth.  Never  did  any  one  manifest  a 
faith  more  lull  of  hope  and  gratitude,  in  the  midst  of  trials  in  which 
carnal  men  would  have  beheld  only  motives  for  lamentation  and 
despair.  "  This  declaration  of  our  Saviour,"  said  he,  "  is  to  me  a 
great  source  of  consolation  :  '  Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  hate 
you,  and  shall  reproach  you,  and  cast  out  your  name  as  evil,  for  the 
Son  of  man's  sake.  Rejoice  ye  in  that  day  ;  for,  behold,  your  re- 
ward is  great  in  heaven." 

§  37. — His  condemnation  and  degradation. — But  we  hasten  to  the 
description  of  his  condemnation  and  martyrdom.  On  the  6th  of 
July  he  appeared  the  last  time  before  the  council  in  the  fifteenth 
general  session,  to  hear  his  sentence  pronounced.  The  Emperor 
and  all  the  princes  of  the  empire  were  present,  and  an  immense 
crowd  had  assembled  from  all  quarters  to  view  this  sad  spectacle. 
Mass  was  being  celebrated  when  Huss  arrived,  and  he  was  kept 
outside  until  it  was  over,  lest  the  holy  mysteries  should  be  profaned 
by  the  presence  of  so  great  a  heretic.  A  high  table  had  been  erected 
in  the  midst  of  the  church,  and  on  it  were  placed  the  sacerdotal 
habits  with  which  John  Huss  was  to  be  invested,  in  order  to  be 
stripped  of  them  afterward.  He  was  directed  to  seat  himself  in 
front  of  this  table  on  a  footstool,  elevated  enough  to  allow  him  to 
be  seen  by  every  one. 

A  fierce  and  blood-thirsty  harangue  was  delivered  by  the  popish 
bishop  of  Lodi,  from  Rom.  vi.,  6,  "  That  the  body  of  sin  might  be 
destroyed"  which  he  concluded  with  the  following  words, addressed 

*  CochloBus,  lib.  iv. 


402  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Articles  of  Huss  condemned.  The  martyr  prays  like  his  blessed  master,  for  his  enemies. 

to  Sigismund  :  "  Destroy  heresies  and  errors,  and,  above  all,"  point- 
inf  to  John  Huss,  "  this  obstinate  heretic.  It  is  a  holy  work, 
glorious  prince,  that  which  is  reserved  to  you  to  accomplish — you 
to  whom  the  authority  of  justice  is  given.  Smite,  then,  such  great 
enemies  of  the  faith,  in  order  that  your  praises  may  proceed  from 
the  mouth  of  children,  and  that  your  glory  may  be  eternal.  May 
Jesus  Christ,  for  ever  blessed,  deign  to  accord  you  this  favor." 

§  38. — The  articles  from  the  writings  of  Huss  were  then  read,  to 
which  the  holy  martyr  made  several  attempts  to  reply,  but  was 
prevented  by  the  uproar  and  clamor  that  was  raised  to  prevent 
him  from  speaking.  He  was  accused,  among  other  absurd  charges, 
of  having  given  himself  out  for  a  fourth  person  in  the  Trinity.  To 
this  he  replied  by  repeating  aloud^the  Athanasian  or  Trinitarian 
creed.  His  appeal  to  Jesus  Christ,  mentioned  in  page  390,  was 
also  laid  to  his  charge  as  a  heavy  crime.  He,  however,  repeated 
it,  and  maintained  that  it  was  a  just  and  proper  proceeding,  and 
founded  upon  the  example  of  Jesus  Christ  himself.  "  Behold  !" 
cried  he,  with  his  hands  joined  together  and  raised  to  heaven,  "be- 
hold, O  most  kind  Jesus,  how  thy  council  condemns  what  thou  hast 
both  ordered  and  practised ;  when,  being  borne  down  by  thy  ene- 
mies, thou  deliveredst  up  thy  cause  into  the  hands  of  God,  thy 
Father,  leaving  us  thy  example,  that  we  might  ourselves  have  re- 
course to  the  judgment  of  God,  the  most  righteous  Judge,  against 
oppression  !  Yes,"  continued  he,  turning  toward  the  assembly,  "  I 
have  maintained,  and  I  still  uphold,  that  it  is  impossible  to  appeal 
more  safely  than  to  Jesus  Christ,  because  HE  cannot  be  either  cor- 
rupted by  presents,  or  deceived  by  false  witnesses,  or  overreached 
by  any  artifice."  When  they  accused  him  of  having  treated  with 
contempt  the  excommunication  of  the  Pope,  he  observed :  "  I  did 
not  despise  it ;  but  as  I  did  not  consider  him  legitimate,  I  continued 
the  duties  of  my  priesthood.  I  sent  my  procurators  to  Rome, 
where  they  were  thrown  into  prison,  ill  treated,  and  driven  out. 
It  is  on  that  account  that  I  determined,  of  my  own  free  will,  to 
appear  before  this  council,  under  the  public  protection  and  faith  of 
the  Emperor  here  present."  At  the  moment  of  pronouncing  these 
words,  Huss  looked  steadfastly  at  the  emperor  Sigismund,  and  we 
are  not  surprised 'to  be  informed  by  the  historian,  that  a  deep  blush 
crimsoned  his  face.  It  was  in  allusion  to  this  circumstance,  in  the 
next  century,  that  the  emperor  Charles  V.,  when  solicited  by  some 
worthy  successors  of  the  popish  foxes  of  Constance,  to  cause  Luther 
to  be  arrested  at  the  diet  of  Worms,  notwithstanding  the  safe-con- 
duct he  had  given  him,  replied,  "  No,  I  should  not  like  to  blush 
like  Sigismund."* 

§  39. — After  hearing  the  sentence,  Huss  fell  on  his  knees,  and 
said,  "  Lord  Jesus  pardon  my  enemies  !  Thou  knowest  that  they 
have  falsely  accused  me,  and  that  they  have  had  recourse  to  false 
testimony  and  vile  calumnies  against  me  ;  pardon  them  from  thy 

*  See  L'Enfant,  vol.  i.,  page  422. 


chap,  m.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  403 

His  degradation.  Stripped  of  his  priestly  vestments.  Led  out  to  martyrdom. 


infinite  mercy  !"  Then  commenced  the  afflicting  ceremony  of  de- 
gradation. The  bishops  clothed  John  Huss  in  sacerdotal  habits, 
and  placed  his  chalice  in  his  hand,  as  if  he  was  about  to  celebrate 
mass.  He  said,  in  taking  the  alb,  "  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was 
covered  with  a  white  robe,  by  way  of  insult,  when  Herod  had  him 
conducted  before  Pilate."  Being  thus  clad,  the  prelate  again  ex- 
horted him  to  retract,  for  his  salvation  and  his  honor ;  but  he  de- 
clared aloud,  turning  toward  the  people,  that  he  should  take  good 
care  not  to  scandalize  and  lead  astray  believers  by  a  hypocritical 
abjuration.  "  How  could  I,"  said  he,  "  after  having  done  so,  raise 
my  face  to  heaven  !  With  what  eye  could  I  support  the  looks  of 
men  whom  I  have  instructed,  should  it  come  to  pass,  through  my 
fault,  that  those  same  things  which  are  now  regarded  by  them  as 
certainties,  should  become  matters  of  doubt — if,  by  my  example,  I 
caused  confusion  and  trouble  in  so  many  souls,  so  many  consciences, 
which  I  have  filled  with  the  pure  doctrine  of  Christ's  gospel,  and 
which  I  have  strengthened  against  the  snares  of  the  devil  ?  No  ! 
no  !  It  shall  never  be  said  that  I  preferred  the  safety  of  this  misera- 
ble body,  now  destined  to  death,  to  their  eternal  salvation  !"  The 
bishops  then  made  him  descend  from  his  seat,  and  took  the  chalice 
out  of  his  hand,  saying:  "O  accursed  Judas!  who,  having  aban- 
doned the  counsels  of  peace,  have  taken  part  in  that  of  the  Jews, 
we  take  from  you  this  cup,  filled  with  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ !" 
His  habits  were  then  taken  off,  one  after  the  other,  and  on  each  of 
them  the  bishops  pronounced  some  maledictions.  When,  last  of  all, 
it  was  necessary  to  efface  the  marks  of  the  tonsure-,  a  dispute  arose 
among  them  whether  a  razor  or  scissors  ought  to  be  employed. 
"  See,"  said  John  Huss,  turning  toward  the  Emperor,  "  though  they 
are  all  equally  cruel,  yet  can  they  not  agree  on  the  manner  of  exer- 
cising that  cruelty."  They  placed  on  his  head  a  crown  or  sort  of 
pyramidal  mitre,  on  which  were  painted  frightful  figures  of  demons, 
with  this  inscription,  "  The  Arch-Heretic,"  and  when  he  was  thus 
arrayed,  the  prelates  devoted  his  soul  to  the  devils.  '  Animam 
tuam  diabolis  commendamus.'  John  Huss,  however,  recommended 
his  spirit  to  God,  and  said  aloud  .  "  I  wear  with  joy  this  crown  of 
opprobrium,  for  the  love  of  Him  who  bore  a  crown  of  thorns." 

§  40. — His  martyrdom. — The  church  then  gave  up  all  claim  to 
him — declared  him  a  layman — and  as  such,  delivered  him  over  to 
the  secular  power,  to  conduct  him  to  a  place  of  punishment.  John 
Huss,  by  the  order  of  Sigismund,  was  given  up  by  the  Elector 
Palatine,  vicar  of  the  empire,  to  the  chief  magistrate  of  Constance, 
who,  in  his  turn,  abandoned  him  to  the  officers  of  justice.  He 
walked  between  four  town  Serjeants,  to  the  place  of  execution.  On 
arriving  at  the  place  of  burning,  Huss  kneeled  down  and  recited 
some  of  the  penitential  psalms.  Several  of  the  people,  hearing  him 
pray  with  fervor,  said  aloud  :  "  We  are  ignorant  of  this  man's  crime, 
but  he  offers  up  most  excellent  prayers."  When  he  wished  to  ad- 
dress the  crowd  in  German,  the  Elector  Palatine  opposed  it,  and 
ordered  him  forthwith  to  be  burned.     "  Lord  Jesus  !"  cried  John 


404  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Huss's  meek,  courageous,  and  godly  demeanor  at  the  stake  of  burning.        His  ashes  cast  into  the  Rhine. 

Huss,  "  I  shall  endeavor  to  endure  with  humility,  this  frightful 
death,  which  I  am  awarded  for  thy  gospel, — pardon  all  my  enemies." 
While  he  was  praying  thus,  with  his  eyes  raised  up  to  heaven,  the 
paper  crown  fell  off:  he  smiled,  but  the  soldiers  replaced  it  on  his 
head,  in  order,  as  they  declared,  that  he  might  be  burned  with  the 
devils  he  had  obeyed. 

Having  obtained  permission  to  speak  to  his  keepers,  he  thanked 
them  for  the  good  treatment  he  had  received  at  their  hands.  "  My 
brethren,"  said  he, "  learn  that  I  firmly  believe  in  my  Saviour  :  it  is 
in  his  name  that  I  suffer,  and  this  very  day  I  shall  go  and  reign  with 
him  !"  His  body  was  then  bound  with  thongs,  with  which  he  was 
firmly  tied  to  a  stake,  driven  deep  into  the  ground.  When  he  was 
so  affixed,  some  persons  objected  to  his  face  being  turned  to  the 
East,  saying  that  this  ought  not  to  be,  since  he  was  a  heretic.  He 
was  then  untied  and  bound  again  with  his  face  to  the  West.  His 
head  was  held  close  to  the  wood  by  a  chain  smeared  with  soot, 
and  the  views  of  which  inspired  him  with  pious  reflections  on  the 
ignominy  of  our  Saviour's  sufferings.  Faggots  were  then  arranged 
about  and  under  his  feet,  and  around  him  was  piled  up  a  quantity 
of  straw.  When  all  these  preparations  were  completed,  the  Elector 
Palatine,  accompanied  by  Count  d'Oppenheim,  marshal  of  the  em- 
pire, came  up  to  him,  and  for  the  last  time  recommended  him  to 
retract.  But  he,  looking  up  to  heaven,  said  with  a  loud  voice  :  "  I 
call  God  to  witness,  that  I  have  never  either  taught  or  written  what 
these  false  witnesses  have  laid  to  my  charge, — my  sermons,  my 
books,  my  writings,  have  all  been  done  with  the  sole  view  of  rescu- 
ing souls  from  the  tyranny  of  sin,  and,  therefore,  most  joyfully  will 
I  confirm  with  my  blood  the  truth  which  I  have  taught,  written  and 
preached ;  and  which  is  confirmed  by  the  divine  law  and  the  holy 
fathers."  The  Elector  and  the  marshal  then  withdrew,  and  fire  was 
set  to  the  pile  !  "  Jesus,  Son  of  the  living  God,"  cried  John  Huss, 
"  have  pity  on  me  !"  He  prayed  and  sung  a  hymn  in  the  midst  of 
his  torments,  but  soon  after,  the  wind  having  risen,  his  voice  was 
drowned  by  the  roaring  of  the  flames.  He  was  perceived  for  some 
time  longer  moving  his  head  and  lips,  and  as  if  still  praying, — and 
then  he  gave  up  the  spirit.  His  habits  were  burned  with  him, 
and  the  executioners  tore  in  pieces  the  remains  of  his  body  and 
threw  them  back  into  the  funeral  pile,  until  the  fire  had  absolutely 
consumed  everything  ;  the  ashes  were  then  collected  together  and 
thrown  into  the  Rhine  ;  and  as  it  was  said  of  Wickliff,  so  may  it 
be  said  of  the  holy  martyr  of  Bohemia,  that  the  dispersion  of  his 
ashes  in  the  river  and  in  the  ocean,  is  an  emblem  of  the  subsequent 
dissemination  of  those  truths,  for  the  sake  of  which  he  braved  a 
martyr's  sufferings,  and  won  a  martyr's  crown.     (See  Engraving.) 


Burning  ol  John  [luss   ai  i  01 


407 


CHAPTER  IV. 


JEROME    OF    PRAGUE,    AT    THE    COUNCIL    OF    CONSTANCE. HIS    CONDEM- 
NATION   AND    MARTYRDOM. 

§41. — Upon  hearing  of  the  imprisonment  and  danger  of  Huss, 
his  faithful  friend  Jerome  remembered  the  promise  he  had  made 
him  at  his  departure  from  Prague,  and  prepared  to  fulfil  it.  He  set 
out  for  Constance  without  a  safe-conduct,  accompanied  by  a  single 
disciple.  He  determined  to  appear  before  the  council  and  plead 
his  friend's  cause.  He  arrived  in  that  city  on  April  4,  and  mingling, 
without  being  known,  with  the  crowd  of  people,  he  overheard  dis- 
astrous intelligence.  It  was  said  that  John  Huss  would  not  be  ad- 
mitted into  the  presence  of  the  council — that  he  would  be  judged 
and  condemned  in  secret — that  he  would  leave  his  prison  only  to 
die.  Jerome  was  struck  with  alarm,  and  thought  all  was  lost.  A 
violent  terror  seized  on  him,  and  he  took  to  flight  as  suddenly  as  he 
had  come.  On  his  mournful  return  to  Bohemia,  he  stopped  at 
Uberlingen,  and  wrote,  but  in  vain,  to  the  Emperor  for  a  safe-con- 
duct. The  council  granted  one,  but  in  such  terms  as  to  render  it 
useless.  It  contained  the  following  rather  curious  assurance  of  pro- 
tection :  "  As  we  have  nothing  more  at  heart  than  to  catch  the  foxes 
which  ravage  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  we  summon  you 
by  these  presents,  to  appear  before  us  as  a  suspected  person,  and 
violently  accused  of  having  rashly  advanced  several  errors ;  and 
we  order  you  to  appear  here  within  a  fortnight  from  the  date  of 
this  summons,  to  answer,  as  you  have  offered  to  do,  in  the  first 
session  that  shall  be  held  after  your  arrival.  It  is  for  this  purpose, 
that,  in  order  to  prevent  any  violence  being  offered  to  you,  we,  by 
these  presents,  give  you  a  full  safe-conduct  as  much  as  in  us  lies, 
excepting  always  the  claims  of  the  law,  and  that  the  orthodox  faith 
does  not,  in  any  respect,  prevent  it ;  certifying  to  you,  beside,  that 
whether  you  appear  within  the  specified  period  or  not,  the  council, 
by  itself  or  its  commissioners,  will  proceed  against  you  as  soon  as 
the  term  shall  have  elapsed." 

Jerome  proceeded  with  a  sad  heart  on  his  way  homeward,  when 
he  was  arrested  in  the  Black  Forest,  and  brought  back  to  Constance, 
which  he  entered  on  a  cart,  loaded  with  chains,  and  surrounded  by 
a  guard  of  soldiers.* 

§  42. — He  was  taken  in  that  miserable  condition  to  the  Elector's 
house,  where  he  was  kept  until  he  appeared  in  public,  before  a  gen- 
eral meeting  of  the  members  of  the  council.  At  his  first  appearance 
before  the  council,  he  was  bitterly  assailed  by  several  of  the  mem- 
bers, and  his  attempts  to  reply  to  their  accusations  were  met  with 

*  Venit  igitar  currui  impositus,  catenis  longis  ac  sonantibus  constrictus.  (Msc. 
Lips.  Von  der  Hardl,  t.  iv.,  p.  216.) 


408  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Jerome,  in  a  moment  of  fear,  recants.  Resolves  to  renounce  his  recantation. 

vociferous  shouts  :  "  To  the  flames  with  him  ! — to  the  flames  !"  He 
was  conducted  back  to  his  loathsome  dungeon,  chained  in  the  most 
painful  postures,  and  fed  on  bread  and  water. 

For  six  months  he  was  suffered  to  pine  away  in  chains,  no 
severity  had  been  spared  him  in  his  noisome  dungeon,  and  his 
legs  were  already  afflicted  with  incurable  sores.  It  was  hoped 
that  sufferings  of  such  duration  and  rigor  would  have  depressed  his 
soul,  and  subdued  his  courage.  His  cruel  persecutors  hoped  that 
his  spirit  had  been  subdued  by  the  terrible  vengeance  of  the  council 
on  Huss.  He  was  taken  out  of  prison,  and  summoned,  under  pain 
of  being  burned,  to  abjure  his  errors,  and  subscribe  to  the  justice  of 
John  Huss's  death.  Human  weakness  prevailed — Jerome  was 
afraid,  and  signed  a  paper  in  which  he  submitted  himself  to  the  coun- 
cil, and  approved  of  all  its  acts.  This  retraction  of  Jerome  proves, 
by  the  very  restrictions  which  it  contains,  how  much  it  must  have 
cost  the  unfortunate  man  to  consent  to  it.  He  subscribed,  it  is  true, 
to  the  condemnation  of  the  articles  of  Wickliff  and  John  Huss;  but 
he  declared  that  he  had  no  intention  of  bearing  any  prejudice  to  the 
holy  truths  which  these  two  men  had  taught ;  and  as  to  Huss  in 
particular,  he  avowed  that  he  had  loved  him  from  his  tenderest 
years,  and  that  he  had  always  been  ready  to  defend  him  against 
every  one,  on  account  of  the  mildness  of  his  language,  and  the  good 
instructions  he  gave  the  people.  While  we  cannot  but  mourn  that 
the  weakness  of  nature,  and  fear  of  the  most  terrible  and  painful  of 
deaths,  induced  Jerome  thus  to  recant  his  opinions,  and  profess  to 
condemn  what  in  his  heart  he  approved ;  before  we  venture  harshly 
to  censure  him,  we  should  place  ourselves  in  his  position,  and  ask, 
would  we  have  displayed  a  greater  degree  of  courage  and  con- 
stancy. 

§  43. — Jerome  was  then  led  back  to  prison,  but  treated  with 
greater  lenity.  His  qualified  recantation,  however,  was  unsatisfac- 
tory to  some  of  the  members  of  the  council,  who,  like  the  tiger 
With  his  appetite  whetted  by  the  taste  of  human  flesh,  ardently 
thirsted  for  the  blood  of  Jerome.  The  persecuted  martyr  then 
comprehended,  that,  in  order  to  save  his  life,  he  should  be  obliged 
to  plunge  deeper  into  perjury.  Indignation  restored  him  strength 
— the  love  of  the  truth  prevailed  over  the  love  of  life — and  he  at 
once  made 'up  his  mind  to  adopt  a  heroic  resolution.  He  resolved 
boldly  to  defend  his  opinions,  and  follow  the  martyred  Huss  to  the 
flames.  On  the  23d  of  May,  1516,  upon  being  again  confronted 
with  his  cruel  judges,  he  renounced  his  former  recantation,  advo- 
cated his  own  opinions  and  those  of  John  Huss,  with  a  degree  of 
learning,  argument,  and  eloquence  truly  astonishing  even  to  his  ene- 
mies.*    In  reference  to  his  martyred  associate  and  brother,  he  ex- 

*  In  a  long  and  interesting  letter  of  the  learned  Roman  Catholic  Poggio,  the 
Florentine  historian,  and  once  secretary  to  pope  John  XXIII.,  he  writes  as  fol- 
lows : — "  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  after  having  been  so  long  shut  up  in  a 
place  where  it  was  utterly  impossible  for  him  either  to  read  or  even  to  see,  and 
where  the  perpetual  anxiety  of  his  mind  would  have  been  quite  sufficient  to  de- 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  409 

His  courageous  and  eloquent  protestations  before  the  council. 

claimed  aloud  before  all  the  council,  "  I  knew  John  Huss  from  his 
childhood,  and  there  was  never  anything  wrong  in  him.  He 
was  a  most  excellent  man,  just  and  holy  ; — he  was  condemned, 
notwithstanding  his  innocence ; — he  has  ascended  to  heaven,  like 
Elias,  in  the  midst  of  flames ;  and  from  thence  he  will  summon  his 
judges  to  the  formidable  tribunal  of  Christ.  I,  also — I  am  ready 
to  die :  I  will  not  recoil  before  the  torments  that  are  prepared  for 
me  by  my  enemies  and  false  witnesses,  who  will  one  day  have  to 
render  an  account  of  their  impostures  before  the  great  God,  whom 
nothing  can  deceive.  Of  all  the  sins,"  added  he,  "  that  I  have  com- 
mitted since  my  youth,  none  weigh  so  heavily  on  my  mind,  and 
cause  me  such  poignant  remorse,  as  that  which  I  committed  in  this 
fatal  place,  when  I  approved  of  the  iniquitous  sentence  rendered 
against  Wickliff,  and  against  the  holy  martyr,  John  Huss,  my  mas- 
ter and  my  friend.  Yes  !  I  confess  it  from  my  heart ;  and  declare, 
with  horror,  that  I  disgracefully  quailed,  when,  through  a  dread  of 
death,  I  condemned  their  doctrines.  I  therefore  supplicate  and  con- 
jure Almighty  God  to  deign  to  pardon  me  my  sins — and  this  one, 
in  particular,  the  most  heinous  of  all — according  to  the  promise 
which  he  has  made  us, '  I  will  not  have  the  death  of  a  sinner,  but 
rather  that  he  may  turn  from  his  wickedness  and  live  !' "  Then, 
raising  his  hand,  and  pointing  to  his  judges,  he  exclaimed,  in  tones 
which  must  have  made  them  tremble  on  their  seats,  "  You  con- 
demned Wickliff  and  John  Huss,  not  for  having  shaken  the  doc- 
trine of  the  church,  but  simply  because  they  branded  with  repro- 
bation the  scandals  proceeding  from  the  clergy — their  pomp,  their 
pride,  and  all  the  vices  of  the  prelates  and  priests.  The  things 
which  they  have  affirmed,  and  which  are  irrefutable,  I  also  think 
and  declare,  like  them." 

§  44. — Upon  the  heroic  martyr  being  interrupted  by  the  exclama- 
tions of  his  judges,  trembling  with  rage,  and  asking,  "  What  need  of 
further  proof?" — "  Away  with  the  most  obstinate  of  heretics  ! "  Je- 
rome exclaimed  with  a  noble  dignity  of  manner  and  eloquence  of 
speech,  "  What  do  you  suppose  that  1  fear  to  die  ?  You  have  held 
me  for  a  whole  year  in  a  frightful  dungeon,  more  horrible  than 
death  itself.  You  have  treated  me  more  cruelly  than  a  Turk,  Jew, 
or  pagan,  and  my  flesh  has  literally  rotted  off  my  bones  alive ;  and 
yet  I  make  no  complaint,  for  lamentation  ill  becomes  a  man  of 
heart  and  spirit ;  but  I  cannot  but  express  my  astonishment  at  such 
great  barbarity  towards  a  Christian."  "  His  voice,"  remarks  the 
learned  Romanist  Poggio,  in  the  remarkable  letter  referred  to  in 
the  last  note,  "  his  voice  was  touching,  clear,  and  sonorous  ;  his  ges- 
ture full  of  dignity  and  persuasiveness,  whether  he  expressed  in- 
dignation or  moved  his  hearers  to  pity,  which,  however,  he  ap- 

prive  any  other  of  memory  altogether,  he  could,  notwithstanding,  have  been  able 
to  quote,  in  support  of  his  opinions,  so  great  a  number  of  authorities,  and  learned 
testimonies  of  the  greatest  doctors,  so  that  one  would  have  said  that  he  had 
passed  all  that  time  in  perfect  repose,  and  at  full  liberty  to  devote  himself  to 
study." 


410  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Jerome  contends  for  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Scriptures.  He  is  brought  up  for  sentence. 

pcared  neither  to  ask  for  nor  to  desire.  He  stood  there,  in  the 
midst  of  all,  the  features  pale,  but  the  heart  intrepid,  despising 
death,  and  advancing  to  meet  it.  Interrupted  frequently,  attacked 
and  tormented  by  many,  he  replied  fully  to  all,  and  took  vengeance 
on  them,  forcing  some  to  blush,  and  others  to  be  silent,  and  tower- 
ing above  all  their  clamors.  Sometimes,  too,  he  earnestly  besought, 
and  at  others  forcibly  claimed  to  be  permitted  to  speak  freely — 
calling  on  the  assembly  to  listen  to  him  whose  voice  would  soon  be 
hushed  for  ever."* 

§  45. — Before  being  brought  up  for  sentence,  Jerome  was  again 
remanded  to  prison,  and  while  there,  was  visited  by  several  car- 
dinals and  bishops,  who  had  been  astonished  by  his  wonderful  elo- 
quence and  ability.  The  cardinal  of  Florence  exhorted  him  again 
to  recant,  and  to  save  his  life.  "  The  only  favor  that  I  demand," 
replied  Jerome,  "  and  which  I  have  always  demanded,  is  to  be  con- 
vinced by  the  Holy  Scriptures.  This  body,  which  has  suffered 
such  frightful  torments  in  my  chains,  will  also  know  how  to  support 
death  by  fire,  for  Jesus  Christ."  "  And  in  what  manner,"  asked 
the  Cardinal,  "  do  you  desire  to  be  instructed  ?"  "  By  the  holy 
writings,  which  are  our  illuminating  torch,"  was  the  emphatic  re- 
ply of  Jerome. 

"What !"  said  the  Cardinal,  "  is  everything  to  be  judged  of  by 
the  Holy  Writings  ?  Who  can  perfectly  comprehend  them  ?  And 
must  not  the  fathers  be  at  last  appealed  to,  to  interpret  them  ?" 

"  What  do  I  hear  !"  cried  Jerome.  "  Shall  the  word  of  God  be 
declared  fallacious  ?  And  shall  it  not  be  listened  to  ?  Are  the 
traditions  of  men  more  worthy  of  faith,  than  the  holy  gospel  of  our 
Saviour  ?  Paul  did  not  exhort  the  priests  to  listen  to  old  men  and 
traditions,  but  said,  '  The  Holy  Scriptures  will  instruct  you.'  O 
Sacred  Writings,  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  already  men  esteem 
you  less  than  what  they  themselves  forge  every  day  !  I  have  lived 
long  enough.  Great  God  !  receive  my  life ;  Thou  who  canst  re- 
store it  to  me !" 

"  Heretic  !"  said  the  Cardinal,  regarding  him  with  anger.  "  I 
repent  having  so  long  pleaded  with  you.  I  see  you  are  urged  on 
by  the  devil."f 

§  46. — On  the  30th  of  May,  Jerome  was  brought  before  the 
council  for  sentence.  The  bishop  of  Lodi  ascended  the  pulpit  and 
delivered,  as  he  had  at  the  sentence  of  Huss,  another  most  savage 
harangue,  from  which  it  will  bp  sufficient  to  quote  a  brief  extract, 
from  the  part  addressed  to  the  martyr.  "  But  with  you — who  are 
more  guilty  than  Arius,  Sabellius,  and  Ncstorius ; — with  you,  who 
have  infected  all  Europe  with  the  poison  of  heresy,  grand  indul- 
gence has  been  practised.     You  have  been  detained  in  prison  only 

*  The  whole  of  this  letter,  occupying  six  quarto  pages,  which  is  a  noble  testi- 
mony to  the  learning,  eloquence,  and  courage  of  the  martyr,  especially  as  coming 
from  an  eye-witness  and  a  Romanist,  may  be  found  in  L'Enfant,  vol.  i.,  pp.  694, 
599. 

t  "Tea  diabolo  agitari  video."  (Theob.  Bell.  Hussit.,  chap,  xxiw,  p.  60.) 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.   411 

Ferocious  harangue  of  the  bishop  of  Lodi.  Copy  of  Jerome's  sentence. 

from  necessity  ;  honorable  witnesses  alone  have  been  listened  to 
against  you,  and  the  torture  has  not  been  employed,  which  was  a 
great  fault.  Would  to  God  that  you  had  been  tortured  !  You 
would  have  denied  your  errors  in  your  torments  ;  and  suffering 
would  have  opened  your  eyes,  which  your  crime  held  closed."* 

At  the  close  of  this  popish  sermon,  Jerome  mounted  a  bench, 
and  again,  in  a  loud  voice,  expressed  his  abhorrence  of  his  for- 
mer cowardice,  of  approving,  in  order  to  save  his  life,  of  the  in- 
human sentence  of  Huss — "  I  only  gave  my  assent  to  it,"  said  he, 
"  from  a  dread  of  being  burned — from  the  fear  of  that  dreadful 
punishment.  I  revoke  that  culpable  avowal ;  and  I  declare  it  anew, 
that  I  lied  like  a  wretch,  in  abjuring  the  doctrines  of  Wickliff  and 
of  John  Huss,  and  in  approving  of  the  death  of  so  holy  and  just  a 
man.' 

The  sentence  of  Jerome  was  then  read,  which  is  recorded  by 
L'Enfant,  as  follows : — "  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  being  the  true 
vine,  whose  Father  is  the  husbandman,  told  his  disciples,  that  he 
would  cut  off  all  the  branches  that  did  not  bear  fruit  in  him.  There- 
fore the  sacred  synod  of  Constance,  in  obedience  to  the  order  of 
the  sovereign  teacher,  being  informed,  not  only  by  public  fame,  but 
by  an  exact  inquiry  into  the  fact,  that  Jerome  of  Prague,  master 
of  arts,  a  layman,  has  affirmed  certain  erroneous  and  heretical  arti- 
cles maintained  by  John  Wickliff  and  John  Huss,  and  condemned 
not  only  by  the  Holy  fathers,  but  by  this  sacred  synod ;  and  that 
after  having  publicly  recanted  the  said  heresies,  condemned  the 
memories  of  both  Wickliff  and  Huss,  and  sworn  to  persevere  in 
the  Catholic  doctrine,  he  returned  in  a  few  days  like  a  dog  to  his 
vomit ;  and  that  in  order  to  propagate  the  pernicious  venom 
which  he  concealed  in  his  heart,  he  demanded  a  public  hearing  ; 
and  that  when  he  had  obtained  it,  he  declared  in  full  council  that 
he  was  guilty  of  great  iniquity  and  a  very  wicked  lie,  in  consent- 
ing to  the  condemnation  of  Wickliff  and  John  Huss,  and  that  he 
for  ever  revoked  the  said  recantation,  though  he  had  declared  that 
he  held  the  faith  of  the  Catholic  church  as  to  the  sacrament  of  the 
altar  and  transubstantiation.  For  these  causes  the  sacred  synod 
has  resolved  and  commanded,  that  the  said  Jerome  be  cast  out,  as 
a  rotten  withered  branch,  and  declares  him  a  heretic,  relapsed,  ex- 
communicated, accursed,  and  as  such  condemns  him." 

§  47. — Jerome  was  then  handed  over  to  the  secular  power  to  be 
burnt.  A  high  crown  of  paper,  on  which  were  painted  demons  in 
flames,  was  brought  in.  Jerome,  on  seeing  it,  threw  his  hat  on  the 
ground  in  the  midst  of  the  prelates,  and  taking  it  in  his  hand,  placed 
it  on  his  head  himself,  repeating  the  words  which  John  Huss  had 
pronounced — "  Jesus  Christ,  who  died  for  me  a  sinner,  wore  a 
crown  of  thorns.  I  will  willingly  wear  this  for  him."  The  soldiers 
then  seized  on  his  person,  and  led  him  away  to  death.    Upon  arriv- 

*  See  an  abstract  of  this  Sermon,  which  strikingly  exhibits  the  unchangeably 
persecuting  spirit  of  Popery,  in  L'Enfant,  i.,  588,  589. 


412  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Jerome's  martyrdom.  Sings  on  his  way  to  the  stake,  and  prays  in  the  midst  of  the  dairies 

ing  at  the  same  stake  as  that  to  which  Huss  had  been  bound,  the 
martyr  fell  on  his  knees  to  pray,  but  the  executioners  raised  him  up 
whilst,  still  praying,  and  having  bound  him  to  the  stake  with  cords 
and  chains,  they  heaped  up  around  him  pieces  of  wood  and  a  quan- 
tity of  straw.  Jerome  sang  the  hymn,  Salve,  festa  dies,  toto  vene- 
rabilis  cevo,  etc.  He  then  repeated  the  creed,  and  addressing  the 
people,  he  exclaimed,  "  This  creed  which  I  have  just  sung,  is  my 
real  profession  of  faith ;  I  die,  therefore,  only  for  not  having  con- 
sented to  acknowledge  that  John  Huss  was  justly  condemned.  I 
declare  that  I  have  always  beheld  in  him  a  true  preacher  of  the 
gospel."  When  the  wood  was  raised  on  a  level  with  his  head,  his 
vestments  were  thrown  on  the  pile,  and,  as  the  executioner  was 
setting  fire  to  the  mass  behind,  in  order  not  to  be  seen,  "  Come  for- 
ward boldly,"  said  Jerome  ;  "  apply  the  fire  before  my  face.  Had. 
I  been  afraid,  I  should  not  be  here."  When  the  pile  had  taken  fire, 
he  said  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Lord,  into  thy  hands  do  I  commit  my 
spirit !"  Feeling  already  the  burning  heat  of  the  flames,  he  was 
heard  to  cry  out  in  the  Bohemian  language,  "  Lord,  Almighty 
Father,  have  pity  on  me,  and  pardon  me  my  sins  ;  for  Thou  know- 
est  that  I  have  always  loved  thy  truth  !"  His  voice  was  speedily 
lost ;  but  by  the  rapid  movement  of  his  lips,  it  was  easy  to  see  that 
he  continued  to  pray.  At  last,  when  he  had  ceased  to  exist,  all  that 
had  belonged  to  him,  his  bed,  cap,  shoes,  &c,  were  brought  from 
the  prison  and  thrown  into  the  flames,  where  they  were  reduced 
to  ashes  with  himself.  These  ashes  were  then  collected  and  thrown 
into  the  Rhine,  as  had  been  done  in  the  case  of  John  Huss.  It  was 
hoped,  by  this  means,  to  remove  from  the  followers  of  these  two 
holy  martyrs  every  article  that  might  by  possibility,  become  in 
their  hands  an  object  of  veneration ;  even  to  the  last  particle  of 
their  bodies  and  clothes,  everything  was  made  away  with  ;  but  the 
very  ground  where  their  stake  was  placed  was  hollowed  out,  and 
the  earth  on  which  they  had  suffered,  was  carried  to  Bohemia,  and 
guarded  with  religious  care,  as  the  most  precious  and  invaluable 
memorials  of  these  holy  men. 

§  48. — Comment  upon  the  above  horrible  illustrations  of  the  cru- 
elty and  perfidy  of  Popery,  is  unnecessary.  The  simple  facts  speak 
most  eloquently,  and  should  never  be  forgotten  till  in  reference  to 
this  popish  Babylon,  in  which  "  is  found  the  blood  of  the  prophets 
and  the  saints,"  the  mighty  angel  of  prophecy  shall  declare,  Baby- 
lon    THE    GREAT  IS  FALLEN,  IS  FALLEN.       (ReV.  XVUL,  2,  24.)       There 

is  no  historical  fact  which  modern  Romanists  have  so  much  endeav- 
ored to  conceal,  obscure,  or  deny,  as  this  well  known  act  of  perfidy 
on  the  part  of  the  council  of  Constance,  in  imprisoning  and  condemn- 
ing Huss,  in  defiance  of  the  Emperor's  safe-conduct,  and  their  own 
efforts  to  reconcile  the  conscience  of  Sigismund  to  this  base  and 
perfidious  act.  This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  There  is  scarcely 
a  fact  in  the  history  of  this  apostate  church,  which  reflects  upon  her 
such  indelible  disgrace,  and  happily  for  the  cause  of  truth,  not  one 
fact  which  rests  upon  more  conclusive  evidence. 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  413 

Conks  of  the  decrees  orthe  council,  establishing  the  doctrine  of  no  faith  with  hertt'cs. 

Yet  as  the  principle  upon  which  papists  act,  is  that  frauds  are 
pious,  and  lies  are  holy,  when  perpetrated  for  the  good  of  the 
church,  we  expect,  of  course,  where  the  evidence  is  not  supposed  to 
be  at  hand,  that  the  fact  will  be  denied.  To  furnish  this  evidence, 
the  following  decrees  of  the  council,  passed  after  the  burning  of 
Huss,  to  silence  the  public  clamors  against  the  perfidy  of  the  coun- 
cil, are  recorded  in  the  original,  and  a  translation.  It  is  not  known 
to  the  author  that  the  original  of  these  memorable  decrees,  estab- 
lishing the  doctrine  as  an  article  of  the  Romish  church,  that  no  faith 
is  to  be  kept  with  heretics,  is  to  be  found  except  in  the  scarce,  volu- 
minous, and  expensive  work  of  L'Enfant.  They  ought  to  be  known 
to  all,  and  are  therefore  transcribed  here. 

§  49. — The  first  of  these  decrees  relates  to  the  validity  of  safe-con- 
ducts in  general,  granted  to  heretics,  by  the  temporal  princes.  It  is 
as  follows : 


"Praesens  sancta  synodus  ex  quovis 
salvo-conductu  per  imperatorem,  Rcges, 
et  alios  seculi  principes  hjereticis,  vel 
de  hseresi  diffamatis,  putantes  eosdem 
sic  a  suis  crroribus  revocare,quocunque 
vinculo  se  adstrinxerint,  concesso,  nul- 
lum tidei  Catholics  vel  jurisdiction!  ec- 
clesiastics praejudicium  generari,  vel 
impedimentum  praestari  posse  seu  debere, 
declarat,  quo  minus  salvo  dicto  conduc- 
tu  non  obstante,  liceat  Juilici  cempetenti 
ecclesiastico  de  ejusmodi  personarum 
erroribus  inquirere,  et  alias  contra  eas 
debite  procedere,  easdemque  punire, 
quantum  justitia  suadebit,  si  suos  perti- 
naciter  recusaverint  revocare  errores, 
etiamsi  de  salvo-conductu  confisi  ad  lo- 
cum venerint  judicii,  alias  non  venturi 
nee  sic  promittentem,  cum  alias  fecerit, 
quod  in  ipso  est,  ex  hoc  in  aliquo  reman- 
sisse  obligatum." 


"  The  present  synod  declares  that 
every  safe-conduct  granted  by  the  Em- 
peror, kings,  and  other  temporal  princes, 
to  heretics,  or  persons  accused  of  heresy, 
in  hopes  of  reclaiming  them,  ought  not 
to  be  of  any  prejudice  to  the  Catholic 
faith,  or  to  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, 
nor  to  hinder,  but  such  persons  may,  and 
ought  to  be  examined,  judged,  and  pun- 
ished, according  as  justice  shall  require, 
if  those  heretics  refuse  to  revoke  their 
errors,  even  though  they  should  be  arriv- 
ed at  the  place  where  they  are  to  be 
judged  only  upon  the  faith  of  the  safe- 
conduct,  without  which  they  would  not 
have  come  thither.  And  the  person  who 
shall  have  promised  them  security,  shall 

NOT,  IN    THIS    CASE,  BE  OBLIGED    TO  KEEP 

his  promise,  by  whatsoever  tie  he  may 
be  engaged,  because  he  has  done  all 
that  is  in  his  power  to  do." 


The  second  of  these  decrees  is,  perhaps,  still  more  valuable, 
relates  to  the  safe-conduct  of  John  Huss  in  particular: 


It 


"  Sacro  sancta,  etc.  Quia  nonnulli 
nimis  intelligentes,  aut  sinistra?  intenti- 
onis,  vel  forsan  solentes  sapere  plus 
quam  oportet  nedum  Regis  Majestati, 
sed  etiam  sacro,  ut  fertur,  Concilio,  Un- 
guis maledictis  detrahunt  publice  et  oc- 
culte  dicentes,  vel  innuentes,  quod  sal- 
vus-conductus  per  invictissimum  princi- 
pem  Dominum  Sigismundum  Romano- 
rum  et  Ungariae,  etc.  Regem,  quondam 
Johanni  Hus,  haeresiarchae  damnats 
memoris  datus,  rait  contra  justitiam  aut 
honestatem  indebite  violatus  :  Cum  ta- 
men  dictus  Johannes  Hus  fidem  ortho- 
25 


"  Whereas  there  are  certain  persons, 
either  ill-disposed  or  over-wise  beyond 
what  they  ought  to  be,  who  in  secret 
and  in  public,  traduce  not  only  the  Em- 
peror, but  the  sacred  council,  saying,  or 
insinuating,  that  the  safe-conduct  grant- 
ed to  John  Huss,  an  arch-heretic,  of 
damnable  memory,  was  basely  violated, 
contrary  to  all  the  rules  of  honor  and 
justice  ;  though  the  said  John  Huss,  by 
obstinately  attacking  the  Catholic  faith 
in  the  manner  he  did,  rendered  himself 
unworthy  of  any  manner  of  safe-conduct 
and  privilege ;  and  though  according 


414  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


The  same  doctrine  of  no  faith  with,  heretics,  avowed  by  pope  Martin  V, 

doxam  pertinaciter  impugnans,  se  ab  om-  to  the  natural,  divine,  and  human 
ni  conductu  et  privilegio  reddiderit  alio-  laws,  no  promise  or  faith  ought  to 
num,  nee  aliqua  sibi  fides  aut  promissio,  have  been  kept  with  him,  to  the  pre- 
de  jure  naturali,  divino,  vel  humano,  judice  of  the  Catholic  faith.  The 
fuerit  in  praejudicium  Catholicae  fidei  sacred  synod  declares,  by  these  presents, 
observanda :  Idcirco  dicta  sancta  syno-  that  the  said  Emperor  did,  with  regard 
dus  prasentium  tenore  declarat :  dictum  to  John  IIuss,  what  he  might  and  ought 
invictissimum  principem  circa  praedic-  to  have  done,  notwithstanding  his  safe- 
turn  quondam  Johannem  Has,  non  ob-  conduct ;  and  forbids  all  the  faithful  in 
stante  memoratosalvo-conductu,  ex  juris  general,  and  every  one  of  them  in  par- 
debito  fecisse  quod  licuit,  et  quod  decuit  ticular,  of  what  dignity,  degree,  pre-emi- 
Regiam  Majestatem ;  statuens  et  ordi-  nence,  condition,  state,  or  sex  they  may 
nans  omnibus  et  singulis  Christi  fide-  be,  to  speak  evil  in  any  manner,  either 
libus,  cujuscunque  dignitatis,  gradus,  of  the  council,  or  of  the  King,  as  to 
pra:eminentiae,  conditionis,  status,  aut  what  passed  with  regard  to  John  Huse. 
sexus,  existant,  quod  nullus  deinceps  on  pain  of  being  punished,  without  re- 
sacroconcilioaut  Regis  Majestati  deges-  mission,  as  favorers  of  heresy,  and  per- 
tis  circa  praedictum  quondam  Johannem  sons  guilty  of  high  treason."  (For  the 
Hus  detrahat,  sive  quomodolibet  oblo-  original  of  these  decrees,  see  V Enfant  ii., 
quatur.  Qui  vero  contrarium  fecerit,  p.  491 ;  for  his  translation,  which  has 
tanquam  fautor  heretical  pravitatis  et  been  adopted,  see  i.,  p.  514). 
reus  criminis  laesae  majestatis  irremissi- 
biliter  puniatur." 

§  50. — The  abominable  doctrine  thus  shamelessly  avowed  that  faith 
is  not  to  be  kept  with  heretics,  was  still  more  emphatically  expressed 
and  enjoined  by  the  Pope,  who  owed  his  elevation  to  the  council  of 
Constance,  Martin  V.  In  a  bull  addressed  in  14*21,  to  Alexander, 
Duke  of  Lithuania,  who,  it  appears,  thought  himself  bound  by  some 
promise,  not  to  persecute  heretics,  the  Pope  tells  him  as  plain  as 
words  can  express  it,  if  he  had  made  any  promise  to  undertake 
their  defence,  "  that  he  would  be  guilty  of  a  mortal  sin,  should 

HE    KEEP    FAITH  WITH    HERETICS,  WHO  ARE    THEMSELVES  VIOLATORS    OF 

the  holy  faith,  because  there  can  be  no  fellowship  between  a 
believer  and  an  unbeliever."  I  shall  insert  the  original  of  this  une- 
quivocal avowal  of  pope  Martin  in  the  text,  lest,  by  being  thrown 
into  a  note,  it  should  escape  the  attention  of  the  reader.  "  Quod 
si  tu  aliquo  modo  inductus  defensionem  eorum  suscipere  promisisti ; 

SCitO  TE  DARE  FIDEM  H/ERETICIS,  VIOLATORIBUS  FIDEI  SANCT^E,  NON  PO- 

tuisse,  et  idcirco  peccare  mortaliter,  si  servabis  ;  quia  fideli  ad 
infidelem  non  potest  ulla  communio."  It  is  published  by  Cochlams, 
a  prejudiced  Catholic.     (Lib.  v.,  p.  212.) 

We  cannot  better  close  this  subject  than  by  citing  the  just  re- 
marks of  Dean  Waddington,  relative  to  the  act  of  horrid  murder 
and  perfidy,  perpetrated  by  the  council,  and  described  above. 
After  enumerating  various  acts  of  the  council,  he  proceeds  as  fol- 
lows :  "  But  we  have  still  to  describe  the  most  arbitrary  and  iniqui- 
tous act  of  the  same  assembly.  The  holy  fathers,  be  it  recollected, 
had  met  for  the  reformation  of  the  church.  The  word  was  per- 
petually on  their  lips,  and  they  denounced,  with  unsparing  vehe- 
mence, some  of  the  corruptions  of  their  own  system.  In  the  midst  of 
them  were  two  men  of  learning,  genius,  integrity,  and  piety,  who  had 
entrusted  their  personal  safety  to  the  faith  of  the  council,  John  Huss 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  415 

Dean  Waddington's  just  remarks  on  the  perfidy  and  cruelty  of  the  council  of  Constance. 

and  Jerome  of  Prague,  and  these  two  were  reformers.  But  it  hap- 
pened that  they  had  taken  a  different  view  of  the  condition  and  exi- 
gencies of  the  church,  and  while  the  boldest  projects  of  the  wisest 
among  the  orthodox  were  confined  to  matters  of  patronage,  disci- 
pline, ceremony,  the  hands  of  the  two  Bohemians  had  probed  a  deeper 
wound ;  they  disputed,  if  not  the  doctrinal  purity,  at  least  the  spirit- 
ual omnipotence  of  the  church.  Those  daring  innovators  had 
crossed  the  line  which  separated  reformation  from  heresy — and 
they  had  their  recompense.  In  the  clamor  which  was  raised 
against  them,  all  parties  joined  as  with  one  voice  :  divided  on  all 
other  questions,  contending  about  all  other  principles,  the  grand 
universal  assembly  was  united,  from  Gerson  himself  down  to  the 
meanest  Italian  papal  minion,  in  common  detestation  of  the  heresy, 
in  implacable  rage  against  its  authors.  Those  venerable  martyrs 
were  imprisoned,  arraigned,  condemned,  and  then  by  the  command, 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  majestic  senate  of  the  church,  the  deposer 
of  popes,  the  uprooter  of  corruption,  the  reformer  of  Christ's  holy 
communion — they  were  deliberately  consigned  to  the  flames.     Is 

THERE  ANY  ACT  RECORDED  IN  THE  BLOOD-STAINED  ANNALS  OF  THE 
POPES  MORE  FOUL  AND  MERCILESS  THAN  THAT  ?  .    .    .    .  More  than  this. 

The  guilt  of  the  murder  was  enhanced  by  perfidy  ;  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  justifying  this  last  offence  (for  the  former,  being  founded  on 
the  established  church  principles,  required  no  apology),  they  added 
to  those  principles  another,  not  less  flagitious  than  any  of  those 
already  recognized — 'that  neither  faith  nor  promise,  by  natu- 
ral, DIVINE,  OR  HUMAN    LAW,  WAS  TO  BE  OBSERVED    TO  THE    PREJUDICE 

of  the  Catholic  religion  !'  "*  Mr.  Waddington  adds  the  impor- 
tant fact,  that  "  this  maxim  did  not  proceed  from  the  caprice  of  an 
arbitrary  individual,  and  a  pope, — for  so  it  would  scarcely  have 
claimed  our  serious  notice  ;  but  from  the  considerate  resolution  of  a 
very  numerous  assembly,  which  embodied  almost  all  the  learning, 
wisdom,  and  moderation  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church."f 

§  51. — After  some  attempts  by  John  Gerson  and  others,  at  the 
partial  reformation  of  the  horrible  corruptions  of  the  church,  "in  its 
head  and  members,"  which  were  principally  defeated  through  the 
crafty  management  of  the  new  pope,  Martin  V.,  it  assembled  for 
the  forty-fifth  and  closing  session  on  the  22d  of  April,  1418,  and  the 
Bull  which  gave  the  members  of  the  council  permission  to  return  to 
their  homes,  showered  on  them  and  their  domestics  a  profusion  of 
indulgences,  as  a  fitting  reward  for  their  labors.  The  following  is 
a  copy  of  the  Bull  of  indulgence,  issued  on  this  occasion.     "  We, 

*  '  Cum  tamen  dictus  Johannes  Hus,  fidem  orthodoxam  pertinaciter  impugnans 
se  ab  omni  conductu  et  privilegio  reddiderit  alienum,  nee  aliqua  sibi  fides  aut  pro- 
missio  de  jure  naturali,  divino  vel  humano,  fuerit  in  prajudicium  Catholicae  fidei 
observanda :  idcirco  dicta  sancta  synodus  declarat,  &c.'  These  words  are  cited 
by  Hallam  (Middle  Ages,  chap,  vii.),  without  suspicion,  and  also  by  Von  der 
Hardt,  in  his  valuable  collection  of  authentic  documents  (Tom.  iv.,  p.  521), 
without  any  expression  of  doubt. 

f  Waddington's  History  of  the  Church,  page  458. 


416  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

The  fathers  dismissed  by  the  Pope  with  indulgences  as  a  fitting  reward.         The  cup  denied  to  the  laity. 

Martin,  bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  with  a  perpetual 
remembrance  of  this  great  event,  and  at  the  request  of  the  sacred 
council,  do  hereby  dismiss  it,  g  ving  to  each  member  l.berty  to  re- 
turn home.  By  the  authority  of  the  Almighty  God,  and  the  blessed 
apostles,  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  and  by  our  own,  we  grant  to  all 
who  have  been  present  at  this  council,  a  full  and  entire  remission 
of  their  sins,  once  dur.ng  their  lifetime,  so  that  each  of  them  may 
enjoy  the  benefits  of  this  absjlution  for  two  months  after  it  shall 
have  become  known  to  him.  We  grant  them  the  same  grace  when 
in  articulo  mortis,  both  to  them  and  their  servants,  on  this  condition, 
however,  that  they  shall  fast  all  the  Fridays  in  a  year  for  the  abso- 
lution, at  the  point  of  death,  unless  they  be  legitimately  prevented : 
in  which  case  they  will  perform  other  acts  of  piety.  After  the 
second  year,  they  shall  fast  the  Friday  for  the  rest  of  their  life.  .  .  . 
If  any  one  shall  rashly  oppose  this  absolution  and  this  concession, 
which  we  give,  let  him  learn  that  he  will  thereby  have  incurred  the 
indignation  of  Almighty  God,  and  of  the  blessed  apostles,  Paul  and 
Peter."* 

§  52. — Thus  this  numerous  council,  consisting  of  cardinals,  arch- 
bishops, and  abbots,  beside  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  occupied 
about  three  years  and  a  half  in  the  glorious  achievements  of  remov- 
ing three  spiritual  tyrants  to  make  room  for  another,  passing  a  de- 
cree denying  the  use  of  the  cup  to  the  laity,  in  the  sacrament,  and 
burning  the  bodies  of  two  living  heretics,  and  the  mouldering  bones 
of  one  dead  one. 

The  canon  which  deprived  all  but  the  clergy  of  the  use  of  the 
cup  in  the  eucharist,  was  as  follows :  "  The  sacred  council,  wishing 
to  provide  for  the  eternal  safety  of  the  faithful,  after  a  mature  de- 
liberation by  several  doctors,  declares  and  decides,  although  in  the 
primitive  church  this  sacrament  was  received  by  the  faithful  in  the 
two  kinds,  it  can  be  clearly  proved,  that  afterward  it  was  received 
in  that  manner  only  by  the  officiating  priests,  and  was  offered  to 
the  laity  under  the  form  of  bread  alone,  because  it  must  be  believed 
firmly,  and  without  any  hesitation  or  doubt,  that  the  whole  body 
and  the  whole  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  are  truly  contained  in  the  bread 
as  well  as  in  the  wine.  Wherefore,  this  practice,  introduced  by  the 
church  and  by  the  holy  fathers,  and  observed  for  a  very  great 
length  of  time,  ought  to  be  regarded  as  a  law,  which  it  is  not  per- 
mitted to  reject  or  change,  without  the  authority  of  the  church." 

The  object  of  this  unjust  prohibition,  so  plainly  contrary  to  the 
command  of  Christ,  was  evidently  to  exalt  the  dignity  of  the  clergy, 
and  draw  the  line  of  distinction  between  them  and  the  laity  (already 
wide  enough)  still  wider,  by  giving  them  some  exclusive  preroga- 
tive, even  at  the  Lord's  table.  Compared  with  other  popish  inno- 
vations and  corruptions,  this  prohibition  may  seem  to  be  of  little 
importance,  yet  it  was  deemed  so  serious  an  innovation  by  the 
countrymen  of  the  martyred  Huss,  that  in  addition  to  the  horrid 

*  From  the  MSS.  at  Venice,  in  Von  der  Hardt,  vol.  iv. 


chap,  v.]    POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  417 

This  prohibition  unscriptural.  The  Calixtinea.  Pope  Martin  V. 

murder  of  their  two  eminent  countrymen,  it  produced  a  serious  revolt 
against  their  sovereign,  who  sustained  the  papal  decrees,  which  con- 
tinued for  some  years  under  the  direction  of  that  extraordinary  man, 
the  courageous,  but  too  violent  John  Ziska.  A  portion  of  these 
Bohemian  dissenters  from  Rome  took  the  name  of  Calixtines,  from 
the  Latin  calix,  a  cup.  The  fathers  of  the  council  found  a  greater 
difficulty  in  reconciling  the  minds  of  the  people  to  this  prohibition, 
than  scarcely  anything  else,  especially  as  the  version  of  Wickliff's 
New  Testament,  and  probably  some  others  in  other  languages,  were 
by  this  time  in  the  hands  of  many  of  the  people.  The  words  of 
Christ  were  so  explicit,  "Drink  ye  all  of  it"  (Matt,  xxvi.,  27),  as 
though  his  omniscience  had  foreseen  and  provided  against  this  per- 
version of  his  ordinance,  by  the  great  apostasy,  that  the  popish 
doctors  found  it  a  most  difficult  task,  even  in  appearance,  to  recon- 
cile their  prohibition  with  the  Scriptures.  One  of  their  most  learned 
writers,  the  famous  French  Doctor  John  Gerson,  wrote  an  elabo- 
rate treatise  against  "  Double  Communion,"  in  which  he  inadver- 
tently disclosed  the  cause  of  his  uneasiness,  in  the  following 
words  :  "  There  are  many  laymen  among  the  heretics  who  have  a 
version  of  the  Bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  to  the  great  prejudice  and 
offence  of  the  Catholic  faith.  It  has  been  proposed,"  he  adds,  "to 
reprove  that  scandal  in  the  committee  of  reform."  No  wonder, 
that  since  the  Bible  is  directly  opposed  to  this  popish  edict,  the 
papists  were  anxious  to  shut  that  book  up  from  the  people.  Such 
has  ever  been,  and  without  doubt,  such  is  still  the  cause  of  their 
bitter  hatred  of  the  universal  circulation,  in  the  vernacular  languages 
of  the  people,  of  God's  holy  word. 


CHAPTER  V. 

POPERY    AND    THE    POPE3    FOR    THE    CENTURY    PRECEDING    THE 
REFORMATION. 

§  53. — The  progress  of  Popery  from  the  dissolution  of  the  coun- 
cil of  Constance  in  1418  to  the  time  of  Luther,  about  a  century 
later,  was  from  bad  to  worse.  Pope  Martin  V.,  who  was  raised  to 
that  dignity  by  the  council,  yielded  to  but  few  of  his  predecessors 
in  his  haughty  and  extravagant  claims  of  the  dignity  of  the  Holy 
See.  He  was  a  steady  opponent  of  all  measures  of  reform,  during 
the  whole  of  his  pontificate.  The  people,  starving  for  spiritual  food, 
demanded  bread,  but  he  gave  them  a  stone  ; — they  clamored  for 
reform,  but  he  gave  them — indulgences. 

We  can  sometimes  scarcely  repress  a  smile  at  the  pompous  edicts 


418  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  book  vx. 

Pompous  lilies  of  ihe  Popes.        Council  of  Bas.il.        Dispute  between  pope  Eugenius  and  the  council. 

of  the  emperor  of  China,  who  styles  himself  "  Lord  of  the  Sun," 
but  this  was  far  outdone  by  pope  Martin,  who  in  his  despatches  sent 
by  his  nuncio  to  Constantinople,  adopted  the  following  array  of  titles : 
"  Sanctissimus,  et  Bcatissimus,  qui  habet  cceleste  arbitrium,  qui  est 
Dominus  in  terris,  successor  Petri,  Christus  Domini,  Dominus  Uni- 
versi,  Regum  Pater,  orbis  Lumen,"  that  is,  "  The  most  Holy  and 
most  happy,  who  is  the  arbiter  of  heaven,  and  the  Lord  of  the 
earth,  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  the  anointed  of  the  Lord,  the 
Master  of  the  universe,  the  father  of  kings,  the  light  of  the 
world,"  dec*  Who  in  reading  these  blasphemous  assumptions  of  a 
miserable  mortal,  is  not  reminded  of  the  inspired  description  of  the 
papal  anti-Christ :  "  as  God,  sitting  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing 
himself  that  he  is  God  ?"    (2  Thess.  ii.,  4.) 

§  54. — In  the  year  1431  pope  Martin  died,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Eugenius  IV.,  a  man  whose  ignorance  was  only  equalled  by  his 
presumption  and  obstinacy.  His  pontificate  was  chiefly  distin- 
guished by  the  obstinate  and  protracted  contentions  between  him 
and  the  council  of  Basil,  which,  after  a  feeble  attempt  of  the  Pope  to 
prevent  it,  assembled  on  the  14th  of  December,  1431.  In  the  course 
of  the  contest  with  the  Pope,  the  council  of  Basil  published  and 
reiterated  a  decree  that  had  been  passed  by  the  council  of  Con- 
stance, that  the  Pope  was  inferior,  and  subject  to  a  General  Council, 
and  in  the  history  of  the  council  by  ./Eneas  Sylvius,  afterwards 
pope  Pius  II.,  this  doctrine  is  strongly  and  forcibly  urged,  that  a 
council  is  superior  to  a  Pope,  and  that  the  latter  is  rather  the  Vicar 
of  the  church  than  the  Vicar  of  Christ.^  We  shall  soon  see  that  a 
change  of  circumstances  produced  a  great  change  in  this  writer's 
views,  and  that  pope  Pius  II.  pronounced  iEneas  Sylvius  a  heretic, 
though  one  and  the  same  person. 

§  55. — The  following  extracts  from  an  eloquent  letter  of  car- 
dinal Julian,  the  president  of  the  council  of  Basil  to  pope  Eugenius, 
are  transcribed  on  account  of  the  light  they  throw  on  the  morals  of 
the  popish  clergy  of  this  age,  to  reform  which  was  one  of  the  pro- 
fessed objects  of  the  council.  "  One  great  motive  with  me,"  says 
the  Cardinal  President,  "  in  joining  this  council,  was  the  deformity 
and  dissoluteness  of  the  German  clergy,  on  account  of  which  the 
laity  are  immoderately  irritated  against  the  ecclesiastical  state :  so 
much  so,  as  to  make  it  matter  of  serious  apprehension  'whether,  if 
they  be  not  reformed,  the  people  will  not  rush,  after  the  example  of 
the  Hussites,  upon  the  whole  clergy,  as  they  publicly  menace  to  do. 
Moreover,  this  deformity  gives  great  audacity  to  the  Bohemians, 
and  great  coloring  to  the  errors  of  those,  who  are  loudest  in  their 
invectives  against  the  baseness  of  the  clergy :  on  which  account, 
had  a  general  council  not  been  convoked  at  this  place,  it  had  been 
necessary  to  collect  a  provincial  synod  for  the  reform  of  the  Ger- 
man clergy  ;  since  in  truth,  if  that  clergy  be  not  corrected,  even 

*  Papal  Rome  by  Rev.  Dr.  Giustiniani,  p.  181. 

f  iEneas  Sylvius,  Comment,  de  Gestis  Basil,  Concil.,  Lib.  I.,  p.  16. 


chap,  v.]    POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.   419 

Cardinal  Julian's  let'.er.  The  Pope  i-uspendcd  by  the  council,  who  in  turn  aunuls  its  acts. 

though  the  heresy  of  Bohemia  should  be  extinguished,  others  would 
rise  up  in  its  place."  ....  "If  you  should  dissolve  this  council, 
what  will  the  whole  world  say,  when  it  shall  learn  the  act?  Will 
it  not  decide,  that  the  clergy  is  incorrigible,  and  desirous  for  ever  to 
grovel  in  the  filth  of  its  own  deformity  ?  Many  councils  have  been 
celebrated  in  our  days,  from  which  no  reform  has  proceeded  ;  the 
nations  are  expecting  that  some  fruit  should  come  from  this.  But 
if  it  is  d.ssolved,  all  will  exclaim  that  we  laugh  at  God  and  man." 
....  "  Most  blessed  Father,  believe  me,  the  scandals  which  I  have 
ment'oned  will  not  be  removed  by  delay.  Let  us  ask  the  heretics, 
whether  they  will  delay  for  a  year  and  a  half  the  dissemination  of 
their  virulence  ?  Let  us  ask  those,  who  are  scandalized  at  the  de- 
formity of  the  clergy,  if  they  will  for  so  long  delay  their  indignation  ? 
Not  a  day  passes  in  which  some  heresy  does  not  sprout  forth ;  not 
a  day  in  which  they  do  not  seduce  or  oppress  some  Catholics  ;  they 
do  not  lose  the  smallest  moment  of  time.  There  is  not  a  day,  in 
which  new  scandals  do  not  arise  from  the  depravity  of  the  clergy ; 
yet  all  measures  for  their  remedy  are  procrastinated  !"  .... 
"  Why  then  do  you  longer  delay  ?  You  have  striven  with  all  your 
power,  by  messages,  letters,  and  various  other  expedients,  to  keep 
the  clergy  away  ;  you  have  struggled  with  your  whole  force  utterly 
to  destroy  this  council.  Nevertheless,  as  you  see,  it  swells  and  in- 
creases day  by  day,  and  the  more  severe  the  prohibition,  the  more 
ardent  is  the  opposite  impulse.  Tell  me  now — is  not  this  to  resist 
the  will  of  God  ?  Why  do  you  provoke  the  Church  to  indignation  ? 
Why  do  you  irritate  the  Christian  people  ?  Condescend,  I  implore 
you,  so  to  act,  as  to  secure  for  yourself  the  love  and  good  will,  and 
not  the  hatred  of  mankind." 

§  56. — The  earnest  pleadings  of  the  Cardinal  were,  however,  lost 
upon  Eugenius.  He  was  resolutely  opposed  to  the  council  and  to 
reform.  The  council  cited  him  before  them.  The  Pope  retorted  by 
a  Bull  of  dissolution,  and  both  were  equally  fruitless.  At  length, 
after  eighteen  months  of  remonstrance  and  forbearance,  the  council, 
on  the  12th  of  July,  1433,  suspended  the  Pope  from  his  dignity  ;  and 
Eugenius,  in  reply,  annulled  their  decree.  At  length  this  quarrel 
was  carried  to  its  final  result.  On  the  31st  of  July,  1437,  the  coun- 
cil cited  the  Pope  to  Basil  to  answer  for  his  vexatious  opposition  to 
the  reform  of  the  Church ;  and  the  Pope,  in  that  plenitude  of 
power  to  which  he  had  never  formally  abandoned  his  pretensions, 
declared  the  council  transferred  to  Ferrara  in  Italy.  In  the  28th 
session  (Oct.  1,  1437),  Eugenius  was  convicted  of  contumacy  ;  and 
on  the  10th  of  the  January  following,  he  celebrated,  in  defiance  of 
the  sentence,  the  first  session  of  the  council  he  had  assembled  in 
opposition  at  Ferrara.  On  that  occasion  he  solemnly  annulled  every 
future  act  of  the  assembly  at  Basil,  excepting  only  such  as  should 
have  reference  to  the  troubles  of  Bohemia.  Finally,  on  the  25th  of 
June,  1439,  the  council  of  Basil  solemnly  deposed  Eugenius  IV. 
from  the  papal  throne,  and  on  the  5th  of  November  following, 
another  pope  was  elected,  Amadeus  Duke  of  Savoy,  who  assumed 


420  HISTORY  OP  HOMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Renewal   of  papal  schism.      Rival  popes  nod  rival  conn  its.      Seiioua  accident  at  the  Jubilee  of  1450. 

the  name  of  Felix  V.  Thus  was  again  revived  that  deplorable 
schism,  which  had  formerly  rent  the  church,  and  which  had  been 
terminated  vv.th  so  much  difficulty,  and  after  so  many  vain  and  fruit- 
less efforts,  at  the  council  of  Constance.  Nay,  the  new  breach 
was  still  more  lamentable  than  the  former  one,  as  the  flame  was 
kindled  not  only  between  two  rival  pontiffs,  but  also  between  the 
two  contending  councils  of  Basil  and  Florence,  to  which  place 
Eugenius  had  removed  the  council  of  Ferrara. 

The  greatest  part  of  the  church  submitted  to  the  jurisdiction,  and 
adopted  the  cause  of  Eugenius  ;  while  Felix  was  acknowledged 
as  lawful  pont.ff,  by  a  great  number  of  academics,  and  among 
others,  by  the  famous  university  of  Paris,  as  also  in  several  king- 
doms and  provinces.  The  council  of  Bas  1  continued  its  delibera- 
tions, and  went  on  enactmg  laws,  and  publishing  edicts,  until  the 
year  1443,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  Eugenius  and  his  adhe- 
rents to  put  a  stop  to  their  proceedings.  And,  though  in  that  year 
the  members  of  the  council  retired  to  their  respective  places  of 
abode,  yet  they  declared  publicly  that  the  council  was  not  dissolved, 
but  would  resume  its  deliberations  at  Basil,  Lyons,  or  Lausanne,  as 
soon  as  a  proper  opportunity  was  offered.  This  schism  was  at 
length  terminated,  in  the  year  1449,  by  the  resignation  of  Felix  V., 
who  returned  as  Duke  of  Savoy  to  his  delicious  retreat  called 
Ripaille,  upon  the  borders  of  Lake  Leman.  The  obstinate  pope 
Eugenius  had  died  in  February,  1447,  and  his  successor,  Nicholas  V., 
by  "the  retirement  of  Felix,  obtained  undisputed  possession  of  the 
papal  throne. 

§  57. — During  the  reign  of  pope  Nicholas,  in  the  year  1450,  the 
avarice  of  the  Roman  Clergy  and  people  was  again  nourished  by 
the  celebration  of  the  Jubilee;  and  so  vast  were  the  multitudes 
which  on  this  occasion  sought  the  plenary  indulgence  at  the  tombs 
of  the  apostles,  that  many  are  said  to  have  been  crushed  to  death 
in  churches,  and  to  have  perished  by  other  accidents.  One  of 
these  accidents,  on  account  of  the  number  of  lives  lost,  deserves 
particular  mention.  In  consequence  of  the  pressure  of  the  vast 
multitude  on  a  certain  day,  no  less  than  ninety-seven  pilgrims  were 
thrown  at  once  from  the  bridge  of  St.  Angelo  and  drowned.  This 
bridge  is  one  of  the  favorite  spots  for  viewing  the  vast  and  splendid 
fabric  of  St.  Peter's,  especially  on  the  night  of  the  great  festivals, 
when  the  dome  is  almost  instantaneously  illuminated,  not  by  any  in- 
genious mechanical  contrivance,  but  by  the  vast  number  of  hands 
employed,  each  of  whom,  at  a  given  signal,  lights  the  lamp  at  which 
he  is  stationed,  and  thus  converts,  in  a  moment,  the  noble  and  stately 
dome,  into  a  vast  hemisphere  of  liquid  light. 

Our  artist  has  represented,  in  the  adjoining  engraving,  the  acci- 
dent at  the  bridge  of  St.  Angelo,  during  the  Jubilee  of  1450,  partly 
as  a  memorial  of  that  event,  but  chiefly  on  account  of  the  fine 
distant  view  that  is  affjrded  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter's,  and  of  a 
large  portion  of  the  city  from  that  spot.     (See  Engraving.) 

We  have  preferred  to  represent  St.  Peter's  church  as  it  is  now 


- 1_     Bpm**M  ^ 


chap,  v.]   POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A. D.  1303-1545.  423 

St.  Peter's.  Taking  of  Constantinople.  iEneas  Sylvius  chosen  pope  by  the  name  of  Pius  II 

seen  from  the  bridge  of  St.  Angelo,  rather  than  the  old  church  of 
Constantino,  which  then  occupied  the  site  of  St.  Peter's  ;  r<  minding 
the  reader,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  foundation  s(one  of  the  present 
noble  ediiice,  was  not  laid  till  a  half  a  century  later,  viz.  by  pope 
Julius  in  the  year  1506.  Of  course,  it  is  impossible  to  represent 
in  a  distant' 'view  the  magnificent  square  of  St.  Peter's,  surrounded 
by  its  stately  colonnade  of  near  three  hundred  pillars,  with  the 
Egyptian  obelisk  in  the  centre,  and  the  beaut. ml  founta.n  on  each 
side  of  the  obelisk.  This  deficiency,  however,  has  already  been 
supplied  in  the  accurate  engraving  ot  th.s  architectural  wonder  of 
the  world  opposite  page  178. 

While  we  cannot  but  lament  over  the  unjustifiable  means  em- 
ployed to  obtain  funds  for  the  erection  of  this  magnificent  structure 
by  trafficking  in  the  sins  of  men ;  it  is  impossible  to  withhold  our 
admiration  at  the  grandeur  of  the  architectural  design  and  the 
ability,  taste,  and  skill  displayed  in  carrying  forward  to  its  comple- 
tion, this  proudest  of  all  modern  temples. 

§  58. — Iu  the  year  1453,  an  event  occurred  which  spread  a  deep 
gloom  over  the  whole  Christian  world.  This  was  the  taking  of  the 
city  of  Constantinople,  for  so  many  centuries  the  capital  of  the 
Eastern  Roman  empire,  by  the  Mahometan,  or  as  they  were  com- 
monly called,  infidel  Turks,  and  the  consequent  entire  overthrow  of 
that  empire,  of  which  it  was  the  metropolis.  Previous  to  the  fall  of 
Constantinople,  pope  Nicholas  had  used  some  exertions,  but  without 
success,  to  make  the  protection  of  the  Christian  capital  of  the 
East  from  the  designs  of  the  infidels,  the  common  cause  of  the 
monarchs  of  Christendom,  and  he  redoubled  his  efforts  when  the 
work  before  him  was  not  one  of  protection,  but  of  re-conquest.  In 
the  midst  of  his  chivalrous  designs  to  recover  Constantinople,  and 
expel  the  conqueror  from  Europe,  and  at  a  moment  when  there 
seemed  some  prospect  of  a  partial  co-operation  for  that  purpose, 
Nicholas  V.  died,  A.  D.  1455.  His  complaint  was  gout ;  and  it  is 
commonly  asserted  that  its  progress  was  hastened  by  the  affliction 
with  which  he  saw  the  triumphs  of  the  infidel. 

§  59. — After  the  brief  reign  of  pope  Calixtus  III.,  the  immediate 
successor  of  Nicholas,  the  celebrated  iEneas  Sylvius,  whom  we 
have  before  had  occasion  to  mention,  was  elected  to  the  popedom 
by  the  name  of  Pius  II.,  in  1458.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  assem- 
ble a  council  at  Mantua,  for  the  purpose  of  invoking  the  co-operation 
of  Christian  princes,  in  a  general  crusade  against  the  Turks,  for  the 
recovery  of  Constantinople.  The  council  opened  on  the  1st  of  June, 
1459,  just  six  years  from  the  taking  of  Constantinople,  and  cent  nued 
nearly  eight  months.  The  intestine  divisions  of  Europe,  however, 
'prevented  the  carrying  into  effect  the  designs  of  Pius.  At  length 
the  Pope  proposed  to  go  in  person  on  this  expedition.  "  This  then," 
said  he,  "  shall  be  our  next  experiment :  we  Will  march  in  person 
against  the  Turks,  and  invite  the  Christian  monarchs  to  follow  us  ; 
not  by  words  only,  but  by  example  also.  It  may  be  when  they 
shall  behold  their  master  and  father — the  Roman  pontiff,  the  vicar 


424  HISTORY  OF  ROMAMSM.  [book  vi. 

Pius  condemns  the  opinions  of  ./Eneas  Sylvius,  his  former  self.        liflUct  of  a  change  of  circumstances. 

of  Christ  Jesus — an  infirm  old  man,  advancing  lo  the  war,  they  will 
take  up  amis  through  shame,  and  valiantly  defend  our  holy  reli- 
gion. *  lu  accordance  with  this  resolution,  the  old  pont  ff  departed 
to  assume  the  command  of  the  force  winch  had  already  assembled 
at  Ancona,  but  had  no  sooner  joined  them  than  he  died,  and  the 
whole  expedition  immediately  dispersed. 

§  00. — In  his  early  life,  YEneas  Sylvius  was  the  able  and  zealous 
opponent  of  papal  assumption  over  councils.  His  earliest  laurels 
were  won  at  the  council  of  Basil,  winch  deposed  pope  Eug'.  nius, 
and  reiterated  the  doctrine,  that  the  Pope  was  inferior,  and  subject 
to  a  general  council ;  and  /Eneas  at  that  time  warmly  advocated 
these  views,  and  remained,  through  the  whole  of  the  schism,  faith- 
ful to  the  counc.l.  Upon  his  becoming  pope  himself,  he  seized  an 
early  occasion  to  discourage  those  liberal  principles  of  church  gov- 
ernment, which  were  entertained  by  many  ecclesiastics,  and  which 
had  so  lately  been  propagated  by  himself.  During  the  council  of 
Mantua,  shortly  before  its  dissolution,  and  at  a  moment  when  his 
influence  over  its  members  was  probably  the  greatest,  he  published 
a  celebrated  bull  against  all  appeals  from  the  Holy  See  to  general 
councils.  "  An  execrable  abuse,  unheard  of  in  ancient  times,  has 
gained  footing  in  our  days,  authorized  by  some,  who,  acting  under 
a  spirit  of  rebellion  rather  than  sound  judgment,  presume  to  appeal 
from  the  pontiff  of  Rome,  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom,  in  the 
person  of  St.  Peter,  it  has  been  said,  '  Feed  my  sheep ;'  and  again, 
'  Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven  ;' 
to  appeal,  I  say,  from  his  judgments  to  a  future  council — a  practice 
which  every  man  instructed  in  law  must  regard  as  contrary  to  the 

holy  canons,  and  prejudicial  to  the  Christian  republic "     The 

Pope  then  proceeded  to  paint  in  vague  and  glowing  expressions  the 
frightful  evils  occasioned  by  such  appeals  ;  and  finally  pronounced 
to  be  ipso  facto  excommunicated  all  individuals  who  might  hereaf- 
ter resort  to  them,  whether  their  dignity  were  imperial,  royal,  or 
pontifical,  as  well  as  all  Universities  and  Colleges,  and  all  others 
who  should  promote  and  counsel  them. 

In  the  year  1403,  pope  Pius  issued  a  bull  containing  a  formal  re- 
cantation of  his  former  views,  and  declared  that  no  confidence  was 
due  to  those  of  his  writings,  which  offended  in  any  manner  the 
authority  of  the  apostolical  See,  and  established  opinions  which  it 
did  not  acknowledge.  "  Wherefore  (he  added)  if  you  find  anything 
contrary  to  its  doctrine,  either  in  my  dialogues,  or  my  letters,  c<r 
any  other  of  my  writings, — despise  those  opinions,  reject  them,  and 
follow  that  which  I  now  proclaim  to  you.  Believe  me  now  that  I 
am  old,  rather  than  then,  when  I  spoke  as  a  youth ;  pay  more  re- 
gard to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  than  to  the  individual;  reject, 
/Eneas — receive   Pius.     The  former  name  was  imposed    by   my 

•  Raynald,  Annal.  ad  Ann.  1463. 


chap,  v.]    POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1515.    425 

Pope  Innocent  and  his  seven  baslurds.  Hia  bloody  edict  lor  extirpating  of  the  Waldenses. 

parents — a  Gentile  name, — and  in  my  infancy  :  the  other  I  assumed 
as  a  Christian  in  my  Apostolate."* 

§  61. — The  remaining  popes  of  this  century  were  Paul  II.,  Sixtus 
IV.,  Innocent  VIII.,  and  Alexander  VI.,  who  were  all  men  of  vicious 
and  abandoned  lives,  and  who  appear  to  have  risen  successively 
in  the  scale  of  avarice,  cruelty,  and  sensuality,  till  Satan  produced 
his  master-piece  in  the  infamous  Alexander  VI.  Passing  over  the 
two  first  named,  we  must  dwell  for  a  moment  upon  the  character  of 
Innocent.  Sixtus,  and  preceding  popes,  had  wasted  the  revenues  of 
the  church  upon  profligate  nephews,  but  pope  Innocent  introduced 
a  still  more  revolting  race  of  dependants,  in  the  persons  of  his  ille- 
gitimate offspring.  Seven  children,  the  fruits  of  various  amours,  were 
publicly  recognized  by  the  vicar  of  Christ,  and  became,  for  the  most 
part,  pensioners  on  the  ecclesiastical  treasury.  Fewer  crimes  weuld, 
perhaps,  have  been  perpetrated,  had  the  Pontiff*  resolved  to  be  the 
only  criminal.  But  with  all  his  weakness,  Innocent  was  animated 
by  a  spirit  of  avarice,  which  attracted  observation  even  in  that  age 
of  the  popedom.  And  he  performed  at  least  one  memorable  exploit, 
as  it  were,  in  the  design  to  surpass  his  predecessor  by  a  still  bolder 
insult  on  the  sacred  College ;  he  placed  among  its  members  a  boy, 
thirteen  years  old,  the  brother-in-law  of  his  own  bastard.f  But  the 
court  of  Rome  did  not  resent  the  indignity — it  was  sunk  even  be- 
low' the  sense  of  its  own  infamy. 

§  62. — This  same  pope  Innocent  issued  a  violent  and  furious  bull 
against  the  Waldenses,  an  extract  of  which,  though  only  a  speci- 
men of  a  large  class  of  similar  effusions  of  papal  bigotry  and  blood- 
thirstiness,  is  yet  worthy  of  record  as  a  specimen  of  the  spirit  of 
Popery  only  a  few  years  before  the  glorious  reformation,  and  while 
Luther,   its   destined   author,  was    just    emerging   from    infancy. 
Luther  was  born  in  1483.     The  bull  of  pope  Innocent  was  issued 
in  1487.     This  truly  popish  document  institutes  Albert  de  Capi- 
taneis  archdeacon  of  the  church  of  Cremona,  nuncio  and  commis- 
sioner of  the  apostolic  See  in  the  states  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  and 
prescribes  to  h;m  to  labor  in  the  extirpation  of  the  very  pernicious 
and  abominable  sect  of  men  called  the  Poor  of  Lyons  or  the  Wal- 
denses, in  concert  with  the  Inquisitor-General  Blasius,  of  the  order 
of  the  Preaching-Brotherhood.     The  Pope  gives  him,  for  that  object, 
full  power  over  all  archbishops,  bishops,  their  vicars  and  chief  officers; 
"in  order,"  says  he,  "that  they  may  have  authority,  together  with 
you  and  the  said  inquisitor,  to  take  up  arms  against,  the  said  Walden- 
ses and  other  heretics,  and  to  come  to  an  understanding  to  crush 
them  like  venomous  asps,  and  to  contribute  all  their  care  to  so  holy 

*  "  iEneam  rejicite,  Pium  recipite — illud  Gentile  nomen  parentes  indidere  nas- 
centi ;  hoc  Christianum  in  Apostolatu  suscepi."    (Waddinglnn,  506.) 

f  This  boy  was  John,  the  son  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  the  same  who  became 
Leo  X.  It  should  be  observed,  that  Innocent,  on  making  the  creation,  stipulated 
that  the  boy  should  not  take  his  seat  in  Consistory  till  he  was  sixteen.  £cme  state 
the  age  of  creation  at  fifteen,  that  of  admission  at  eighteen.  (See  Raynaldus,  Ann. 
1489.    Waddington,  511.) 


420  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Indulgences  promised  for  exterminating  the  lieretics.  Election  of  the  infamous  Alexander  VI. 

and  so,  necessary  an  extermination We  give  you  power  to 

have  the  crusade  preached  up  by  fit  men :  to  grant  that  such  per- 
sons as  shall  enter  on  the  crusade  and  fight  against  these  same 
heretics,  and  shall  contribute  to  it,  may  gam  plenary  indulgence  and 
remission  of  all  their  sins  once  in  their  life,  and  also  at  their  death ; 
to  command,  in  virtue  of  their  holy  obedience,  and  under  penalty  of 
excommunication,  all  preachers  of  God's  word  to  animate  and  incite 
the  same  believers  to  exterminate  the  pestilence,  without  sparing, 
by  force  and  by  arms.  We  further  give  you  power  to  absolve  those 
who  enter  on  the  crusade,  fight,  or  contribute  to  it,  from  all  senten- 
ces, censures,  and  ecclesiastical  penalties,  general  or  particular,  by 
which  they  may  be  bound,  as  also  to  give  them  dispensation  for  any 
irregularity  contracted  in  divine  matters,  or  for  any  apostasy,  and 
to  enter  some  terms  of  composition  with  them  for  the  goods  which 
they  may  have  secretly  amassed,  badly  acquired,  or  held  doubtfully, 
applying  them  to  the  expenses  attendant  on  this  extirpation  of 
heretics  ;  ....  to  concede  to  each,  permission  to  lawfully  seize  on 
the  property,  real  or  personal,  of  heretics  ;  also  to  command  all 
being  in  the  service  of  these  same  heretics,  in  whatsoever  place  they 
may  be,  to  withdraw  from  it,  under  whatever  penalty  you  may 
deem  fit ;  and  by  the  same  authority  to  declare  that  they  and  all 
others,  who  may  be  held  and  obliged  by  contract,  or  other  manner,  to 
pay  them  anything,  are  not  for  the  future  in  any  way  obliged  to  do 
so  ;  and  to  deprive  all  those  refusing  to  obey  your  admonitions 
and  commands,  of  whatever  dignity,  slate,  order,  and  pre-eminence 
they  may  possess,  to  wit,  the  ecclesiastics  of  their  dignities,  offices, 
and  benefices  ;  and  the  laity  of  their  honors,  titles,  fiefs,  and  privi- 
leges, if  they  persist  in  their  disobedience  and  rebellion  ;  .  .  .  .  and 
to  fulminate  all  kinds  of  censures,  accoixiing  as  the  case  in  your 
judgment  may  demand  ;  ....  to  absolve  and  re-establish  such  as 
may  wish  to  return  to  the  lap  of  the  church,  although  they  may 
have  sworn  to  favor  the  heretics,  provided,  taking  the  contrary  oath, 
they  promise  to  abstain  most  carefully  from  doing  so."*  Who  does 
not  perceive  that  the  closing  extract  I  have  quoted  of  this  bull  of 
pope  Innocent  VIII.,  is  another  reiteration  of  the  doctrine  of  Con- 
stance, and  of  pope  Martin  ;  and  however  popish  priests  may  seek 
to  conceal  the  fact  from  the  eyes  of  Protestants,  ever  the  doctrine 
of  Rome — no  faith  with  heretics  1 

§  63. — Upon  the  death  of  Innocent  VIII.,  in  1492,  the  cardinals  were 
notoriously  bribed  to  give  their  suffrages  for  a  Spaniard  named  Ro- 
deric  Borgia,  who  upon  his  election  assumed  the  name  of  Alexander 
VI.  It  would  be  a  tedious  and  disgusting  task  to  enumerate  all  the 
debaucheries,  incests,  assassinations  and  other  outrages  of  which 
this  papal  Nero,  and  his  equally  infamous  son  Cardinal  Caesar  Bor- 
gia, were  the  guilty  perpetrators.  In  the  downward  progress  of 
pontifical   impurity,  we  have  at  length  reached  the  lowest  step,  the 

*  Lejrpr.  Hist,  des  eglises  Vandoises,  Vol.  ii.,  chap.  2  ;  the  original  of  the  bull  ie 
in  the  library  of  Cambridge  University. 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERIXG  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  427 

Pope  Alexander,  the  Devil's  master-piece.  Gives  an  entertainment  in  the  Vatican  to  50  public  prostitutes. 

utmost  limits  which  have  been  assigned  to  papal  and  to  human  de- 
pravity. "  The  ecclesiastical  records  of  filteen  centurk  s,"  says 
Wadd'ington,  "  through  which  our  long  journey  is  now  nearly  ended, 
contain  no  name  so  loathsome,  no  crimes  so  foul  as  his ;  and  while 
the  voice  of  every  impartial  writer  is  loud  in  his  execration,  he  is, 
in  one  respect,  singularly  consigned  to  infamy,  since  not  one  among 
the  zealous  annalists  of  the  Roman  Church  has  breathed  a  whisper 
in  his  praise.  Thus,  those  who  have  pursued  him  with  the  most 
unqualified  vituperations,  are  thought  to  have  described  him  most 
faithfully ;  and  the  mention  of  his  character  has  excited  a  sort  of 
rivalry  in  the  expression  of  indignation  and  hatred.  In  early  life, 
during  the  pontificate  of  Pius  II.,  Rodcric  Borgia,  already  a  cardi- 
nal, had  been  stigmatized  by  a  public  censure  for  his  unmufficd 
debaucheries.  Afterwards  he  publicly  cohabited  with  a  Roman 
matron  named  Vanozia,  by  whom  he  had  five  acknowledged  chil- 
dren. Neither  in  his  manners  nor  in  his  language  did  he  affect  any 
regard  for  morality  or  for  decency  ;  and  one  of  the  earliest  acts  of 
his  pontificate  was,  to  celebrate,  with  scandalous  magnificence,  in 
his  own  palace,  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  Lucretia.  On  one 
occasion,  this  prodigy  of  vice  gave  a  splendid  entertainment,  within 
the  walls  of  the  Vatican,  to  no  less  than  fifty  public  prostitutes  at 
once,  and  that  in  the  presence  of  his  daughter  Lucretia,  at  which 
entertainment  deeds  of  darkness  were  done,  over  which  decency 
must  throw  a  veil  ;*  and  yet  this  monster  of  vice  was,  according  to 
papists,  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  apostles,  and  the  Vicar  of 
God  upon  earth,  and  was  addressed  by  the  title  of  his  Holiness  !  ! 
Again  I  ask,  is  not  that  apostate  church,  of  which  for  eleven  years 
this  pope  Alexander  VI.  was  the  crowned  and  anointed  head,  and  a 
necessary  link  in  the  chain  of  pretended  apostolic  succession — is 
she   not   fitly  described  by  the  pen  of  inspiration — "  Mother  of 

HARLOTS,  AND  ABOMINATIONS  OF  THE  EARTH?"   (ReV.  Xvii.,  5.) 

§  64. — The  following  are  the  circumstances  relating  to  the  death  of 
pope  Alexander,  which  stand  on  the  most  extensive  evidence.  His 
infamous  son,  Caesar  Borgia,  being  greatly  in  want  of  money  to  pay 
his  troops,  applied  to  his  father  for  assistance  ;  but  the  apostolical 
treasury  was  exhausted,  and  neither  resources  nor  credit  were  then 
at  hand  to  replenish  it.  On  which,  the  Cardinal  suggested  to  the  Pope 
an  easy,  and,  as  it  would  seem,  not  very  unusual  method  of  supply- 
ing their  wants.  The  cardinal  Corneto,  as  wrell  as  some  others  of  the 
sacred  college,  had  a  great  reputation  for  wealth  ;  and  it  was  then  the 
practice  at  Rome  for  the  property  of  cardinals  to  devolve,  on  their 
decease,  to  the  See.  He  proposed  to  get  rid  of  this  Corneto.  The 
Pope  consented ;  and,  accordingly,  invited  the  cardinals  to  an  en- 
tertainment which  he  prepared  for  them  in  his  vineyard  of  Corneto, 
which  was  near  the  Vatican.  Among  the  wines  sent  for  this  occa- 
sion, one  bottle  was  prepared  with  poison  ;  and  instructions  were 

*  These  infamous  debaucheries  are  related  with  much  more  minuteness  than  is 
consistent  with  modern  refinement  and  delicacy,  by  Burchardus,  (Diar.  77.) 


428  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Pope  Alexander  caught  in  his  own  Imp.       America  discovered,  and  given  by  Ihe  Pope  to  the  Spaniards. 

carefully  given  to  the  superintendent  of  the  feast  respecting  thedis- 
posil  of  that  bottle.  It  happened  that,  some  little  time  before  sup- 
per, the  Pope  and  his  son  arrived,  and,  as  it  was  very  hot,  they 
called  for  wine.  And  then,  whether  through  the  error  or  the 
absence  of  the  confidential  officer,  the  poisoned  bottle  was  presented 
to  them.  Both  drank  of  it,  and  both  immediately  suffered  its  vio- 
lent effects.  Coesar  Borgia,  who  had  mixed  much  water  with  his 
wine,  and  was,  besides,  young  and  vigorous,  through  the  immediate 
use  of  powerful  antidotes,  was  saved.  But  Alexander  having  taken 
his  draught  nearly  pure,  and  being  likewise  enfeebled  by  age,  died  in 
the  course  of  the  same  evening.* 

§  65. — It  was  during  the  pontificate  of  Alexander  VI.,  that  the 
discovery  of  America  was  achieved  by  that  wonderful  man,  Chris- 
topher Columbus.  For  several  centuries  previous  to  that  age,  it 
had  been  regarded  as  an  established  doctrine,  that  the  Pope,  from 
his  supreme  authority,  had  the  right  of  granting  all  heathen  coun- 
tries to  such  Catholic  princes  as  would  engage  to  reduce  them  under 
the  dominion  of  the  church  and  the  Holy  See.  In  accordance  with 
this  doctrine,  pope  Martin  V.  early  in  the  same  century  had  granted 
to  the  crown  of  Portugal  all  the  lands  it  might  discover  from  cape 
Bojador  in  Africa,  to  the  Indies. 

Immediately  upon  the  intelligence  being  received  by  the  Spanish 
sovereigns,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  of  the  success  of  Columbus, 
measures  were  taken  to  obtain  the  sanction  of  the  Pope.  Accord- 
ingly, in  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  Spanish  ambassadors 
that  were  immediately  dispatched  to  Rome,  pope  Alexander  VI. 
issued  his  bull,  dated  May  2d,  1493,  "ceding  to  the  Spanish  sove- 
reigns the  same  rights,,  privileges,  and  indulgences,  in  respect  to  the 
newly  discovered  regions,  as  had  been  accorded  to  the  Portuguese, 
with  regard  to  their  African  discoveries,  under  the  same  condition 
of  planting  and  propagating  the  Catholic  faith.  To  prevent  any 
conflicting  claims,  however,  between  the  two  powers,  in  the  wide 
range  of  their  discoveries,  another  bull  was  issued  on  the  following 
day,  containing  the  famous  line  of  demarcation,  by  which  their  terri- 
tories were  thought  to  be  clearly  and  permanently  defined.  This 
was  an  ideal  line  drawn  from  the  north  to  the  south  pole,  a  hundred 
leagues  to  the  west  of  the  Azores,  and  the  Cape  de  Verd  islands.  All 
land  discovered  by  the  Spanish  navigators  to  the  west  of  this  line, 
and  which  had  not  been  taken  possession  of  by  any  Christian  power 
before  the  preceding  Christmas,  was  to  belong  to  the  Spanish  crown  ; 
all  land  discovered  in  the  contrary  direction  was  to  belong  to  Por- 
tugal. It  seems  never  to  have  occurred  to  the  pontiff,  that  by  push- 
ing their  opposite  careers  of  discovery,  they  might  some  day  or 
other  come  again  in  collision,  and  renew  the  question  of  territorial 
right  at  the  antipodes."! 

*  See  Waddington's  Ch.  Hist.,  p.  515.  For  a  particular  account  of  the  lives 
and  vices  of  this  flagitious  Pope,  and  liis  no  less  infamous  son,  Cssar  Borgia,  see 
Life  of  pope  Alexander  VI.,  by  Alexander  Gordon". 

f  Life  and  Voyages  of  Columbus,  by  Washington  Irving,  book  v..  ch.  8. 


chap  v.]    POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1515.   429 

The  power  of  the  popes  not  what  it  once  was.  Pope  Julian  absolving  himself  from  his  oath. 

It  may  serve  to  correct  the  notions  of  some  good  people,  who  know 
but  little  about  the  history  of  Popery  in  past  ages,  and  imagine  that 
it  never  was  more  powerful  than  now,  to  remember  that  three  centu- 
ries and  a  half  ago,  not  only  the  territory  now  called  the  United  States, 
but  the  whole  of  North  and  South  America,  wTere  given  away  by  a 
single  dash  of  pope  Alexander's  pen.  I  presume  there  is  but  little 
fear  of  the  great  Republic  of  the  West  ever  being  handed  over,  like 
an  apple  or  an  orange,  as  a  present  from  his  Holiness  to  their  Catho- 
lic majesties  of  Spain  or  of  Portugal.  And  yet,  according  to  the 
aforesaid  decree  of  pope  Alexander,  the  Catholic  sovereigns  of 
Spain  have  a  right,  so  far  as  a  papal  grant  can  confer  it,  to  the 
whole  of  the  United  States,  from  Maine  to  Texas,  and  to  the  entire 
continent  of  the  West.  Well  may  the  old  gentleman  at  Rome, 
when  he  thinks  of  the  powrer  of  his  predecessors,  and  casts  his  eye 
over  the  vast  prairies  and  savannahs  of  the  West,  sit  on  his  trem- 
bling throne  in  Italy,  like  Bunyan's  giant  Pope,  "  biting  his  nails  that 
he  cannot  come  at  them." 

§  66. — Upon  the  death  of  Alexander  VI.,  Pius  III.,  a  sick  and 
feeble  old  man,  was  elevated  to  the  papal  throne,  through  the  in- 
trigues of  the  Cardinal  who  hoped  soon  to  succeed  him,  and  died 
after  a  brief  reign  of  only  twenty-six  days.  The  stratagem  of 
Julian  della  Rovera  was  successful.  He  celebrated  the  mass  at 
the  obsequies  of  the  deceased  Pope  and  scarcely  was  that  office 
performed  when  he  re-opened  his  former  intrigues  with  the  design, 
on  this  occasion,  of  procuring  his  own  election.  He  gained  the 
leading  cardinals  by  magnificent  promises,  and  the  confidence  that 
they  would  be  observed.  On  the  very  first  scrutiny,  Julian  della 
Rovera  was  unanimously  raised  to  the  chair  of  Alexander  VI.  On 
this  occasion,  Julian,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Julius  II.,  took  the 
same  oath  which  had  been  taken  by  the  infamous  Alexander  and 
several  of  his  unworthy  predecessors  of  the  fifteenth  century,  to 
convoke  a  general  council  within  two  years  from  his  election,  and 
effect  other  reforms  in  the  administration  of  the  church,  under  the 
penalty  of  "perjury  and  anathema,"  from*  which  they  swore  neither 
to  absolve  themselves,  nor  suffer  any  others  to  absolve  them.  These 
oaths,  however,  were  only  made  to  be  broken.  The  popes  claimed 
the  power  not  only  of  absolving  others,  but  of  absolving  themselves 
from  the  obligation  of  an  oath,  and  when,  therefore,  the  object  of 
taking  the  oath  was  accomplished,  and  the  hat  of  the  Cardinal  ex- 
changed for  the  tiara  of  the  Pope,  this  convenient  power  was  in- 
variably exercised.* 

That  this  pretended  power  of  the  popes  of  absolving  from 
the  obligation  of  an  oath,  whether  of  allegiance  to  a  ruler  or  of 

*  Beausobre  in  his  history  of  the  Reformation  (Livre  i.)  gives  the  words  of 
the  oath  by  which  the  candidate  for  the  papal  chair  thus  bound  himself,  which  are 
worthy  of  being  placed  on  record  "  Prsmissa  omnia  et  singula  promitto,  voveo 
et  juro  observare  et  adimplere,  in  omnibus  et  per  omnia,  pure  et  simpliciter  et 
bona  fide,  realiter,  et  cum  efWctu  perjurii  et  anathematis,  a  quibus  nee  me  ipsum 
absolvam,  nee  alieni  absolutionem  committam.     Ita  me  Deus  adjuvet,"  &c. 


430  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

The  ripht  of  ubsolving  from  oaths  still  claimed  by  the  priests  of  Rome. 

any  other  kind,  Ins  ever  been  believed  and  practised  by  the  papal 
anti-Christ,  is  a  fact  which  needs  no  proof  to  such  as  have  but  a 
limited  acquaintance  with  history.  We  have  seen  how  frequently 
it  was  practised  in  the  lives  of  Gregory  VII.,*  Innocent  III.,  and 
the  other  popes  of  that  period  when  Popery  reigned  Despot  of  the 
World  ;f  but  perhaps  it  is  not  equally  well  known,  that  the  same 
doctrine  is  openly  advocated  by  papists  of  the  present  day,  and 
plainly  taught  in  the  text-books  used  in  their  colleges.  Thus,  in 
the  class-book  used  in  Maynooth  College,  Ireland,  Bailly  asserts 
that  "  there  exists  in  the  church  a  power  of  dispensing  from  the 
obligation  of  vows  and  oaths.vJ  In  this  abominable  proposition, 
quoted  from  a  standard  Romish  author,  the  church  means  the  Pope, 
as,  according  to  the  canon  law,  the  Pope  is  the  interpreter  of  an 
oath.§  Dens,  in  his  theology,  the  modern  standard  of  Catholicism 
in  Ireland,  authorizes  this  maxim. ||  The  dispensation  of  a  vow, 
says  this  criterion  of  truth,  "  is  its  relaxation  by  a  lawful  superior 
in  the  place  of  God,  from  a  just  cause.  The  superior,  as  the  vicar 
of  God  in  the  place  of  God,  remits  to  a  man  the  debt  of  a  plighted 
promise"^  If  a  pope  has  the  power  of  absolving  others  from  the 
obligation  of  an  oath,  he  has,  of  course,  the  power  of  absolving 
himself,  and  hence  can  be  bound  by  no  promise,  however  sacred  ; 
by  no  oath,  however  solemn.  Upon  this  monstrous  principle  did 
pope  Julius,  like  many  of  his  predecessors,  take  a  solemn  oath  pre- 
vious to  his  election,  which  he  doubtless  intended  when  he  took  it, 
to  violate,  so  soon  as  his  elevation  to  the  popedom  should  give  him 
the  power  of  absolving  himself  from  his  oath,  and  thus  annulling 
the  laws  of  God  with  impunity.** 

*  Gregory,  in  1080,  asserted  his  authority  to  dissolve  the  oath  of  fealty.  His 
Infallibility  supported  his  assertion  by  proofs,  or  pretended  proofs,  from  scripture 
and  tradition.  This  authority,  his  Holiness  alleged,  was  conveyed  in  the  power 
of  the  keys,  consisting  in  binding  and  loosing,  and  confirmed  by  the  unanimous 
consent  of  the  fathers.  The  contrary  opinion  he  represented  as  madness  and 
idolatry.  '  Contra  illorum  insaniam,  qui,  nefando  ore,  garriunt,  auctoritatem  sanc- 
ta?  et  Apostolical  sedis  non  potuisse  quemquam  a  sacramento  fidelitatis  ejus  ab- 
solvere.'  (Labb.  12,  380,  439,  497.) 

■f-  See  above,  Book  v.,  passim. 

I  '  Existit  in  ecclesia  potestas  dispensandi  in  votis  et  juramentis.'  {Bailhj  2, 
140  ;  Maynooth  Report,  283.) 

\  '  Declaratio  juramenti,  6eu  interpretatio,  cum  de  ipso  dubitatur,  pertinet  ad 
Papam.'     (Gibert  3,  512.) 

[|  '  Superior,  tanquam  vicarius  Dei,  vice  et  nomine  Dei,  remittit  homini  debitum 
promissionis  facta?.'  {Dens,  4,  134,  135.) 

IF  Dens  also  avers  that  a  confessor  should  assert  his  ignorance  of  the  truths 
which  he  knows  only  by  sacramental  confession,  and  confirm  his  assertion,  if  ne- 
cessarys  by  oath.  Such  facts  he  is  to  conceal,  though  the  life  or  safety  of  a  man 
or  the  destruction  of  the  state,  depended  on  the  disclosure.  The  reason,  in  this 
case,  is  as  extraordinary  as  the  doctrine.  "  The  confessor  is  questioned  and 
answers  as  a  man.  This  truth,  however,  lie  knows  not  as  man,  bid  as  God  ;" 
and,  therefore  (which  was  to  be  proved),  he  is  not  guilty  of  falsehood  or  perjury. 
'  Debet  respondere  se  nescire  earn,  et,  si  opus  est,  idem  juramento  confirmare. 
Talis  confessaritis  interrogatur  ut  homo,  et  respondet  ut  homo.  Jamautemnon  scit 
ut  homo  ilium  veritatem,  quamvis  sciat  ut  Deus.'  (J)ens,  5,  219  ;  Edgar,  246.) 

**  Another  instance  of  the  practical  exercise  of  this  abominable  doctrine  oc- 


S.  oi 


The  Pope  a»  a  Warrior.     Pope  Julius  in  Battle. 


The  Pope  as  a  God— adored  on  (lie  hi^h  altar  of  St.  Peter's 


chap,  v.]    POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  433 


Pope  Julius  a  wurrior.       200,000  men  slain  in  battle  through  his  means.      His  quarrel  with  Lewis  XII. 

§  07. — Pope  Julius  was  a  man  of  blood.  His  assumption  of  that 
name  was  itself  an  expression  of  his  admiration  of  the  ancient  con- 
queror, Julius  Caesar,  and  a  mode  of  avowing  his  preference  of  the 
military  to  the  sacerdotal  character.  Almost  the  whole  ten  years 
of  his  pontificate  (1503-1513)  were  spent  in  the  field  of  battle, 
amidst  scenes  of  carnage  and  slaughter.  The  evident  object  of  his 
ambition  was  to  reduce  the  whole  of  the  peninsula  of  Italy  under 
the  sovereignty  of  the  self-styled  successors  of  St.  Peter.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  compelling  the  Venetians  to  yield  up  several  cities  to  the 
Holy  Sec,  and  had  he  not  been  cut  short  by  death  in  his  victorious 
career,  it  is  supposed  by  many  that  the  object  of  his  ambition  might 
have  been  realized.  It  is  related  of  him  that  he  was  so  fierce  and 
indefatigable  a  warrior,  that  though  decrepit  with  age,  he  did  not 
shrink  from  the  toils  of  the  meanest  soldier  ;  that  in  prosecuting 
his  schemes  of  ambition,  he  would  never  listen  to  a  proposal  of 
peace,  while  the  slightest  prospect  of  success  remained,  though  to 
be  purchased  at  the  cost  of  thousands  of  lives  ;  and  that  two  hun- 
dred thousand  men  perished  in  battle  through  his  means  ;  that  al- 
most the  only  use  he  made  of  his  pontifical  function  was  to  dictate 
his  bulls  and  anathemas,  which  he  did  with  the  same  energy  as  he 
commanded  his  army ;  and  finally,  in  the  words  of  a  celebrated 
chronicler  of  France,  that  in  his  fierce  and  bloody  conflicts  on  the 
field  of  battle,  "  he  acted  more  like  a  sultan  of  the  Turks  than  as 
the  vicar  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and  the  common  Father  of 
all  Christians."*    (See  Engraving.) 

§  68. — Lewis  XII.,  king  of  France,  provoked  at  the  insults  he 
received  from  pope  Julius,  is  said  by  many  authors  to  have  caused 
a  medal  to  be  struck,  with  the  inscription,  '  Perclam  Babylonis 
nomen ' — that  is,  "  I  will  destroy  the  name  of  Babylon."  It  is  pro- 
per here  to  add  that  the  authenticity  and  occasion  of  this  celebrated 
motto,  has  afforded  matter  of  keen  debate  to  respectable  writers  on 
both  sides  of  the  question.  There  is  no  question,  however,  that 
Lewis  was  violently  incensed  against  the  arrogant  military  Pope, 
and  that  in  the  year  1511,  several  cardinals  under  his  protection 
assembled  a  council  at  Pisa,  with  the  intention  of  setting  bounds  to 
the  power,  and  curbing  the  tyranny  of  this  furious  and  ambitious 
Pontiff.  Julius,  on  the  other  hand,  thundered  his  anathemas  against 
the  council  of  Pisa,  excommunicated  all  the  members,  and  degraded 
the  cardinals  from  their  dignity.  The  council  returned  the  com- 
pliment (like  that  of  Basil,  seventy  years  before),  by  summoning 
the  Pope  into  their  presence,  declaring  him  contumacious,  and 
eventually  suspending  him  from   his  office.     The  warlike  pontiff, 

curred  in  the  life  of  pope  Paul  IV.,  who,  in  1555,  absolved  himself  from  an  oath 
which  he  had  taken  in  the  Conclave.  His  Holiness  had  sworn  to  make  only  four 
cardinals  ;  but  violated  his  obligation.  His  Supremacy  declared,  that  the  Pontiff 
could  not  be  bound,  or  his  authority  limited,  even  by  an  oath.  The  contrary  he 
characterized  as  "  a  manifest  heresy."  '  Le  contraire  etoit  une  heresie  manifeste.' 
(Father  Paul  Sarpi,  lib.  ii.,  sec.  27.) 
*  Mezerai  Abrege  Chron.,  torn,  v.,  p.  117;  reign  of  Louis  XII. 
26 


431  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Accession  of  pope  hen  X.  Enactment  of  a  general  council  against  the  freedom  of  the  press. 

rely  in  <t  upon  his  carnal,  at  least  as  much  as  his  spiritual  defences, 
treated  these  proceedings  with  contempt  and  laughter,  and  sum- 
moned a  council  at  Rome,*  which  was  opened  on  the  3d  of  May, 
1512,  and  in  which  the  proceedings  of  the  council  of  Pisa  were 
annulled,  and  condemned  in  the  severest  and  most  insulting  lan- 
guage. This  council  of  the  Pope  is  called  by  Romanists  the  eigh- 
teenth general  council,  or  fifth  of  Lateran,  though  almost  all  who 
were  present  were  Italians,  and  the  total  number  of  cardinals  was 
fifteen,  and  the  archbishops  and  bishops,  together,  eighty.  Proba- 
bly the  fierce  denunciations  of  the  Pope  and  this  petty  general 
council  against  the  council  of  Pisa,  would  have  been  followed  by 
the  most  d.re  anathemas  against  king  Louis,  and  other  princes 
who  favored  that  council,  had  not  death  snatched  away  this  fierce, 
turbulent,  and  bloody  Pope  on  the  20th  of  February,  1513. 

§  69. — The  successor  of  Julius  was  Leo  X.,  a  name  which  is  insepa- 
rable from  the  history  of  the  glorious  reformation,  for  the  determined 
but  unavailing  opposition  that  he  offered  to  the  doctrines  and  measures 
of  Luther,  tinder  Leo  the  fifth  council  of  Lateran  continued  its  ses- 
sions, at  various  intervals,  till  the  month  of  March,  1517.  Among 
the  decrees  of  this  council  was  one  forbidding  the  freedom  of  the 
press,  which  in  consequence  of  the  invention  of  the  art  of  printing 
had  for  some  years  been  a  source  of  annoyance  to  Rome.  Pope 
Leo  and  the  council  ordained  "  that  no  book  should  be  hereafter 
printed  at  Rome,  or  in  any  other  city  or  diocese,  until  it  had  been 
examined — at  Rome  by  the  vicar  of  his  Holiness,  and  the  mas- 
ter of  the  sacivd  palace — in  other  dioceses,  by  the  bishop,  or  some 
doctor  appointed  by  him,  or  by  the  inquisitor  of  the  place,  on  pain 
of  various  temporal  penalties  and  immediate  excommunication." 
Popery  has  probably  never  received  so  severe  a  blow,  as  in  the  in- 
vention of  printing  fond  according  to  human  probabilities,  the  refor- 
mation would  have  been  nipped  in  the  bud,  and  the  world  would  still 
have  been  covered  with  popish  darkness  as  it  was  amidst  the  gloom  of 
the  world's  midnight,  had  it  not  been  for  the  noble  art  which  multi- 
plied, almost  with  the  speed  of  thought,  the  fearless  protestations  of 
the  reformers  against  the  profligacy  and  corruption  of  Rome. 
The  date  of  this  noble  art  is  generally  placed  in  1444,  though 
some  years  doubtless  elapsed  before  it  was  very  extensively  used. 
About  1472,  not  thirty  years  after  the  invention,  pope  Sixtus  IV. 
commenced  the  Crusade  against  the  freedom  of  the  press  which 
Popery  has  carried  on  from  that  time  to  this.  In  1501  the  vile 
Alexander  VI.  ordained  under  the  severest  penalties,  that  no  books 
of  any  description  should  be  printed,  in  any  diocese,  without  the 
sanction  of  the  Bishop,t  and  a  few  years  after  Leo  X.,  in  the  manner 
we  have  seen,  renewed  this  prohibition. 

§  70. — There  was  another  enactment  of  the  fifth  council  of  Late- 

*  The  bull  of  Julius  convoking  this  council,  in  which  he  calls  the  council  of 
Pisa  a  synagogue  of  Satan,  and  compares  its  authors  to  Dathan  and  Abiram,  may 
be  found  in  Raynakl's  Annals,  ad  Ann.  1.511. 

f  Raynald's  Annals  ad  Ann.  1501,  6.  3'J. 


chap,  v.]    POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING    THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  435 

A  papist's  groans  at  the  ill  success  of  the  laws  against  heretics,  in  preventing  the  Reformation. 

ran,  which  deserves  a  passing  mention.  This  was  a  decree  enjoin- 
ing upon  the  Inquisitions  established  in  various  countries  to  proceed 
zealously  in  the  punishment  and  extirpation  of  heretics  and  Jews, 
especially  against  those  who  had  relapsed,  from  whom  every  hope 
of  pardon  was  withheld.  These  decrees  are  recorded  by  the  Ro- 
mish annalist  Raynald,  the  continuator  of  the  annals  of  Baro- 
nius,  who  exclaims  in  tones  which  we  might  almost  imagine  to  pro- 
ceed from  a  hungry  wolf,  disappointed  of  his  prey  by  the  watchful- 
ness of  the  shepherd  and  his  faithful  dog.  "  How  ill,  alas  !  these 
most  lioly  laics  were  observed,  appears  from  the  hydra-birth  of  the 
Lutheran  heresy  which  came  so  soon  afterwards."* 

§  71. — On  the  16th  of  March,  1517,  was  held  the  twelfth  and  con- 
cluding session  of  the  council.  The  bull  of  dissolution  announced 
the  accomplishment  of  every  object  of  the  assembly :  peace  had 
been  re-established  among  the  princes  of  Christendom  :  the  schis- 
matic synod  of  Pisa  abolished ;  and,  above  all,  the  reformation  of 
the  Church  and  court  of  Rome  had  been  sufficiently  provided  for  ! 
There  were,  indeed,  some  fathers  who  ventured  to  argue,  that  every 
abuse  had  not  even  yet  been  removed,  and  that  the  lasting  interests 
of  the  Church  would  be  better  promoted  by  the  further  continuance 
of  the  council — but  the  majority  supported  the  Pope ;  and  this 
universal  assembly  of  the  western  Church,  after  having  deliberately 
regulated  all  matters  requiring  any  attention,  and  restored  the  estab- 
lishment to  perfect  health  and  security,  separated  with  complacency 
and  confidence  !  Little  did  Leo  and  the  fathers  of  the  council 
dream  of  the  storm  that  was  impending  over  them  ;  of  the  lightning 
of  heaven  that  was  already  gathering  to  purify  the  moral  atmo- 
sphere of  the  popish  miasma  that  corrupted  it.  It  is  a  coincidence 
worth  remarking,  that  in  the  very  same  year,  almost  before  the  pre- 
lates of  Rome  had  exchanged  their  parting  congratulations  on  the 
imagined  peace  and  security  of  the  church,  Luther  had  commenced 
his  bold  and  fearless  preaching  against  that  plague-spot  upon  the 
polluted  and  rotten  carcase  of  anti-Christ — the  infamous  doctrine  of 

INDULGENCES. 

*  Raynald.  ad  Ann.  1514,  sect.  31,  &c. 


43G 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  REFORMATION.    LUTHER  AND  TETZEL.    THE  REFORMER'S  WAR 
AGAINST  INDULGENCES. 

§  72. — We  have  seen,  in  a  previous  part  of  this  work,  the  profit- 
able use  that  was  made  by  the  popes  whenever  they  wished  to  en- 
rich their  coffers,  at  the  expense  of  a  credulous  and  superstitious 
multitude,  of  the  doctrine  of  indulgences, — the  pretence  that  a 
miserable  mortal,  often  polluted  with  the  most  awful  crimes,  had 
power  to  control  the  punishments  of  God's  justice  in  the  invisible 
world,  and  to  grant  a  plenary  indulgence  for  the  most  flagrant 
crimes,  to  such  as  would  purchase  it  with  money.  The  horrid  im- 
piety of  this  blasphemous  pretension  is  such  that  we  can  hardly 
help  feeling  astonished  at  the  forbearance  of  the  insulted  Deity  in 
suffering  his  name  thus  to  be  blasphemed,  his  prerogatives  thus  in- 
vaded, and  his  creatures  thus  outraged  and  abused  for  so  long  a 
series  of  ages. 

But  the  justice  of  God  does  not  sleep  for  ever.  It  pleased  him 
that  the  very  means  of  the  aggrandizement  and  wealth  of  apostate 
Rome  should  also  be  the  cause  of  its  receiving  a  blow  from  which 
it  never  has,  and  never  will  recover.  Indulgences,  and  the  money 
they  procured,  were  for  ages  the  inexhaustible  source  of  papal  Rome's 
grandeur  and  wealth.  Indulgences,  and  the  indignation  they  excited, 
were  the  occasion  of  her  fall.  The  proud  structure  of  St.  Peter's,  it 
is  true,  was  built  upon  a  foundation  of  indulgences ;  every  stone  in 
that  gorgeous  structure,  if  it  had  a  tongue,  might  tell  a  tale  of  rob- 
bery, or  murder,  or  adultery  ;  or  of  the  outrageous  cheat  announced 
by  the  infamous  Tetzel,  "  the  very  moment  the  money  jingles  in 
the  chest,  the  soul  for  whom  it  is  paid  escapes  from  the  pains  of 
purgatory,  and  flies  to  heaven."  Yet,  when  the  courtly  and  luxu- 
rious Leo  proclaimed  his  bull  of  indulgences,  for  the  building  of 
St.  Peter's,  little  did  he  imagine  how  dearly  that  proudest  of  all 
the  temples  of  anti-Christ  would  be  bought.  And  there  is  not  a 
true  protcstant  in  Christendom,  however  much  he  may  despise  the 
spiritual  knavery  and  imposture  of  the  indulgences  upon  which  St. 
Peter's  is  erected,  that  would  not  regard  the  glorious  reformation 
as  cheaply  purchased  at  the  price  of  the  millions  of  gold  and  silver 
it  would  require  to  build  ten  thousand  such  costly  erections. 

A  work  like  the  present  would  not  be  complete  without  a  sketch 
of  the  incidents  connected  with  that  memorable  event  in  the  annals 
of  Popery,  the  glorious  reformation.  Yet  it  is  a  source  of  sin- 
cere and  unmingled  satisfaction  to  the  author,  that  the  recent  pub- 
lication and  unparalleled  circulation  of  the  most  captivating,  au- 
thentic, and  thorough  history  of  the  Reformation  that  has  ever 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  437 


Indulgences  to  build  St.  Peter's.  Prices  of  sins  in  the  Tax-books  of  the  Roman  Chancery. 

been  written  in  any  langunge,*  precludes  the  necessity  of  devoting 
more  than  a  few  pages  to  that  momentous  moral  revolution ;  and 
even  those  few  will  be  devoted  mainly  to  facts  connected  with  the 
reformation,  which  reflect  light  upon  the  character  and  the  history 
of  Popery. 

§  73.— /The  first  stone  of  the  present  church  of  St.  Peter's  at 
Rome,  was  laid  in  the  year  1506  by  the  ambitious  and  warlike  pope 
Julius  II.,  and  when  Leo  X.  succeeded  him  on  the  papal  throne,  he 
found  the  treasury  of  the  church  almost  exhausted  by  the  ceaseless 
wars  and  ambitious  projects  of  his  predecessor.  "  Making  use," 
says  Sleidan,  "  of  that  power  which  his  predecessors  had  usurped 
over  all  Christian  churches,  he  sent  abroad  into  alj  kingdoms  his 
letters  and  bulls,  with  ample  promises  of  the  full  pardon  of  sins, 
and  of  eternal  salvation  to  such  as  would  purchase  the  same  with 
money !" 

It  is  obvious  that  the  multiplication  of  crimes  in  a  superstitious 
and  dissolute  age,  would  be  proportionate  to  the  facility  of  obtain- 
ing pardon.  It  had  been  a  practice  in  the  different  governments 
of  Europe  to  allow  the  payment  of  a  fine  to  the  magistrate,  by  way 
of  compounding  for  the  punishment  due  to  an  offence.  The  ava- 
ricious and  unprincipled  court  of  Rome  adopted  a  similar  plan  in 
religious  concerns,  and  intent  only  on  the  augmentation  of  revenue, 
it  even  rejoiced  in  the  degradation  of  the  human  mind  and  charac- 
ter. The  officers  of  the  Roman  chancery  published  a  book  con- 
taining the  exact  sum  to  be  paid  for  any  particular  sin.  A  deacon 
guilty  of  murder  was  absolved  for  twenty  crowns.  A  bishop  or 
abbot  might  assassinate  for  three  hundred  livres.  An  ecclesiastic 
might  violate  his  vows  of  chastity,  even  with  the  most  aggravating 
circumstances,  for  the  third  part  of  that  sum.  To  these  and  similar 
items,  it  is  added,  "  Take  notice  particularly  that  such  graces  and. 
dispensations  are  not  granted  to  the  poor,  for  not  having  wherewith 
to  pay  they  cannot  be  comforted"] 

*  It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say,  that  the  author  refers  to  D'Aubigne's  popular 
and  invaluable  "History  of  the  Reformation,"  to  which  he  would  take  this  oppor- 
tunity of  expressing  his  obligation  for  most  of  the  incidents  connected  with  Lu- 
ther's struggles  against  the  abominations  of  Rome.  The  work  of  D'Aubigne  has 
lately  been  honored  with  a  special  notice  of  reprobation  in  the  Pope's  bull  of 
1844.  Thank  God  it  is  translated  into  Italian  !  Let  D'Aubigne's  History  of  the 
Reformation  only  be  read  throughout  the  whole  of  outraged  and  injured  Italy,  and 
the  world  will  see  that  the  Pope  had  reason  to  tremble  on  his  tottering  throne. 
.  f  Taxa  Cancellar.  Romanae,  quoted  in  Cox's  life  of  Melancthon,  chap.  iii.  As 
it  has  become  usual  with  Romanists  to  deny  the  authenticity  of  these  Tax-books 
for  sin,  since  it  has  been  discovered  that  protestants  have  become  acquainted  with 
their  contents,  it  is  proper  to  remark  that  more  than  twenty-seven  editions  of  the 
work  had  appeared,  before  any  one  thought  of  denying  their  authenticity.  The  evi- 
dence on  this  subject  has  been  weighed  and  sifted  a  hundred  times,  and  the  result 
is,  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  most  eminent  literary  men,  the  authenticity  of  this 
genuine  Romish  work  is  established  without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt.  The  follow- 
ing observations  upon  "  the  Taxalio  Papalis"  by  the  learned  Mendham,  author 
of  the  "  Literary  policy  of  the  church  of  Rome,"  are  sufficient  to  set  this  matter 
for  ever  at  rest.     The  Tax  Tables  are  a  considerable  advance  upon  the  simple  In- 


438  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Editions  of  the  Jiomish  Tax-book  for  sins.  Testimony  of  a  Catholic  author  to  its  genuineness. 

"  What,"  asks  an  ornament  of  the  British  establishment,  "  was 
the  crying  abomination  which  first  roused  the  indignant  spirit  of 

diligence  ;  for  there,  absolution  for  the  grossest  crimes — and  for  a"  crimes — is  ex- 
pressly set  to  sale  at  specified  prices — absolution,  or  dispensation,  or  license,  &c, 
for  Grossi,  or  floreni,  or  ducats. 

To  what  times  or  persons  the  origin  of  those  small  and  precious  volumes  is  to 
be  assigned,  it  is  perhaps  impossible  to  determine.  The  least  objectionable  part, 
indicating  only  unprincipled  cupidity  and  rapacity,  the  Chancery  Taxes,  may  with 
certainty  be  traced  back  to  pope  John  XXII.,  who  reigned  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  is  celebrated  by  papal  as  well  as  other  historians,  for  his 
immoderate  extortion  by  the  dexterous  management  of  benefices,  and  by  other 
means,  and  for  the  immense  wealth  which  he  accumulated  and  left  behind  him. 
(Ciaconii  Vit.  et  Act.  Pont.,  torn.  2;  395.)  The  frequent  and  exclusive  refer- 
ence to  the  Lib:  r  Jo.  XXII.  in  pope  Leo's  Xth's  Taxse  Cane.  Apost.,  published 
in  1514,  place  the  fact  beyond  a  doubt ;  and  Polydore  Virgil  (lib.  viii.,  cap.  2)  ex- 
pressly ascribes  the  origin  of  those  Taxes  to  him. 

To  the  Penitentiary  Canons  succeeded  the  regular  Tax-books  ;  of  which  the 
first  fifteen  editions  were  issued  at  Rome,  as  is  attested  by  the  Romish  author  Au- 
diffredi,  in  a  work  avowedly  enumerating  those  copies,  and  which  volume  is  dedi- 
cated to  "  Pius  VI.,  Pont.  Opt.  Max.,"  or,  the  "Most  Blessed  and  Supreme." 
Twenty-five  other  reprints  were  published  at  Paris,  Cologne,  and  Venice — that  from 
the  last  place  under  the  auspices  of  pope  Gregory  XIII.  The  printing  was  pro- 
bably rendered  necessary  or  expedient  from  the  number  of  agents,  or  collectors  of 
these  taxes,  employed  by  the  pontiffs ;  for  beyond  Rome,  in  the  countries  subject 
to  those  impositions,  it  was  desirable  for  individuals  to  know  what  their  vices 
would  cost  them,  and  how  far  they  could  sustain  the  expense.  Mornay,  in  his 
Mystere  d'Iniquite,  and  Claude  d'Espence,  prove  that  those  books  were  publicly 
and  openly  exposed  to  sale. 

But  we  are  told,  that  these  works  have  been  formally  and  publicly  condemned 
by  papal  authority  in  the  Indices  Prohibitorii.  This  matter  is  both  a  literary  and 
a  papal  curiosity.  Before  the  year  1564,  when  the  Trent  Index  was  compiled  and 
published,  twenty-seven  of  the  editions  of  the  Taxsc  had  appeared,  and  probably 
many  more,  now  unknown — and  yet  no  notice  whatever  was  taken  of  them,  in 
one  single  instance,  until  the  year  1570,  just  a  century  after  the  appearance  of 
the  first  edition,  in  an  Appendix"  to  the  Roman  Index,  published  by  the  authority 
of  the  king  of  Spain.  In  what  terms  does  it  there  appear  ?  "  Praxis  et  Taxa 
officina;  pcenitentiariee  Papae,"  p.  76— a  work,  which,  if  it  ever  existed  under  that 
title,  was  probably  never  known.  With  apparent  misgiving,  and  possibly  with 
some  fear,  that  it  might  involve  what  the  papacy  knew  to  be  its  own  offspring,  the 
next  Index  published  by  authority  in  Rome,  that  of  1596,  by  pope  Clement  VIII., 
adds — "ab  hsereticis  depravata;  corrupted  by  heretics."  But  that  specification  is 
a  virtual  admission  that  some  copies  existed,  which  were  not  depraved  or  cor- 
rupted. 

In  his  Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  Titus,  chap,  i.,  7,  Digressio  Secunda,  on 
the  word  diCKpoKeplrt  (greedy  of  filthy  lucre),  Claude  d'Espence,  a  celebrated  and 
candid  French  Catholic,  rector  of  the  University  of  Paris,  having  expressly  re- 
ferred to  the  Centum  Gravamina,  avers,  that  all  those  charges  might  be  considered 
as  the  fiction  of  the  enemies  of  the  Pope,  were  it  not  for  a  book  printed,  and  for 
some  time  publicly  exposed  to  sale  at  Paris,  entitled  Taxa  Camera  seu  Cancel- 
laricc  Apostoliccc,  in  which  more  wickedness  may  be  learned  than  in  all  the  sum- 
maries of  all  vices  ;  and  in  which  are  proposed  license  of  sinning  to  most,  and 
absolution  to  all  who  will  buy  it.  He  wondered,  that  that  infamous  and  scandal- 
ous index  of  iniquity  was  not  suppressed  by  the  friends  and  rulers  of  the  Roman 
court;  and  that  the  licenses  and  impunities  for  such  abominations  were  renewed 
in  the  faculties  granted  to  the  papal  legates,  of  absolving  and  rendering  capable 
of  ecclesiastical  promotion  all  sorts,  and  even  the  most  atrocious,  of  criminals. 
He  then  calls  upon  Rome  to  blush,  and  cease  any  longer  to  prostitute  herself  by 
the  publication  of  so  infamous  a  catalogue." 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.    430 


Farming  indulgences.      Contract  for  tru:  sans  of  the  Germans.      Tctzel,  the  famous  indulgence-peddler. 

the  great  and  much-calumniated  Luther?  The  Pope  actually 
drove  a  gainful  pecuniary  traffic  in  ecclesiastical  indulgences !  In- 
struments of  this  description,  by  which  the  labor  of  making  a  fan- 
cied meritorious  satisfaction  to  God  by  penance  or  by  good  works 
was  pared  down  to  the  dwarfish  standard  that  best  suited  the  purse 
of  a  wealthy  offender,  were  sold  in  the  lump,  to  a  tr.be  of  monastic 
vagabonds,  by  the  prelate,  who  claimed  to  be  upon  earth  the  di- 
vinely-appointed vicar  of  Christ.  These  men  purchased  them  of 
the  Pope,  by  as  good  a  bargain  as  they  could  make  ;  and  then, 
after  the  mode  of  travelling  pedlars,  they  disposed  of  them  in  re- 
tail to  those  who  affected  such  articles  of  commerce ;  each  indul- 
gence, of  course,  bearing  an  adequate  premium.  The  madness  of 
superstition  could  be  strained  no  higher:  the  reformation  burst 
forth  Ike  a  torrent ;  and  Luther,  w.th  the  Bible  in  his  hand,  has 
merited  and  obtained  the  eternal  hatred  of  an  incorrigible  church."* 

§  74. — At  the  commencement  of  the  Reformation,  Albert,  elector 
of  Mentz,  who  was,  soon  afterwards,  made  a  cardinal,  had  solicited 
from  the  Pope  the  contract  for  the  farming  of  all  the  indulgences 
in  Germany,  or,  as  they  expressed  it  at  Rome,  "  the  contract  for 
the  sins  of  the  Germans."  The  Elector  being,  however,  in  imme- 
diate want  of  a  large  sum  of  money  to  advance  to  the  Pope,  ap- 
plied to  the  Fuggers,  a  celebrated  banking-house,  to  advance  him 
the  needed  sum,  upon  the  credit  of  the  expected  proceeds  of  the 
indulgences,  and  they  deeming  the  investment  a  safe  one,  supplied 
him  with  the  money.  The  notorious  Tetzel,  upon  the  conclusion 
of  this  bargain,  hastened  to  Mentz,  and  offered  his  services  to 
Albert,  and  as  he  had  already  many  years'  experience  in  this  work 
of  peddling  indulgences,  he  was  at  once  accepted. 

The  account  which  Dr.  Merle  gives  of  the  mode  of  Tetzel's 
proceedings  is  so  graphic  and  so  lively,  that  I  shall  endeavor  to  con- 
dense the  substance  of  his  remarks.  One  person,  says  he,  in  par- 
ticular, in  these  sales  of  indulgences,  drew  the  attention  of  the  spec- 
tators in  these  sales.  It  was  he  who  bore  the  great  red  cross  and 
had  the  most  prominent  part  assigned  to  him.  He  was  clothed  in 
the  habit  of  the  Dominicans,  and  his  port  was  lofty.  His  voice  was 
sonorous,  and  he  seemed  yet  in  the  prime  of  his  strength,  though  he 
was  past  his  sixty-third  year.  This  man,  who  was  the  son  of  a  gold- 
smith of  Leipsic,  named  Diez,  bore  the  name  of  John  Diezel  or 
Tetzel.  He  had  studied  in  his  native  town,  had  taken  his  bachelor's 
degree  in  1487,  and  entered  two  years  later  into  the  order  of  the 
Dominicans.  Numerous  honors  had  been  accumulated  on  him. 
Bachelor  of  Theology,  Prior  of  the  Dominicans,  Apostolical  Com- 
missioner, Inquisitor  (hereticce  pravitatis  inquisitor),  he  had,  ever 
since  the  year  1502,  filled  the  office  of  an  agent  for  the  sale  of  indul- 
gences. The  experience  he  had  acquired  as  a  subordinate  function- 
ary had  very  early  raised  him  to  the  station  of  chief  commissioner. 
He  had  an  allowance  of  80  florins  per  month,  all  his  expenses  de- 

*  Difficulties  of  Romanism,  by  Rev.  George  Stanley  Faber,  p.  157. 


440  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Tetzel's  character.  His  manner  of  proceeding  in  disposing  of  his  indulgences. 

frayed,  and  he  was  allowed  a  carriage  and  three  horses ;  but  we 
may  readily  imagine  that  h  s  indirect  i  molumenta  far  exceeded  his 
allowances.  In  1507,  he  gained  in  two  days  at  Freyberg  2000 
florins.  If  his  occupation  resembled  that  of  a  mountebank,  lie  had 
also  the  morals  of  one.  Convicted  at  Inspruck  of  adultery  and 
abominable  profligacy,  he  was  near  paving  the  forieit  of  his  l.fe.  The 
emperor  Maximilian  had  ordered  that  he  should  be  put  into  a  sack 
and  thrown  into  the  river.  The  elector  Fred  rie  of  Saxony  had 
interceded  for  ft  m,  and  obtained  his  pardon.  But  the  lesson  he  had 
received  had  not  taught  him  more  decency.  II  ■  carried  about  with 
him  two  of  his  children.  M  It  tz.  the  Pope's  legate,  cites  the  fact 
in  one  of  his  letters.  It  would  have  been  hard  to  find  in  all  the 
cloisters  of  Germany,  a  man  more  adapted  to  the  traffic  wilh  which 
he  was  charged.  To  the  theology  of  a  monk,  and  the  zeal  and 
spirit  of  an  inquisitor,  he  united  the  greatest  effrontery.  What 
most  helped  him  in  his  office,  was  the  f  ic.lify  he  displayed  in  the 
invention  of  the  strange  stories  wilh  which  the  taste  of  the  common 
people  is  generally  pleased.  No  m  >ans  came  armss  to  him  to  iill  his 
coffers.  Lifting  up  his  voice  and  giving  loose  to  a  coarse  volubility, 
he  offered  his  indulgences  to  all  comers,  and  excelled  any  salesman 
at  a  fair  in  recommend  ng  his  merchandize.  As  soon  as  the  cross 
was  elevated  with  the  Pope's  arms  suspended  up  >n  it,  Tetzel  ascend- 
ed the  pulpit,  and,  with  a  bold  tone,  began,  in  the  presi  nee  of  the 
crowd  whom  the  ceremony  had  drawn  to  the  sacred  spjt,  to  exalt 
the  efficacy  of  indulgences.     (See  Engraving.) 

§  75. — The  people  listened,  and  wonder,  d  at  the  admirable  virtues 
ascribed  to  them.  The  Jesuit  h  storian  Maimbourg  says  himself,  in 
speaking  of  the  Dominican  friars  whom  Tetzel  had  associated  with 
him: — "  Some  of  these  preachers  did  not  fail,  as  usual,  to  d.stort 
their  subject,  and  so  to  exaggerate  the  value  of  the  indulgences  as 
to  lead  the  people  to  believe  that,  as  soon  as  they  gave  their  money, 
they  were  certain  of  salvation  and  of  the  deliverance  of  souls  from 
purgatory." 

If  such  were  the  pupils,  we  may  imagine  what  lengths  the  master 
went.  Let  us  hear  one  of  these  harangues,  pronounced  after  the 
erection  of  the  cross. 

"  Indulgences,"  said  he,  "are  the  most  precious  and  subl  me  of 
God's  gifts.  "  This  cross"  (pointing  to  the  red  cross)  "  has  as  much 
efficacy  as  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ.  Draw  near,  and  I  will  give 
you  letters,  duly  sealed,  by  wh'ch  even  the  sins  you  shall  hereafter' 
desire  to  commit  shall  be  all  forgiven  you. 

"I  would  not  exchange  my  privileges  for  those  of  Saint  Peter  in 
heaven,  for  I  have  saved  more  souls  with  my  indulgences  than  he 
with  his  sermons.  There  is  no  sin  so  great  that  the  indulgence 
cannot  remit,  and  even  if  any  one  should  (which  is  doubtless  impos- 
sible) ravish  the  Holy  Virgin  Mother  of  God,*  let  him  pay — let  him 
only  pay  largely,  and  it  shall  be  forgiven  him. 

*  There  has  been  some  controversy  relative  to  the  passage  upon  which  the 
imputation  of  this  horrible  language  is  based.     The  words  are,  "  Is  inter  alia  do- 


r.  !/'■!  selling   Indulgences 


Burning  of 


Bibles,  U]   Romish  Priests   al  Chamj.laiti    N    V      (  Sn  /"'.<  ' 


chap,  vi.]  TOPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1515.  443 

The  money  clinking  In  the  chest,  and  the  soul  escaping  from  Purgatory.        Bring  money  !  Bring  money  : 

"  Even  repentance,"  he  would  say,  "  is  not  indispensable.  But 
more  than  all  this  :  indulgences  save  not  the  living  alone — they  also 
save  the  dead.  .  Ye  priests,  ye  nobles,  ye  tradesmen,  ye  wives,  ye 
maidens,  and  ye  young  men,  hearken  to  your  departed  parents  and 
friends,  who  cry  to  you  from  the  bottomless  abyss  :  '  We  are  endur- 
ing horrible  torment  !  a  small  alms  would  deliver  us ; — you  can 
give  it,  and  you  will  not !'  " 

"  The  very  moment"  continued  Tetzel,  "  that  the  money  clinks 
against  the  bottom  of  the  chest,  the  soul  escapes  from  purgatory,  and 
flies  free  to  heaven.  O,  senseless  people,  and  almost  like  to  beasts, 
who  do  not  comprehend  the  grace  so  richly  offered  !  This  day 
heaven  is  on  all  sides  open.  Do  you  now  refuse  to  enter  ?  When 
then  do  you  intend  to  come  in  ?  This  day  you  may  redeem  many 
souls.  Dull  and  heedless  man,  with  ten  groschen  you  can  deliver 
your  father  from  purgatory,  and  you  are  so  ungrateful  that  you  will 
not  rescue  him.  In  the  day  of  judgment,  my  conscience  will  be 
clear ;  but  you  will  be  punished  the  more  severely  for  neglecting  so 
great  a  salvation.  I  protest  that  though  you  should  have  only  one 
coat,  you  ought  to  strip  it  off  and  sell  it,  to  purchase  this  grace. 
Our  Lord  God  no  longer  deals  with  us  as  God.  He  has  given  all 
power  to  the  Pope  !" 

Then,  having  recourse  to  other  inducements,  he  added,  "  Do  you 
know  why  our  most  Holy  Lord  distributes  so  rich  a  grace  ?  •  The 
dilapidated  Church  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  is  to  be  restored,  so  as 
to  be  unparalleled  in  the  whole  earth.  That  church  contains  the 
bodies  of  the  holy  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  and  a  vast  company  of 
martyrs.  Those  sacred  bodies,  owing  to  the  present  condition  of 
the  edifice,  are  now,  alas  !  continually  trodden,  flooded,  polluted,  dis- 
honored, and  rotting  in  rain  and  hail.  Ah  !  shall  those  holy  ashes 
be  suffered  to  remain  degraded  in  the  mire  ?"  This  touch  of  de- 
scription never  failed  to  produce  an  impression  on  many  hearers. 
There  was  an  eager  desire  to  aid  poor  Leo  X.,  who  had  not  the 
means  of  sheltering  from  the  rain  the  bodies  of  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul! 

At  the  close  of  his  address,  Tetzel  would  point  to  the  strong  box 
in  which  the  money  was  kept,  and  call  upon  the  people  with  a  sten- 
torian voice,  "  Bring  your  money  !  bring  money  !  bring  money  !" — 
and  running  down  the  steps  of  the  pulpit,  he  would  throw  in  a  piece 
of  silver,  with  a  loud  sound,  before  all  the  people. 

§  76. — The  commissioner  whose  duty  it  was  to  sell  this  popish  ware, 
had  a  counter  close  to  the  cross.  He  turned  a  scrutinizing  glance 
on  those  who  came.  He  examined  their  manner,  step,  and  attire, 
and  demanded  a  sum  in  proportion  to  the  apparent  circumstances  of 
the  party  presenting  himself.     Kings,  queens,  princes,  archbishops, 

cebat,  se  tantam  habere  potestatem  a  Pontifice,  ut  etiam  si  quis  virgimm  matrern 
vitiasset  ac  gravidam  fecisset,  condonare  crimen  ipse  posset  interventu  pecuniae  : 
deinde  non  modo  jam  commissa,  verum  etiam  futura  peccata  condonabat,"  and 
have  led  to  much  controversy  whether  it  should  not  read  virginem  aut  matrem — 
that  is,  a  virgin  or  a  mother.     (Sleidan,  Lib.  xiii.,  p.  208  ;  Gies.  iii.,  330.) 


444  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Prices  and  form  of  absolution.  Pniuc-rly  calli  d  a  lici  nsi  •  i„  sin. 

bishops.  &c,  wore  to  pay,  according  to  the  regulation,  fjr  an  ordi- 
nary indulgence, twenty-five  ducats ;  abbots, counts,  barons,  &c,  ten. 
The  other  nobles,  superiors,  and  all  who  had  an  annual  income  of 
500  florins,  were  to- pay  six.  Those  who  had  an  income  of  200  flo- 
rins, one;  the  rest,  half  a  florin.  And,  further,  if  this  scale  could 
not  in  every  instance  be  obs  irv  d,  full  power  was  given  to  the  apos- 
tolic commissary,  and  the  Nvhole  might  be  arranged  according  to 
the  dictates  of  sound  reason,  and  the  generosity  of  the  giver.  For 
particular  sins  Tetzel  had  a  private  scale.  Polygamy  cost  six  du- 
cats ;  sacrilege  and  perjury,  nine  ducats  ;  murder,  e  ght ;  witchcraft, 
two.  Samson,  who  carried  on  in  Switzerland  the  same  traific  as 
Tetzel  in  Germany,  had  rather  a  different  scale.  He  charged  for 
infanticide,  four  livres  tournois  ;  for  a  parricide  or  fratricide,  one 
ducat. 

The  form  of  absolution  by  Tetzel  has  been  given  by  most  wri- 
ters on  the  Reformation,  from  Robertson  to  Merle,  and  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  have  mercy  on  thee,  N.  N.,  and 
absolve  thee  by  the  merits  of  his  most  holy  sufferings  !  And  I,  in 
virtue  of  the  apostolic  power  committed  to  me,  absolve  thee  from 
all  ecclesiastical  censures,  judgments,  and  penalties  that  thou  mayst 
have  merited;  and  further,  from  all  excesses,  sins,  and  crimes  that 
thou  mayst  have  committed,  however  great  and  en  irm  >us  they  may 
be,  and  of  whatever  kind, — even  though  they  should  be  reserv  id  to 
our  holy  father  the  Pope,  and  to  the  Apostolic  See.  I  efface  all  the 
stains  of  weakness,  and  all  traces  of  the  shame  that  thou  mayst 
have  drawn  upon  thyself  by  such  actions,  i"  remit  the  pains  thou 
wouldst  have  had  to  endure  in  purgatory.  I  receive  thee  again  to 
the  sacraments  of  the  Church.  I  hereby  re-incorporate  thee  in  the 
communion  of  the  saints,  and  restore  thee  to  the  innocence  and  pur- 
ity of  thy  baptism  ;  so  that,  at  the  moment  of  death,  the  gale  of  the 
place  of  torment  shall  be  shut  against  thee,  and  the  gate  of  the  par a- 
dis  •  of  joy  shall  be  opened  unto  thee.  Anil  if  thou  shouldst  live  long, 
this  grace  continucth  unchangeable,  till  the  time  of  thy  end.  In  the 
name  of  the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Amen. 
The  Brother,  John  Tetzel,  commissary,  hath  signed  this  with  his  own 

hand.''' 

§  77. — What  could  be  a  greater  indulgence  to  the  commission  of 
future  crimes  than  the  promise  contained  in  this  abominable  docu- 
ment, that  at  the  moment  of  death  the  place  of  punishment  should 
be  closed,  and  the  gate  of  Paradise  opened  to  the  purchaser  of  this 
popish  license  to  sin.  I  call  it  a  license  to  sin,  because  it  promised 
salvation  to  its  purchaser  irrespective  of  his  future  life.  Sometimes 
rood  sense  of  the  people  administered  a  cutting  rebuke  to  these 
popish  traffickers  in  sin.  The  following  two  instances  are  worth 
recording.  The  wife  of  a  shoemaker  at  Ilagenau,  profiting  by  the 
permission  given  in  the  instruction  of  the  Commissary-general,  had 
procured,  against  her  husband's  will,  a  letter  of  indulgence,  and  had 
paid  for  it  a  gold  florin.  Shortly  after  she  died  :  and  the  widower 
omitting  to  have  mass  said   for  the  repose  of  her  soul,  the  curate 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.   445 


Common  sense  rebuking  these  impostures.  Telzel  outwitted  and  beaten  with  his  own  weapons. 

charged  him  with  contempt  of  religion,  and  the  judge  of  Hagenau 
summoned  him  to  appear  before  him.  The  shoemaker  put  in  his 
poeket  his  wife's  indulgence,,  and  repaired  to  the  place  of  summons. 
'•Is  your  wife  dead?"  asked  the  judge. — "  Yes," answered  the  shoe- 
maker. — "What  have  you  done  with  her?" — "I  buried  her  and 
commended  her  soul  to  God." — "  But  have  you  had  a  mass  said  for 
the  salvation  of  her  soul  ?" — "  I  have  not : — it  was  not  necessary  : — 
she  went  to  heaven  in  the  moment  of  her  death." — "  How  do  you 
know  that?" — "Here  is  the  evidence  of  it."  The  widower  drew 
from  his  pocket  the  indulgence,  and  the  judge,  in  presence  of  the 
curate,  read,  in  so  many  words,  that  in  the  moment  of  death,  the 
woman  who  had  received  it  would  go,  not  into  purgatory,  but 
straight  into  heaven.  "If  the  curate  pretends  that  a  mass  is  neces- 
sary after  that,"  said  the  shoemaker,  "  my  wife  has  been  cheated  by 
our  Holy  Father  the  Pope  ;  but  if  she  has  not  been  cheated,  then  the 
curate  is  deceiving  me."  There  was  no  replying  to  this  defence,  and 
the  accused  was  acquitted.  It  was  thus  that  the  good  sense  of  the 
people  disposed  of  these  impostures. 

On  another  occasion  a  gentleman  of  Saxony  had  heard  Tetzel  at 
Leipsic,  and  was  much  shocked  by  his  impostures.  He  went  to 
the  monk,  and  inquired  if  he  was  authorized  to  pardon  sins  in  inten- 
tion, or  such  as  the  applicant  intended  to  commit  ?  "  Assuredly," 
answered  Tetzel ;  "  I  have  full  power  from  the  Pope  to  do  so." — 
M  Well,"  returned  the  gentleman,  "  I  want  to  take  some  slight  re- 
venge on  one  of  my  enemies,  without  attempting  his  life.  I  will 
pay  you  ten  crowns,  if  you  will  give  me  a  letter  of  indulgence  that 
shall  bear  me  harmless."  Tetzel  made  some  scruples  ;  they  struck 
their  bargain  for  thirty  crowns.  Shortly  after,  the  monk  set  out 
from  Leipsic.  The  gentleman,  attended  by  his  servants,  laid  wait 
for  him  in  a  wood  between  Juterboch  and  Treblin, — fell  upon  him, 
gave  him  a  beating,  and.  carried  off  the  rich  chest  of  indulgence- 
money  the  inquisitor  had  with  him.  Tetzel  clamored  against  this 
act  of  violence,  and  brought  an  action  before  the  judges.  But  the 
gentlemen  showed  the  letter  signed  by  Tetzel  himself,  which  ex- 
empted him  beforehand  from  all  responsibility.  Duke  George  who 
had  at  first  been  much  irritated  at  this  action,  upon  seeing  this  wri- 
ting, ordered  that  the  accused  should  be  acquitted. 

A  miner  of  Schneeberg  meeting  a  seller  of  indulgences,  in- 
quired :  "  Must  we  then  believe  what  you  have  often  said  of  the 
power  of  indulgences  and  of  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  and  think 
that  we  can  redeem  a  soul  from  purgatory  by  casting  a  penny  into 
the  chest?"  The  dealer  in  indulgences  affirmed  that  it  was  so. 
"  Ah !"  replied  the  miner,  "  what  a  cruel  man  the  Pope  must  be, 
thus  to  leave  a  poor  soul  to  suffer  so  long  in  the  flames  for  a  wretch- 
ed penny  !  If  he  has  no  ready  money,  let  him  collect  a  few  hun- 
dred thousand  crowns,  and  deliver  all  these  souls  by  one  act.  Even 
we  pr»or  folks  would  willingly  pay  him  the  principal  and  interest." 

§  78. — At  this  time,  Luther  was  performing  his  quiet  duties  as  an 
Augustin  monk.     He  was  full  of  respect  to  the   Pope,  and  as  he 


440  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Lnther  at  the  confessional.  His  the9es  against  indulgences. 

himself  says,  "so  steeped  in  the  Romish  doctrines,  that  I  would  wil- 
lingly hive  helped  to  kill  any  one  who  had  the  audacity  to  refuse 
the  smallest  act  of  obedience  to  the  Pope.  I  was  a  true  Saul,  like 
many  others  still  living."  But  at  the  same  time  his  heart  was  ready 
to  lake  fire  lor  what  he  thought  the  truth,  and  against  what,  in  his 
judgment/  was  error. 

One  day  Luther  was  at  confessional  in  Wittemberg.  Several 
residents  of  that  town  successively  presented  themselves  :  they  con- 
fessed themselves  guilty  of  great  irregularities,  adultery,  licentious- 
ness, usury,  unjust  gains  :  such  were  the  things  men  came  to  talk  of 
with  a  m  nister  of  God's  word,  who  must  one  day  give  an  account 
of  their  souls.  He  reproved,  rebuked,  and  instructed.  But  what 
was  his  astonishment,  when  these  persons  replied  that  they  did  not 
intend  to  abandon  their  sins !  The  pious  monk,  shocked  at  this, 
declared,  that  since  they  would  not  promise  to  change  their  habits 
of  life,  he  could  not  absolve  them.  Then  it  was  that  these  poor 
creatures  appealed  to  their  letters  of  indulgence  ;  they  showed  them, 
and  contended  for  their  efficacy.  But  Luther  replied,  that  he  had 
nothing  to  do  with  their  paper  ;  and  he  added,  "  If  you  do  not  turn 
from  the  evil  of  your  way,  you  will  all  perish."  They  exclaimed 
against  this,  and  renewed  their  application  ;  but  the  doctor  was  im- 
moveable. "  They  must  cease,"  he  said,  "to  do  evil,  and  learn  to 
do  well,  or  otherwise  no  absolution.  Have  a  care,"  added  he,  "  how 
you  give  ear  to  the  indulgences :  you  have  something  better  to  do 
than  to  buy  licenses  which  they  offer  to  you  for  paltry  pence." 

Much  alarmed,  these  inhabitants  of  Wittemberg  quickly  returned 
to  Tetzel,  and  told  him  that  an  Augustin  monk  treated  his  letters 
with  contempt.  Tetzel,  at  this,  bellowed  with  anger.  He  held  forth 
in  the  pulpit,  used  insulting  expressions  and  curses,  and,  to  strike 
the  people  with  more  terror,  he  had  a  fire  lighted  several  times  in 
the  grand  square,  and  declared  that  he  was  ordered  by  the  Pope 
to  burn  the  heretics  who  should  dare  to  oppose  his  most  holy  indul- 
gences. 

§  79. — The  first  courageous  step  was  taken  by  Luther,  on  the 
31st  of  October,  1517.  On  the  evening  of  that  day  he  went  boldly 
to  the  church,  toward  which  the  superstitious  crowds  of  pilgrims 
were  flocking,  and  affixed  to  the  door  ninety-five  theses  or  propo- 
sitions against  the  doctrine  of  indulgences,  which  he  declared  him- 
self ready  to  defend.  A  few  of  these  noble  protestations  against 
the  popish  abomination  of  indulgences  are  given,  as  specimens  of 
the  whole. 

"21.  The  commissioners  of  indulgences  are  in  error  in  saying 
that,  through  the  indulgence  of  the  Pope,  man  is  delivered  from  all 
punishment,  and  saved. 

••  27.  Those  persons  preach  human  inventions,  who  pretend  that, 
at  the  very  moment  when  the  money  sounds  in  the  strong  box,  the 
soul  escapes  from  purgatory. 

"28.  This  is  certain  :  that  as  soon  as  the  money  sounds,  avarice 
and  love  of  gain  come  in,  grow,  and  multiply.     But  the  assistance 


chap,  vi.]   POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  447 

Tetzel,  in  revenge,  publicly  burns  Luther's  theses,  at  Frankfort. 

and  prayers  of  the  church  depend  only  on  the  will  and  good  pleas- 
ure of  God. 

"  32.  Those  who  fancy  themselves  sure  of  their  salvation  by  in- 
dulgences, will  go  to  the  devil  with  those  who  teach  them  this  doctrine. 

"  36.  Every  Christian  who  feels  true  repentance  for  his  sins,  has 
perfect  remission  from  the  punishment  and  from  the  sin,  without  the 
need  of  indulgences. 

"  37.  Every  true  Christian,  dead  or  living,  is  a  partaker  of  all  the 
riches  of  Christ,  or  of  the  church,  by  the  gift  of  God,  and  without 
any  letter  of  indulgence. 

"  46.  We  must  teach  Christians,  that  if  they  have  no  superfluity, 
they  are  bound  to  keep  for  their  families  wherewith  to  procure  ne- 
cessaries, and  they  ought  not  to  waste  their  money  on  indulgences. 

"  50.  We  must  teach  Christians,  that  if  the  Pope  knew  the  exac- 
tions of  the  preachers  of  indulgences,  he  would  rather  that  the  metro- 
politan church  of  St.  Peter  were  burnt  to  ashes,  than  see  it  built  up 
with  the  skin,  the  flesh  and  bones  of  his  flock. 

"51.  We  must  teach  Christians,  that  the  Pope,  as  in  duty  bound, 
would  willingly  give  his  own  money,  though  it  should  be  necessary 
to  sell  the  metropolitan  church  of  St.  Peter  for  the  purpose,  to  the 
poor  people,  whom  the  preachers  of  indulgences  now  rob  of  their 
last  penny. 

"  52.  To  hope  to  be  saved  by  indulgences  is  to  hope  in  lies  and 
vanity ;  even  although  the  commissioner  of  indulgences,  nay,  though 
even  the  Pope  himself  should  pledge  his  own  soul  in  attestation  of 
their  efficacy. 

§  80. — Tetzel,  in  reply  to  the  theses  of  Luther,  and  out  of  revenge 
for  his  miserable  defeat,  when  endeavoring  to  defend  some  theses  of 
his  own,  in  opposition  to  Luther's,  then  had  recourse  to  the  ultima 
ratio  of  Rome  and  its  inquisitors, — the  fire.  He  set  up  a  pulpit  and 
a  scaffold  in  one  of  the  suburbs  of  Frankfort.  He  went  thither  in 
solemn  procession,  arrayed  in  the  insignia  of  an  inquisitor  of  the 
faith.  He  inveighed,  in  his  most  furious  manner,  from  the  pulpit. 
He  hurled  his  thunders  with  an  unsparing  hand,  and  loudly  exclaim- 
ed, that  "the  heretic  Luther  ought  to  be  burned  alive."  Then 
placing  the  Doctor's  propositions  and  sermon  on  the  scaffold,  he 
set  fire  to  them.  He  showed  greater  dexterity  in  this  operation 
than  he  had  displayed  in  defending  his  theses.  Here  there  were  none 
to  oppose  him,  and  his  victory  was  complete.  The  arrogant  Domini- 
can re-entered  Frankfort  in  triumph.  When  parties  accustomed  to 
power  have  sustained  defeat,  they  have  recourse  to  certain  shows 
and  semblances,  which  must  be  allowed  them  as  a  consolation  for 
their  disgrace. 

Tetzel,  after  this  auto-da-fe  of  the  theses  of  Luther,  hastened  to 
send  his  own  theses  in  defence  of  indulgences,  to  Saxony.  They  will 
serve,  thought  he,  as  an  antidote  to  those  of  Luther.  A  man  was 
dispatched  by  the  inquisitor  from  Alle  to  distribute  his  proposi- 
tions at  Wittemberg.  The  students  of  that  university,  indignant 
that  Tetzel  should  have  burned  the  theses  of  their  master,  no  sooner 


448  HISTORY  OP  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

The  students  of  Wittemberg  burn  Tetzel's  thes«e.  Luther's  explanations,  called  solutions 

heard  of  the  arrival  of  his  messenger,  than  they  surrounded  him  in 
troops,  inquiring  in  threatening  tones  how  he  had  dared  to  bring 
such  things  thither.  Some  of  them  purchased  a  portion  of  the 
copies  he  had  brought  with  him  ;  others  seized  on  the  remainder ; 
thus  getting  possession  of  his  whole  stock,  which  amounted  to  eight 
hundred  copies ;  then,  unknown  to  the  Elector,  the  senate,  the 
rector,  Luther,  and  all  the  professors,  the  students  of  Wittemberg 
posted  bills  on  the  gates  of  the  university,  bearing  these  words : 
*•  Whosoever  desires  to  be  present  at  the  burning  and  obsequies  of 
the  theses  of  Tetzel,  let  him  repair  at  two  o'clock  to  the  market- 
place." They  assembled  in  crowds  at  the  hour  appointed ;  and, 
amid  the  acclamations  of  the  multitude,  committed  the  propositions 
of  the  Dominican  to  the  flames.  One  copy  was  saved  from  the  fire. 
Luther  afterward  sent  it  to  his  friend  Lange,  of  Erfurth.  The 
young  students  acted  on  the  precept  of  them  of  old  time,  "  an  eye 
for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,1'  and  not  on  that  of  Christ.  But 
when  doctors  and  professors  had  set  such  an  example  at  Frankfort, 
can  we  wonder  that  young  students  should  follow  it  at  Wittemberg  ? 

§  81. — In  the  meantime,  pope  Leo,  at  Rome,  reclining  upon  the 
lap  of  sensuality  and  indolence,  cheered  by  the  beams  of  prosperity, 
and  lulled  by  the  echoes  of  parasitical  adulation  into  luxurious  re- 
pose, took  no  notice  of  the  progress  of  opinion  in  Germany.  He 
expected  that  the  contentions  which  had  arisen,  would  cease  of 
themselves,  and  like  a  few  bubbles  on  the  surface  of  a  stream,  pro- 
duced by  some  temporary  and  slight  agitation  of  the  waters,  would 
gradually,  and  without  any  interference,  disappear.  When  Prierio. 
master  of  the  apostolic  palace,  at  Rome,  referred  to  the  heresies  of 
Luther,  he  replied,  ;  Che  fra  Martino  aveva  un  bellissimo  ingegno, 
et  che  coste  erano  invidie  fratesche?  u  Martin  is  a  man  of  talents, 
but  these  are  only  the  squabbles  of  monks." 

Luther  had  not  yet  broken  his  allegiance  to  the  Pope.  He  spoke 
of  Leo  with  respect,  and  gave  him  credit  for  justice  and  a  love  of 
truth.  He  proceeded  to  prepare  explanations  of  his  theses  on  in- 
dulgences, which  were  written  with  moderation,  and  called  solutions. 
He  endeavored  to  soften  the  passages  that  had  occasioned  irritation, 
and  evinced  a  genuine  modesty.  But,  at  the  same  time,  he  mani- 
fested an  immovable  conviction,  and  courageously  defended  every 
proposition  that  truth  obliged  him  to  maintain.  He  repeated  once 
more,  that  every  Christian  who  truly  repented  had  remission  of  sins 
without  any  indulgence ;  that  the  Pope  had  no  more  power  than 
the  lowest  priest,  to  do  anything  beyond  simply  declaring  the  for- 
giveness that  God  had  already  granted  ;  that  the  treasury  of  the 
merits  of  saints,  administered  by  the  Pope,  teas  a  pure  fiction : 
and  that  holy  Scripture  was  the  sole  rule  of  faith.  "  It  is  impos- 
sible," says  Luther,  "  for  a  man  to  be  a  Christian,  without  having 
Christ ;  and  if  he  has  Christ,  he  has,  at  the  same  time,  all  that  is  in 
Christ.  What  gives  peace  to  the  conscience  is  that,  by  faith,  our 
sins  are  no  more  ours,  but  Christ's  upon  whom  God  hath  laid  them 
all ;  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  all  Christ's  righteousness  is  ours, 


chaf.  vi.]   POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1515.  449 

Sends  his  solutions  to  Leo  X.  His  respectful  letter  to  the  Pop*. 

to  whom  God  hath  given  it.  Christ  lays  his  hand  upon  us,  and  we 
are  healed.  He  casts  his  mantle  upon  us,  and  we  are  clothed  ;  i'or 
he  is  the  glorious  Saviour,  blessed  for  ever."  With  such  views  of 
the  riches  of  salvation  by  Christ,  there  could  no  longer  be  any  need 
of  indulgences. 

When  these  solutions  were  finished,  Luther  caused  a  copy  of 
them  to  be  forwarded  to  the  Pope. — "  I  beg  of  you,"  said  he  to  his 
friend  Staupitz,  vicar  general  of  the  Augustin  order, "  to  receive 
with  favor  the  poor  productions  that  I  send  you,  and  to  forward 
them  to  the  excellent  pope  Leo  X.  Not  that  I  mean  by  this  to 
draw  you  into  the  peril  in  which  I  stand  ;  I  am  resolved  myself  to 
incur  the  whole  danger.  Christ  will  look  to  it,  and  make  it  appear  < 
whether  what  I  have  said  comes  from  him  or  myself, — Christ,  with- 
out whom  the  Pope's  tongue  cannot  move,  nor  the  hearts  of  kings 
decree.  As  for  those  who  threaten  me,  I  have  no  answer  for  them 
but  the  saying  of  Reuchlin :  '  The  poor  man  has  nothing  to  fear,  for 
he  has  nothing  to  lose.'  I  have  neither  money  nor  estate,  and  I 
desire  none.  If  I  have  sometimes  tasted  of  honor  and  good  report, 
may  He  who  has  begun  to  strip  me  of  them,  finish  his  work.  All 
that  is  left  me  is  this  wretched  body,  enfeebled  by  many  trials ;  let 
them  kill  it  by  violence  or  fraud,  so  it  be  to  the  glory  of  God  ;  by  so 
doing  they  will  but  shorten  the  term  of  life  by  a  few  hours.  It  is 
sufficient  for  me  that  1  have  a  precious  Redeemer,  a  powerful  High 
Priest,  my  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  will  praise  him  as  long  as  I  have 
breath.  If  another  will  not  join  me  in  praising  him,  what  is  that  to 
me?" 

§  82. — On  the  13th  of  May,  1518,  Luther  addressed  a  letter  to 
pope  Leo,  of  which  the  following  are  extracts :  "  To  the  most  blessed 
Father,  pope  Leo  X.,  Supreme  Bishop, — brother  Martin  Luther,  an 
Augustin,  wishes  eternal  salvation  !  .  .  .  I  hear,  most  holy  father, 
that  evil  reports  circulate  concerning  me,  and  that  my  name  is  in 
bad  odor  with  your  Holiness.  I  am  called  a  heretic,  an  apostate,  a 
traitor,  and  a  thousand  other  reproachful  names.  What  I  see  sur- 
prises me,  and  what  I  hear  alarms  me.  But  the  sole  foundation  of 
my  tranquillity  remains  unmoved,  being  a  pure  and  quiet  conscience. 
O,  holy  father !  deign  to  hearken  to  me,  who  am  but  a  child,  and 
need  instruction."  Luther  then  relates  the  affair  from  the  beginning, 
and  thus  proceeds :  "  Nothing  was  heard  in  all  the  taverns,  but 
complaints  of  the  avarice  of  the  priests,  attacks  on  the  power  of 
the  keys,  and  of  the  supreme  bishop.  I  call  all  Germany  to  witness. 
When  I  heard  these  things,  my  zeal  was  aroused  for  the  glory  of 
Christ, — if  I  understand  my  own  heart ;  or  if  another  construction 
is  to  be  put  on  my  conduct, — my  young  and  warm  blood  was  in- 
flamed. ...  I  represented  the  matter  to  certain  princes  of  the  church, 
but  some  laughed  at  me,  and  others  turned  a  deaf  ear.  The  awe 
of  your  name  seemed  to  have  made  all  motionless.  Thereupon  I 
published  this  dispute.  .  .  .  This,  then,  holy  father,  this  is  the  action 
which  has  been  said  to  have  set  the  whole  world  in  a  flame !  .  .  . 
And  now  what  am  I  to  do  ?  I  cannot  retract  what  I  have  said,  and  I 


450  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  v:. 


Bold  expressions  of  Luther,  in  his  solutions,  u  itli  respect  to  the  degree  of  r  gard  due  to  the  Pope. 


sec  that  this  publication  draws  down  on  me,  from  all  sides,  an  inex- 
pressible  hatred.  I  have  no  wish  to  appear  in  the  great  world,  for 
1  am  unlearned,  of  small  wit,  and  far  too  inconsiderable  for  such 
irreat  matters,  more  especially  in  this  illustrious  age,  when  Cicero 
himself,  if  he  were  living,  would  be  constrained  to  hide  himself  in 
some  dark  corner.  .  .  .  But  in  order  to  appease  my  enemies  and 
satisfy  the  desires  of  many  friends,  I  here  publish  my  thoughts.  I 
publish  them,  holy  father,  that  I  may  dwell  the  more  safely  under 
vour  protection.  All  those  who  desire  it  may  here  see  with  what 
simplicity  of  heart  I  have  petitioned  the  supreme  authority  of  the 
church  to  instruct  me,  and  what  respect  I  have  manifested  fqr  the 
power  of  the  keys.  If  I  had  not  acted  with  propriety,  it  would 
have  been  impossible  that  the  serene  Lord  Frederick,  duke  and 
elector  of  Saxony,  who  shines  foremost  among  the  friends  of  the 
apostolic  and  Christian  truth,  should  have  endured  that  one,  so 
dangerous  as  I  am  asserted  to  be,  should  continue  in  his  university 
of  Wittemberg.  .  .  .  Therefore,  most  holy  father,  I  throw  myself 
at  the  feet  of  your  holiness,  and  submit  myself  to  you,  writh  all  that 
I  have,  and  all  that  I  am.  Destroy  my  cause,  or  espouse  it :  pro- 
nounce either  for  or  against  me ;  take  my  life,  or  restore  it,  as  you 
please  ;  1  will  receive  your  voice  as  that  of  Christ  himself,  who  pre- 
sides and  speaks  through  you.  If  I  have  deserved  death,  I  refuse 
not  to  die  ;  the  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  all  that  therein  is.  May  He 
be  praised  for  ever  and  ever.  May  He  maintain  you  to  all  eternity. 
Amen. 

"Signed  the  day  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  in  the  year  1518.  Brother 
Martin  Luther,  Augustin.  " 

In  this  letter  what  admirable  humility  and  sincerity  are  evident ! 
Yet  by  his  expressions  of  deference  to  the  Pope,  he  meant  not  to 
sacrifice  one  iota  of  the  truth.  He  was  willing  to  be  instructed,  to 
be  convinced,  if  possible,  but  he  could  not,  he  would  not  re- 
nounce it.  In  the  very  solutions,  to  which  he  called  the  attention 
of  Leo,  were  these  bold  words :  u  I  care  little  what  pleases  or  dis- 
pleases the  Pope.  He  is  a  man  like  other  men.  There  have  been 
many  popes  who  have  not  only  taken  up  with  errors  and  vices,  but 
things  yet  more  extraordinary.  I  listen  to  the  Pope  as  pope,  that  is, 
when  he  speaks  in  the  canons,  agreeably  to  the  canons,  or  regulates 
any  matter  conjointly  with  a  council, — but  not  when  he  speaks  of 
his  own  mind.  If  I  acted  on  any  other  rule,  might  I  not  be  required 
to  say,  with  those  who  know  not  Jesus  Christ,  that  the  horrible  mas- 
sacres of  Christians,  by  which  Julius  II.  was  stained,  were  the  good 
deeds  of  a  kind  shepherd  of  the  Lord's  sheep  ?" 


451 


CHAPTER  VII. 

LUTHER  AND  CAJETAN. THE  NOBLE  CONSTANCY  OF  THE  REFORMER. 

§  83. — Leo  X.,  roused  at  length  by  the  outcry  of  the  theologians 
and  monks,  now  appointed  an  ecclesiastical  court  in  Rome,  for  the 
purpose  of  judging  Luther,  and  in  which  the  reformer's  great 
enemy,  Sylvester  Prierias,  was  at  once  accuser  and  judge.  The 
preliminaries  were  soon  arranged,  and  the  court  summoned  Luther 
to  appear  before  it  in  person  within  sixty  days.  Luther  was  at 
Wittemberg,  quietly  awaiting  the  good  effects  which  he  imagined 
his  submissive  letter  to  the  Pope  was  calculated  to  produce,  when, 
on  the  7th  August,  two  days  only  after  the  letters  from  Frederick  and 
Maximilian  had  been  dispatched  to  Rome,  he  received  the  summons 
from  the  papal  tribunal.  "  At  the  moment  that  I  looked  for  bene- 
diction," said  he,  "  I  saw  the  thunderbolt  descend  upon  me.  I  was 
like  the  lamb  that  troubled  the  stream  at  which  the  wolf  was  drink- 
ing.    Tetzel  escaped,  and  I  was  devoured." 

The  Elector  and  the  members  of  the  University  at  Wittem- 
berg, protested  against  Luther  going  to  Rome,  and  the  Pope  at 
length  consented  that  his  cause  should  be  heard  in  Germany,  and  on 
the  23d  of  August,  1518,  cardinal  Cajetan  de  Vio  received  his 
commission  as  the  Pope's  legate  to  reduce  Luther  to  submission. 
In  Leo's  instructions  to  Cajetan,  he  says,  "  We  charge  you  to  com- 
pel the  aforesaid  Luther  to  appear  before  you  in  person  ;  to  prose- 
cute and  reduce  him  to  submission  without  delay,  as  soon  as  you 
shall  have  received  this  our  order  ;  he  having  already  been  declared 
a  heretic  by  our  dear  brother  Jerome,  Bishop  of  Asculan.  For 
this  purpose  invoke  the  power  and  assistance  of  our  very  dear  son 
in  Christ,  Maximilian,  and  the  other  princes  of  Germany,  and  of  all 
the  communities,  universities,  and  potentates,  whether  ecclesiastical 
or  secular.  And  when  you  have  secured  his  person,  cause  him  to 
be  detained  in  safe  custody,  that  he  may  be  brought  before  us.  If 
he  should  return  to  a  sense  of  his  duty,  and  ask  pardon  for  so  great 
an  offence,  freely  and  of  his  own  accord,  we  give  you  power  to  re- 
ceive him  into  the  unity  of  holy  mother  church.  If  you  fail  to 
get  possession  of  his  person,  we  give  you  power  to  proscribe  him 
in  all  places  in  Germany  ;  to  put  away,  curse,  and  excommunicate 
all  those  who  are  attached  to  him,  and  to  enjoin  all  Christians  to 
shun  their  society.  And  to  the  end  that  this  pestilence  may  the 
more  easily  be  rooted  out,  you  will  excommunicate  all  the  prelates, 
religious  orders,  universities,  communities,  counts,  dukes  and  poten- 
tates, the  emperor  Maximilian  excepted,  who  shall  neglect  to  seize 
the  said  Martin  Luther,  and  his  adherents,  and  send  them  to  you  un- 
der proper  and  safe  custody.  And  if  (which  God  forbid)  the  afore- 
said princes,  communities,  universities,  and  potentates,  or  any  who 
belong  to  them,  shelter  the  said  Martin  and  his  adherents,  or  give 
27 


452  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vt. 


The  Pope's  flattering  letter  to  the  Elector,  to  induce  him  to  withdraw  his  protection  from  Luther. 


them  publicly  or  secretly,  directly  or  indirectly,  assistance  and  ad- 
vice, we  lay  an  interdict  on  these  princes,  communities,  universities 
and  potentates,  with  their  towns,  boroughs,  countries,  and  villages  : 
as  well  as  on  the  towns,  boroughs,  countries,  and  villages,  where 
the  said  Martin  shall  take  refuge,  as  long  as  he  shall  remain  there. 
and  three  days  after  he  shall  have  quitted  the  same." 

§  84. — While  Rome  was  thus  arming  the  Legate  with  her  thun- 
ders, she  was  endeavoring,  by  soft  and  flattering  speeches,  to  detach 
from  Luther's  interest  the  prince  whose  power  she  most  dreaded. 
The  same  day  (the  23d  of  August,  1518),  the  Pope  wrote  to  the 
elector  of  Saxony.  He  had  recourse  to  the  practised  policy  of 
Rome  with  powerful  princes,  and  sought  to  flatter  the  prince's 
vanity.  •' Dear  Son,"  said  the  Roman  Pontiff,  "when  we  think  of 
your  "noble  and  worthy  family  ;  of  you  who  are  its  ornament  and 
head ;  when  we  remember  how  you  and  your  ancestors  have  al- 
ways wished  to  uphold  the  Christian  faith  and  the  honor  and  digni- 
ty of  the  Holy  See,  we  cannot  believe  that  a  man  who  abandons 
the  faith  can  rely  on  your  highness's  favor,  and  recklessly  give  the 
rein  to  his  wickedness.  And  yet  reports  have  reached  us  from  all 
quarters,  that  a  certain  brother  Martin  Luther,  a  monk  of  the  order 
of  St.  Augustine,  acting  the  part  of  a  child  of  iniquity  and  a  de- 
spiser  of  God,  has  forgotten  his  habit  and  his  order,  which  require 
humility  and  obedience,  and  boasts  that  he  fears  neither  the  authori- 
ty nor  the  chastisement  of  any  man,  assured,  as  he  declares  himself, 
of  your  favor  and  protection.  But,  as  we  are  sure  that  he  is,  in 
this,  deceiving  himself,  we  have  thought  it  good  to  write  to  your 
Highness,  and  to  exhort  you,  according  to  the  will  of  God,  to  be 
jealous  of  your  honor  as  a  Christian  prince,  the  ornament,  the  glory, 
and  the  sweet  savor  of  your  noble  family, — to  defend  yourself  from 
these  calumnies, — and  to  clear  yourself,  not  only  from  the  commis- 
sion of  so  great  a  crime  as  that  which  is  imputed  to  you,  but  also 
from  the  very  suspicion  which  the  rash  presumption  of  this  monk 
tends  to  bring  upon  you." 

Before  this  letter  of  the  Pope  had  yet  reached  Germany,  and  while 
Luther  was  still  fearing  that  he  should  be  obliged  to  appear  at  Rome, 
a  fortunate  circumstance  occurred  to  comfort  his  heart.  He  needed 
a  friend  into  whose  bosom  he  could  pour  out  his  sorrows,  and  whose 
faithful  love  should  comfort  him  in  his  hours  of  dejection.  God  sent 
him  such  a  friend  in  Melancthon,  who,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty- 
one,  arrived  at  Wittemberg  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  his  professor- 
ship, on  the  25th  of  August,  just  two  days  after  the  Pope  had  signed 
the  brief  institutions  to  cardinal  Cajetan,  and  the  letter  to  the  elec- 
tor of  Saxony. 

§  85. — The  order  for  Luther's  appearance  at  Augsburg,  before  the 
( 'ardinal  legate,  at  length  arrived.  It  was  now  with  one  of  the  prin- 
ces of  the  Roman  Church  that  Luther  had  to  do.  All  his  friends  be- 
sought him  not  to  set  out.  They  feared  that  a  snare  might  be  laid 
for  him  on  his  journey,  or  a  design  formed  against  his  life.  Some 
set  about  finding  a  place  of  concealment  for  him,  and  others  from 


chap,  vn.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  453 


Luther  goes  to  Augsburg  to  appear  before  the  Pope's  legate,  Cardinal  Cajetaa. 

different  quarters  gave  him  the  most  alarming  information.  Count 
Albert  of  Mansfeldt  sent  him  a  message  to  abstain  from  set- 
ting out,  because  some  great  nobles  had  bound  themselves  by  an 
oath,  to  seize  and  strangle,  or  drown  him.  But  nothing  could  shake 
his  resolution.  Everywhere,  in  the  history  of  Luther,  and  of  the  re- 
formation, do  we  find  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  that  intrepid  spirit, 
that  elevated  morality,  that  boundless  charity,  which  the  first  estab- 
lishment of  Christianity  had  exhibited  to  the  world.  "  I  am  like 
Jeremiah,"  said  Luther,  at  the  moment  we  are  speaking  of, — " '  a 
man  of  strife  and  contention ;'  but  the  more  they  increase  their 
threatenings,  the  more  they  multiply  my  joy.  My  wife  and 
children  are  well  provided  for.  My  lands  and  houses  and  all  my 
goods  are  safe.  They  have  already  torn  to  pieces  my  honor  and 
my  good  name.  All  I  have  left  is  my  wretched  body; — let  them 
have  it ; — they  will  then  shorten  my  life  by  a  few  hours.  But  as  to 
my  soul, — they  shall  not  have  that.  He,  who  resolves  to  bear  the 
word  of  Christ  to  the  world,  must  expect  death  at  every  hour." 

In  accordance  with  this  self-sacrificing  spirit,  Luther  set  out  on 
foot,  on  his  perilous  journey  to  Augsburg,  accompanied  by  two  faith- 
ful friends,  Link  and  Leonard,  and  arrived  at  the  monastery  of  the 
Augustins  in  that  city,  on  the  7th  of  October.  On  the  following  day, 
a  crafty  Italian  courtier  named  Serra  Longa,  paid  Luther  a  visit,  to 
persuade  the  reformer  to  submission,  or  to  prepare  him  for  his  inter- 
view with  the  Cardinal  legate.  The  instructions  given  to  Luther 
by  this  courtier  of  Rome  are  curious.  "  Remember,"  said  he,  "  that 
you  are  to  appear  before  a  prince  of  the  church  !  I  will  myself, 
conduct  you  to  him.  But  first  let  me  tell  you  how  you  must  appear 
■in  his  presence.  When  you  enter  the  room  where  he  is  sitting,  you 
must  prostrate  yourself  with  your  face  to  the  ground :  when  he 
tells  you  to  rise,  you  must  kneel  before  him.  and  you  must  not  stand 
erect  till  he  orders  you  to  do  so." 

§  86. — Luther  had  neglected  to  provide  himself  with  a  safe-conduct. 
His  friends  advised  him,  by  no  means  to  appear  before  the  Le- 
gate without  one,  as  he  would  then  be  at  the  mercy  of  Cajetan. 
But  should  he  obtain  such  a  document,  the  Legate  could  not  im- 
prison or  harm  him,  without  persuading  the  emperor  Maximilian  to 
violate  his  faith.  They  took  upon  themselves  the  task  of  obtaining 
the  necessary  safe-conduct  from  the  Emperor.  Cajetan's  plan  was.  no 
doubt,  to  compel  Luther,  if  possible,  to  retract ;  and  if  he  failed  in 
that,  to  secure  his  person,  and  have  him  conveyed  to  Rome,  where 
he  would  doubtless  have  shared  the  fate  of  Huss  and  of  Jerome. 
Hence  he  was  in  hopes  that  Luther  would  apply  for  no  safe-con- 
duct, but  entrust  himself  entirely  to  his  mercy. 

Serra  Longa  offered  to  accompany  Luther  before  the  Leo-ate, 
but  the  reformer  told  him  of  the  advice  of  his  Augsburg  friends  to 
procure  a  safe-conduct.  "  Beware  of  asking  anything  of  the  sort," 
replied  Serra  Longa  quickly,  "  you  have  no  need  of  it  whatever. 
The  Legate  is  well  disposed  toward  you,  and  quite  ready  to  end 
the  affair  amicably.     If  you  ask  for  a  safe-conduct,  you  will  spoil 


454  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Fruitless  efforts  of  the  papists  to  persuade  Luther  to  trust  himself  without  a  safe  conduct. 


all."  "  My  gracious  lord,  the  elector  of  Saxony,"  replied  Luther, 
"  recommended  me  to  several  honorable  men  in  this  town.  They 
advise  me  not  to  venture  without  a  safe-conduct:  I  ought  to 
follow  their  advice.  Were  I  to  neglect  it,  and  anything  should  be- 
fall me,  they  would  write  to  the  Elector,  my  master,  that  I  would 
not  hearken  to  them."  Luther  persisted  in  his  resolution  ;  and 
Serra  Longa  was  obliged  to  return  to  his  employer,  and  report 
to  him  the  failure  of  his  mission,  at  the  very  moment  when  he  fan- 
cied it  would  be  crowned  with  success. 

The  agents  of  the  Cardinal,  who  was  exceedingly  desirous  to 
rret  Luther  into  his  power  w  thout  a  safe-conduct,  soon  renewed 
their  importunities.  "  The  Cardinal,"  said  they,  "  sends  you  assur- 
ances of  his  grace  and  favor  :  why  are  you  afraid  ?"  And  they 
endeavored  by  every  possible  argument  to  persuade  him  to  wait 
upon  the  Legate.  "  He  is  so  gracious,  that  he  is  like  a  father," 
said  one  of  these  emissaries.  But  another,  going  close  up  to  him, 
whispered,  "  Do  not  believe  what  they  say.  There  is  no  depend- 
ence to  be  placed  upon  his  words."  Luther  persisted  in  his  resolu- 
tion. On  the  morning  of  Monday,  the  10th  of  October,  Serra 
Longa  again  renewed  his  persuasions.  The  courtier  had  made 
it  a  point  of  honor  to  succeed  in  his  negotiations.  The  moment  he 
entered,  he  asked  in  Latin,  "  Why  do  you  not  go  to  the  Cardinal  ? 
He  is  expecting  you  in  the  most  indulgent  frame  of  mind.  With 
him  the  whole  question  is  summed  up  in  six  letters — Revoca — re- 
tract.    Come,  then,  with  me  ;  you  have  nothing  to  fear." 

Luther  thought  within  himself  that  those  were  six  very  im- 
portant letters  :  but.  without  further  discussion,  he  replied,  "  As 
soon  as  I  have  received  the  safe-conduct  I  will  appear."  Serra 
Longa  lost  his  temper  at  these  words.  He  persisted — he  brought 
forward  additional  reasons  for  compliance.  But  Luther  was  im- 
movable. The  Italian  courtier,  still  irritated,  exclaimed,  "  You 
imagine,  no  doubt,  that  the  Elector  will  take  up  arms  in  your  favor, 
and  risk,  for  your  sake,  the  loss  of  the  dominions  he  inherits  from 
his  ancestors."  "  God  forbid  !  "  replied  Luther.  "  When  all  for- 
sake you,"  asked  the  Italian,  "  where  will  you  then  take  refuge  ?" 
"  Where  ?"  said  Luther,  smiling  and  looking  upwards  with  the  eye 
of  faith,  "  Under  heaven  !"  Serra  Longa  was  struck  dumb  by 
this  sublime  and  unexpected  reply ;  he  soon  left  the  house,  leaped 
into  his  saddle  and  visited  Luther  no  more. 

§  87. — Having  soon  after  obtained  his  safe-conduct,  Luther  appear- 
ed before  the  Legate.  On  entering  the  room  where  the  Cardinal  was 
waiting  for  him,  Luther  found  him  accompanied  by  the  apostolical 
nuncio  and  Serra  Longa.  His  reception  was  cool,  but  civil :  and, 
according  to  Roman  etiquette,  Luther,  following  the  instructions 
of  Serra  Longa,  prostrated  himself  before  the  Cardinal  ;  when  the 
latter  told  him  to  rise,  he  knelt ;  and  when  the  command  was  re- 
peated, he  stood  erect.  Several  of  the  most  distinguished  Italians 
of  the  Legate's  household  entered  the  room,  in  order  to  be  present 
at  the  interview,  impatient  to  see  the  German  monk  humble  him- 


CHAP,  vii.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1645.  455 


Luther's  first  appearance  before  the  Cardinal  Legate. 


self  before  the  Pope's  representative.  The  Legate  was  silent. 
He  expected,  says  a  contemporary,  that  Luther  would  begin  his 
recantation.  But  Luther  waited  reverently  for  the  Roman  Prince 
to  address  him.  Finding,  however,  that  he  did  not  open  his  lips,  he 
understood  his  silence  as  an  invitation  to  open  the  business,  and 
spoke  as  follows  : — "  Most  worthy  father,  upon  the  summons  of 
his  Holiness  the  Pope,  and  at  the  desire  of  my  gracious  Lord,  the 
elector  of  Saxony,  I  appear  before  you,  as  an  humble  and  obedient 
son  of  the  Holy  Christian  Church;  and  I  acknowledge  that  it  was 
I  who  published  the  propositions  and  theses  that  are  the  subject  of 
inquiry.  I  am  ready  to  listen  with  all  submission  to  the  charges 
brought  against  me,  and,  if  I  am  in  error,  to  be  instructed  in  the 
truth." 

The  Cardinal,  who  had  determined  to  assume  the  tone  of  a 
kind  and  compassionate  father  towards  an  erring  child,  answered 
in  the  most  friendly  manner,  commended  Luther's  humility,  and  ex- 
pressed the  joy  he  felt  on  beholding  it,  saying : — "  My  dear  son, 
you  have  filled  all  Germany  with  commotion  by  your  dispute 
concerning  indulgences.  i"  hear  that  you  are  a  doctor  well 
skilled  in  the  Scriptures,  and  that  you  have  many  followers  ; 
if,  therefore,  you  wish  to  be  a  member  of  the  church,  and  to 
have  in  the  Pope  a  most  gracious  lord  ; — listen  to  me."  After 
this  exordium,  the  Legate  did  not  hesitate  to  tell  him  all  that  he  ex- 
pected of  him,  so  confident  was  he  of  his  submission  :  "  Here," 
said  he,  "  are  three  articles  which,  acting  under  the  direction  of  our 
most  holy  Father,  pope  Leo  X.,  I  am  to  propose  to  you: — 
First,  you  must  return  to  your  duty  ;  you  must  acknowledge  your 
faults,  and  retract  your  errors,  your  propositions,  and  sermons. 
Secondly,  you  must  promise  to  abstain  for  the  future  from  propa- 
gating your  opinions.  And,  thirdly,  you  must  engage  to  be  more 
discreet,  and  avoid  everything  that  may  grieve  or  disturb  the 
church."  "  Most  worthy  father,"  replied  Luther,  "  I  request  to  be 
permitted  to  see  the  Pope's  brief,  by  virtue  of  which  you  have  re- 
ceived full  power  to  negotiate  this  affair." 

§  88. — Serra  Longa  and  the  rest  of  the  Italians  of  the  Cardinal's 
train  were  struck  with  astonishment  at  such  a  demand,  and  al- 
though the  German  monk  had  already  appeared  to  them  a  strange 
phenomenon,  they  were  completely  disconcerted  at  so  bold  a  speech. 
Christians  familiar  with  the  principles  of  justice  desire  to  see  them 
adhered  to  hi  proceedings  against  others  or  themselves  ;  but  those 
who  are  accustomed  to  act  according  to  their  own  will  are  much 
surprised  when  required  to  proceed  regularly  and  agreeably  to 
form  and  law.  "  Your  demand,  my  son,"  replied  Cajetan,  "  cannot 
be  complied  with.  You  have  to  acknowledge  your  errors  ;  to  be 
careful  for  the  future  what  you  teach  ;  not  to  return  to  your  vomit ; 
so  that  you  may  rest  without  care  and  anxiety  ;  and  then,  acting 
by  the  command  and  on  the  authority  of  our  most  holy  father  the 
Pope,  I  will  adjust  the  whole  affair."  "  Deign  then,"  said  Luther, 
"  to  inform  me  wherein  I  have  erred." 


45G  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Points  which  the  Legate  required  Luther  to  yield. 


At  this  request,  the  Italian  courtiers,  who  had  expected  to  see 
the  poor  German  fall  upon  his  knees  and  implore  mercy,  were 
st ill  more  astonished  than  before.  Not  one  of  them  would  have 
condescended  to  answer  so  impertinent  a  question.  But  the  Legate, 
who  thought  it  scarcely  generous  to  crush  this  feeble  monk  by  the 
weight  of  all  his  authority,  and  trusted,  moreover,  to  his  own  learn- 
ing for  obtaining  an  easy  victory,  consented  to  tell  Luther  what  he 
was  accused  of,  and  said  : — "  My  beloved  son  !  there  are  two  pro- 
positions put  forward  by  you,  which  you  must,  before  all,  retract : 
1st, '  The  treasure  of  indulgences  does  not  consist  of  the  merits 
and  sufferings  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; — 2dly,  the  man  who  re- 
ceives the  holy  sacrament  must  have  faith  in  the  grace  offered  to 
him.' " 

Both  these  propositions  did  indeed  strike  a  death-blow  at  the 
commerce  of  Rome.  If  the  Pope  had  not  power  to  dispose  at 
will  of  the  Saviour's  merits, — if,  on  receiving  the  paper  in  which 
the  brokers  of  the  church  traded,  men  did  not  acquire  a  portion  of 
that  infinite  righteousness, — this  paper  currency  lost  its  value,  and 
men  would  count  it  no  better  than  a  mere  rag.  And  thus  also 
with  the  sacraments.  The  indulgences  were,  in  some  sense,  an 
extraordinary  branch  of  commerce  with  Rome ;  the  sacraments 
made  part  of  her  ordinary  traffic.  The  revenue  they  yielded  was 
by  no  means  small.  But  to  assert  that  faith  was  necessary  to  make 
them  productive  of  any  real  benefit  to  the  soul  of  the  Christian, 
was  to  rob  them  of  their  attraction  in  the  sight  of  the  people.  For 
faith  is  not  in  the  Pope's  gift ;  it  is  beyond  his  power,  and  can  come 
from  God  alone.  To  declare  its  necessity  was,  therefore,  to  snatch 
from  the  hands  of  Rome  both  the  speculation  and  the  profits  at- 
tached to  it.  In  assailing  these  two  doctrines,  Luther  had  followed 
the  example  of  Christ  himself.  In  the  very  beginning  of  his  minis- 
try, he  had  overturned  the  tables  of  the  money-changers,  and  driven 
the  dealers  out  of  the  temple.  "  Make  not  my  Father's  house  a 
house  of  merchandize."  Cajetan  continued  :  "  I  will  not  bring  for- 
ward the  authority  of  St.  Thomas,  and  the  other  scholastic  doctors, 
to  confute  these  errors ;  I  will  rest  entirely  on  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
and  speak  to  you  in  perfect  friendship." 

§  89. — Nevertheless,  when  he  proceeded  to  bring  forward  his 
proofs,  he  departed  from  the  rule  he  had  laid  down.  He  combated 
Luther's  first  proposition  by  an  Extravagance  or  Constitution  of  pope 
Clement ;  and  the  secondly  all  sorts  of  opinions  from  the  scholas- 
tic divines.  The  discussion  turned  at  its  outset  upon  this  constitu- 
tion of  the  Pope  in  favor  of  indulgences.  Luther,  indignant  at 
hearing  what  authority  the  Legate  attributed  to  a  decree  of  Rome, 
exclaimed :  "  I  cannot  receive  such  constitutions  as  sufficient  proofs 
on  subjects  so  important.  For  they  wrest  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
never  quote  them  to  the  purpose." 

'•'  The  Pope,"  said  the  Legate,  "  has  authority  and  power  over  all 
things."    "  Save  the  Scriptures."  replied  Luther  with  some  warmth. 

"  Save  the  Scriptures  !"  exclaimed  Cajetan.    "  Do  not  you  know 


chat,  vii.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  TI1ROXE— A.  D.  1303-1545.   457 

Luther  declares  he  cannot  and  will  not  yield  those  points.  Cajetan's  wish  to  send  him  to  Rome. 

that  the  Pope  is  higher  than  the  Councils,  for  he  has  recently  con- 
demned and  punished  the  council  of  Basil." 

After  some  further  discussion,  Luther  declared  in  relation  to  one 
of  the  articles  in  dispute,  "  If  I  yielded  anything  there,  I  should  be 
denying  Christ.  I  cannot,  therefore,  and  will  not  yield  that  point, 
but  by  God's  help  will  hold  it  to  the  end."  Cardinal  Cajetan  could 
hardly  restrain  his  temper  at  this  bold  and  decisive  declaration,  and 
exclaimed  with  some  warmth,  "  Whether  you  will  or  will  not,  you 
must  this  very  day  retract  that  article,  or  else  for  that  article  alone, 
I  will  proceed  to  reject  and  condemn  all  your  doctrine."  "  I  have 
no  will  but  the  Lord's,"  boldly  declared  Luther.  "  He  will  do  with 
me  what  secmeth  good  in  his  sight.  But  had  I  a  hundred  heads,  I 
would  rather  lose  them  all  than  retract  the  testimony  I  have  borne 
to  the  holy  Christian  faith." 

"  I  am  not  come  here  to  argue  with  you,"  said  Cajetan.  "  Re- 
tract, or  prepare  to  endure  the  punishment  you  have  deserved." 
Luther  clearly  perceived  that  it  was  impossible  to  end  the  affair  by 
a  conference.  His  adversary  was  seated  before  him  as  though  he 
himself  were  Pope,  and  recmired  an  humble  submission  to  all  that 
he  said  to  him,  whilst  he  received  Luther's  answers,  even  when 
grounded  on  the  holy  Scriptures,  with  shrugs,  and  every  kind  of 
irony  and  contempt.  Having,  therefore,  shown  a  disposition  to 
withdraw  :  "  Do  you  wish,"  said  the  Legate  to  him,  "  that  I  should 
give  you  a  safe-conduct  to  repair  to  Rome  ?"  Nothing  would  have 
pleased  Cajetan  better  than  the  acceptance  of  this  offer.  He  would 
thus  have  got  rid  of  an  affair  of  which  he  began  to  perceive  the 
difficulties,  and  Luther  and  his  heresy  would  have  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  those  who  would  have  known  how  to  deal  with  them. 
But  the  reformer,  who  was  sensible  of  the  dangers  that  surrounded 
him  even  at  Augsburg,  took  care  to  refuse  an  offer  that  would  have 
delivered  him  up,  bound  hand  and  foot,  to  the  vengeance  of  his 
enemies.  He  rejected  the  proposal  as  often  as  Cajetan  chose  to  re- 
peat it  :  which  he  did  several  times.  The  Legate  concealed  the 
chagrin  he  felt  at  Luther's  refusal ;  he  assumed  an  air  of  dignity, 
and  dismissed  the  monk  with  a  compassionate  smile,  under  which 
he  endeavored  to  hide  his  disappointment,  and  at  the  same  time,  with 
the  politeness  of  one  who  hopes  to  have  better  success  another 
time. 

§  90 — After  two  other  interviews  with  the  Legate,  of  which  the 
first  may  be  regarded  as  a  specimen,  Luther  saw  that  his  powerful 
opponent  would  listen  to  no  argument  from  Scripture,  and  would  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  an  unconditional  retraction.  A 
rumor,  moreover,  reached  him  that  if  he  did  not  retract,  he  was  to 
be  seized  and  thrown  into  a  dungeon.  When  the  Imperial  counsel- 
lors, through  the  Bishop  of  Trent,  had  informed  the  Legate  that 
Luther  was  under  the  protection  of  the  Emperor's  safe-conduct,  he 
had  passionately  replied,  "  Be  it  so,  but  I  shall  do  what  the  Pope 
enjoins  me."  We  have  already  seen  that  the  Pope's  orders  were  to 
secure  his  person,  detain  him  in  safe  custody,  and  bring  him  as  a 


458  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Luther's  departure  from  Augsburg.  Hie  escape  from  his  popish  adversaries. 

prisoner  to  Rome.  (See  page  451.)  His  friends  advised  him,  before 
the  opportunity  might  be  irrevocably  lost,  to  return  from  Augsburg. 
They  knew  Cajetan  well  enough  to  be  satisfied  that  he  would 
scruple  at  no  means  to  get  Luther  into  his  power,  and  the  lessons  of 
Constance  had  taught  them  how  little  an  emperor's  safe-conduct 
might  avail  with  popish  moralists  to  save  a  victim  from  the  flames. 
They  suspected  that  the  Legate  might  be  even  then  in  communica- 
tion with  the  Emperor  to  induce  him  to  revoke  or  to  violate  his  safe- 
conduct. 

§  91. — For  these  reasons  they  advised  Luther  to  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity of  returning  to  Wittemberg,  and  he  followed  their  advice. 
They  advised  him  to  take  every  possible  precaution,  fearing,  that  if 
his  departure  were  known,  it  might  be  opposed.  He  followed  their 
directions  as  well  as  he  could.  A  horse,  that  Staupitz  had  left  at  his 
disposal,  was  brought  to  the  door  of  the  convent.  Once  more  he  bids 
adieu  to  his  brethren :  he  then  mounts  and  sets  out,  without  a  bridle 
for  his  horse,  without  boots  or  spurs,  and  unarmed.  The  magistrate 
of  the  city  had  sent  him  as  a  guide,  a  horseman,  who  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  roads.  This  man  conducts  him  in  the  dark 
through  the  silent  streets  of  Augsburg.  They  direct  their  course 
to  a  little  gate  in  the  wall  of  the  city.  One  of  the  counsellors,  Lan- 
gemantel,  had  ordered  that  it  should  be  opened  to  him.  He  is  still 
in  the  Legate's  power.  The  hand  of  Rome  is  still  over  him  ;  doubt- 
less, if  the  Italians  knew  that  their  prey  was  escaping,  the  cry  of 
pursuit  would  be  raised  : — who  knows  whether  the  intrepid  adver- 
sary of  Rome  may  not  still  be  seized  and  thrown  into  prison?  .  .  . 
At  last  Luther  and  his  guide  arrive  at  the  little  gate  : — they  pass 
through.  They  are  out  of  Augsburg ;  and  putting  their  horses  into 
a  gallop,  they  soon  leave  the  city  far  behind  them.  Luther  urged 
his  horse  and  kept  the  poor  animal  at  full  speed.  He  called  to  mind 
the  real  or  supposed  flight  of  John  Huss,  the  manner  in  which  he 
was  overtaken,  and  the  assertion  of  his  adversaries,  who  affirmed 
that  Huss  having,  by  his  flight,  annulled  the  Emperor's  safe-conduct, 
they  had  a  right  to  condemn  him  to  the  flames.  However,  these 
uneasy  feelings  did  not  long  occupy  Luther's  mind.  Having  got 
clear  from  the  city  where  he  had  spent  ten  days  under  that  terrible 
hand  of  Rome  which  had  already  crushed  so  many  thousand  wit- 
nesses for  the  truth,  and  shed  so  much  blood, — at  large,  breathing 
the  open  air,  traversing  the  villages  and  plains,  and  wonderfully  de- 
livered by  the  arm  of  the  Lord,  his  wrhole  soul  overflowed  with 
praise.  He  might  well  say:  "Our  soul  is  escaped  as  a  bird  out  of 
the  snare  of  the  fowlers ;  the  snare  is  broken,  and  we  are  delivered. 
Our  help  is  in  the  name  of  God,  who  made  heaven  and  earth." 
Thus  was  the  heart  of  Luther  filled  with  joy.  But  his  thoughts 
again  reverted  to  De  Vio  :  "  The  Cardinal,"  thought  he,  "  would 
have  been  well  pleased  to  get  me  into  his  power  and  send  me  to 
Rome.  He  is,  no  doubt,  mortified  that  I  have  escaped  from  him. 
He  thought  he  had  me  in  his  clutches  at  Augsburg.  He  thought  he 
held  me  fast ;  but  he  was  holding  an  eel  by  the  tail.     Shame  that 


chap,  viii.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING   THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1515.  459 

Reaches  VVittemberg.  The  Pope  sends  another  legate,  Charles  Miltitz. 

these  people  should  set  so  high  a  price  upon  me  !  They  would 
give  many  crowns  to  have  me  in  their  power,  whilst  our  Saviour 
Christ  was  sold  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver." 

Luther  reached  Wittemberg  on  the  30th  of  October,  and  found 
on  his  arrival,  that  the  disappointed  Legate  had  written  a  letter  to 
the  Elector,  breathing  vengeance  agninst  the  "contemptible  monk" 
that  had  escaped  him,  and  earnestly  entreating  Frederick  to  send 
him  as  a  prisoner  to  Rome,  or  at  least  to  banish  him  from  his  terri- 
tories. The  Elector  refused  to  deliver  up  Luther  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  Rome,  and  the  Reformer  appealed  from  the  decision  of 
the  Pope  to  a  General  Council.  This  appeal  was  made  at  Wittem- 
berg, in  the  chapel  of  Corpus  Christi,  on  the  28th  of  November, 
1518. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LUTHER  STRIKES    AT    THE    THRONE  OF  ANTI-CHRIST.       THE  BREACH  MADE 

IRREPARABLE. 

§  92. — Pope  Leo  dispatched  another  legate,  Charles  Miltitz,  to 
Germany,  who,  warned  by  the  result  of  Cajetan's  mission,  tried  the 
effect  of  mildness,  persuasion  and  guile  ;  and  his  courtly  and  crafty 
entreaties  so  far  availed,  as  to  induce  Luther,  on  the  3d  of  March, 
1519,  to  write  to  the  Pope  a  respectful  epistle,  declaring  that  though 
he  could  not  retract  his  doctrines,  he  would  "  not  seek  to  weaken, 
either  by  force  or  artifice,  the  power  of  the  Roman  church  or  of  his 
Holiness."  We  are  to  remember,  however,  that  the  light  burst  upon 
Luther's  mind  only  by  degrees.  Though  he  had  attacked  with  all 
his  might  the  popish  doctrine  of  indulgences  and  human  merits,  yet 
he  had  not  learned,  as  he  afterwards  did,  that  the  anti-Christian 
power  which  originated  and  gave  to  those  indulgences  all  their  effi- 
cacy, was  itself  a  hideous  usurpation,  which  must  be  struck  down 
by  the  lightning  of  God's  holy  word. 

Not  long  afterward,  the  light  on  this  subject  dawned  gradually  on 
his  mind.  He  studied  the  decretals  of  the  Popes,  and  the  discover- 
ies he  made,  materially  modified  his  ideas.  He  wrote  to  Spalatin — 
"  I  am  reading  the  decretals  of  the  pontiffs,  and,  let  me  whisper  it  in 
your  ear,  I  know  not  whether  the  Pope  is  anti-Christ  himself,  or 
whether  he  is  his  apostle ;  so  misrepresented,  and  even  crucified, 
does  Christ  appear  in  them." 

At  length  a  challenge  from  the  scholastic  Doctor  Eck  upon  the 
question  of  the  primacy  of  Rome  brought  Luther  to  the  bold  avowal 
of  the  truth  he  had  by  this  time  discovered,  contained  in  the  following 
thesis — "  It  is  by  contemptible  decretals  of  Roman  pontiffs,  com- 


4(H)  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Luther  disputes  with  Doctor  Eck  at  Leipsic,  on  the  primacy  of  the  Pope. 

posed  hardly  four  centuries  ago,  that  it  is  attempted  to  prove  the 
primacy  of  the  Roman  church; — hut  arrayed  against  this  claim  are 
eleven  centuries  of  crcdihle  history,  the  express  declarations  of 
Scripture,  and  the  conclusions  of  the  Council  of  Nice,  the  most 
venerable  of  all  the  councils." 

§  !>.'}. — Eck  and  Luther  met  as  combatants  at  Leipsic,  and  the  pub- 
lic disputation  between  them  commenced  on  the  4th  of  July.  The 
subject  was  the  primacy  of  the  Pope.  "  The  doctor,"  said  Eck, 
••  requires  of  me  a  proof  that  the  primacy  of  the  church  of  Rome 
is  of  divine  right ;  I  find  that  proof  in  the  words  of  Christ — '  Thou 
art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  ivill  build  my  church.'  St.  Augus- 
tine, in  one  of  his  epistles,  has  thus  explained  the  meaning  of  the 
passage — '  Thou  art  Peter,  and  on  this  rock,  that  is  to  say,  on  Peter, 
I  will  build  my  church.'  It  is  true,  that  Augustine  has  elsewhere 
said,  that  by  this  rock  we  must  understand  Christ  himself,  but  he 
has  not  retracted  his  first  explanation." — "  If  the  reverend  doctor," 
replied  Luther,  "  brings  against  me  these  words  of  St.  Augustine, 
let  him  himself  first  reconcile  such  opposite  assertions.  For  certain 
it  is,  that  St.  Augustine  has  repeatedly  said,  that  the  rock  was 
Christ,  and  hardly  once  that  it  was  Peter  himself.  But  even  though 
St.  Augustine  and  all  the  Fathers  should  say  that  the  Apostle  is  the 
rock  of  which  Christ  spake,  I  would,  if  I  should  stand  alone,  deny 
the  assertion — supported  by  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Scripture — 
in  other  words  by  divine  right — for  it  is  written,  '  Other  foundation 
can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  even  Christ  Jesus.  Peter  himself 
calls  Christ  the  chief-corner  stone,  and  living  rock,  on  which  we  are 
built  up,  a  spiritual  house." 

It  was  during  this  discussion  that  Luther  ventured  publicly  to 
speak  with  approval  of  some  of  the  doctrines  of  Wickliffand  Huss, 
in  the  following  words — "Among  the  articles  of  John  Huss  and  the 
Bohemians,  there  are  some  that  are  most  agreeable  to  Christ.  This 
is  certain  ;  and  of  this  sort  is  that  article  :  '  There  is  only  One  church 
universal ;'  and  again  :  '  That  it  is  not  necessary  to  salvation  that 
we  should  believe  the  Roman  church  superior  to  others.'  It  mat- 
ters little  to  me  whether  Wickliff  or  Huss  said  it.  It  is  Truth." 
These  words  produced  an  immense  sensation  on  the  audience. 
Some  expressed  aloud  their  feelings  at  the  temerity  of  a  monk,  in  a 
Catholic  assembly,  speaking  with  respect  of  Wickliff  and  Huss, 
those  execrable  hcresiarchs,  whom  the  church  had  condemned,  ana- 
thematized and  burned. 

Luther  did  not  give  way  to  this  burst  of  murmurs.  "  Gregory 
Nazianzen,"  continued  he,  with  noble  calmness,  "  Basil  the  Great, 
Epiphanius,  Chrysostom,  and  a  great  many  other  Greek  bishops,  are 
saved  ;  and  yet  they  never  believed  that  the  church  of  Rome  w;is 
superior  to  other  churches.  It  does  not  belong  to  the  Roman  pon- 
tiffs to  add  new  articles  of  faith.  There  is  no  authority  for  the  be- 
lieving Christian  but  the  Holy  Scripture.  It,  alone,  is  of  divine 
right.  I  beg  the  worthy  Dr.  Eck  to  grant  me  that  the  Roman  pon- 
tiffs have  been  men,  and  not  to  speak  of  them  as  if  they  were  Gods." 


chap,  vm.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  461 

Horror  produced  among  the  monks  by  the  heresies  of  Luther.  Ulric  Zwingle,  the  Swiss  reformer. 

As  a  proof  of  the  horror  produced  among  the  blinded  adhe- 
rents of  Rome,  by  the  bold  assertions  of  Luther,  it  is  related  that 
during  this  dispute  at  Leipsic,  Luther  one  Sunday  entered  the 
church  of  the  Dominicans  just  before  high  mass.  There  were  pre- 
sent only  a  few  monks,  who  were  going  through  the  earlier  masses 
at  the  lower  altars.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  in  the  cloister  that 
the  heretic  Luther  was  in  the  church,  the  monks  ran  together  in 
haste,  caught  up  the  remonstrance,  and,  taking  it  to  its  receptacle, 
carefully  shut  it  up,  lest  the  holy  sacrament  should  be  profaned  by 
the  impure  eyes  of  the  Augustin  of  Wittemberg.  While  this  was 
doing,  they  who  were  reading  mass  collected  together  the  sacred 
furniture,  quitted  the  altar,  crossed  the  church,  and  sought  refuge  in 
the  sacristy,  as  if,  says  a  historian,  the  devil  himself  had  been  be- 
hind them. 

§  94. — At  length  pope  Leo,  who  for  some  time  had  been  too  much 
occupied  with  intrigues  relative  to  the  election  of  an  Emperor  to 
succeed  the  deceased  Maximilian,  to  concern  himself  very  much 
about  the  progress  of  the  growing  heresy,  awoke  to  the  importance 
of  striking  a  decisive  blow.  Accordingly,  on  the  15th  of  June, 
1520,  he  issued  his  bull  of  condemnation  against  Luther,  anathema- 
'tizing  his  doctrines  and  his  books,  and  commanding  the  latter  to  be 
collected  and  burnt  wherever  they  could  be  found.  In  the  opinion 
of  Dr.  Merle,  Luther,  courageous  as  he  was,  would,  even  after  the 
disputation  of  Eck,  have  been  silent  if  Rome  herself  had  kept 
silence,  or  shown  any  desire  to  make  concessions.  But  God  had 
not  allowed  the  reformation  to  be  dependent  on  the  weakness  of 
man's  heart ;  Luther  was  in  the  hands  of  One  whose  eye  penetrated 
results.  Divine  providence  made  use  of  the  Pope  to  break  every 
link  between  the  past  and  the  future,  and  to  throw  the  reformer 
into  a  course  altogether  unknown,  and  leading  he  knew  not  whither. 
The  Papal  bull  was  Rome's  bill  of  divorce  addressed  to  the  pure 
church  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  person  of  one  who  was  then  standing 
as  her  humble  but  faithful  representative  ;  and  the  church  accepted 
it,  that  she  might  thenceforward  hold  only  from  her  Head  who  is  in 
heaven. 

Whilst  at  Rome,  the  condemnation  of  Luther  was  sought  for  with 
violent  animosity,  an  humble  priest,  an  inhabitant  of  one  of  the  rude 
towns  of  Switzerland,  who  never  had  any  intercourse  with  the 
reformer,  had  been  deeply  affected  at  the  thought  of  the  blow  which 
hung  over  him,  and  whilst  even  the  intimates  of  the  doctor  of  Wit- 
temberg were  silent  and  trembling,  this  Swiss  mountaineer  formed 
the  resolution  to  do  his  utmost  to  arrest  the  dreaded  bull !  His 
name  was  Ulric  Zwingle.  The  Swiss  priest  dreaded  the  conse- 
quences to  the  church  of  so  severe  a  blow  struck  at  Luther.  He 
labored  hard  to  induce  a  papal  nuncio  in  Switzerland,  who  was  his 
friend,  to  employ  all  his  influence  with  Leo  to  deter  him  from  ex- 
communicating Luther.  "  The  dignity  of  the  holy  See  itself  is 
concerned  in  it,"  said  he  ;  "  for  if  things  come  to  such  a  pass,  Ger- 
many, enthusiastically  attached  to  the  Gospel  and  its  teacher,  will 


4G2  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

The  Pope's  apostrophe  to  Peter,  Paul,  &c,  in  his  bull  against  Luther. 

be  sure  to  treat  the  Pope  and  his  anathemas  with  contempt."  The 
effort  was  unavailing,  and  it  appears  that,  even  at  the  time  it  was 
made,  the  blow  was  already  struck.  Such  was  the  first  occasion 
on  which  the  path  of  Luther  and  that  of  Zwingle  were  so  ordered 
as  to  meet  together. 

§  95. — In  the  bull  of  Leo  against  Luther  he  thus  invokes  the  prince 
of  the  apostles,  "  Arise,  O  Peter  !  remember  thy  holy  Roman  church, 
mother  of  all  the  churches,  and  mistress  of  the  faith.  Arise,  O 
Paul  !  for  a  new  Porphyry  is  here,  attacking  thy  doctrines  and  the 
holy  popes,  our  predecessors.  Finally,  arise,  O  assembly  of  all  the 
saints  !  holy  church  of  God !  and  intercede  for  us  with  God  Al- 
mighty." "  As  soon  as  this  bull  shall  be  published,"  continues  the 
Pope,  "  the  bishops  are  to  search  diligently  for  the  writings  of  Mar- 
tin Luther  in  which  these  errors  are  contained,  and  to  burn  them 
publicly  and  solemnly  in  the  presence  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  laity. 
As  to  Martin  himself,  what  is  there,  in  the  name  of  Heaven,  that 
we  have  not  done  ?  Imitating  the  goodness  of  God  Almighty,  we 
are  ready,  notwithstanding,  to  receive  him  again  into  the  bosom  of 
the  church ;  and  we  allow  him  sixty  days  to  forward  to  us  his  re- 
cantation in  writing,  attested  by  two  prelates ;  or,  rather  (which 
would  be  more  satisfactory),  to  present  himself  before  us  in  Rome, 
that  none  may  any  more  doubt  his  obedience.  In  the  meantime,  he 
must  from  this  moment  cease  preaching,  teaching  and  writing,  and 
commit  his  works  to  the  flames.  And  if  he  do  not  recant  within  the 
space  of  sixty  days,  we,  by  these  presents,  sentence  himself  and  his 
adherents  as  open  and  contumacious  heretics." 

Luther  quailed  not  before  those  papal  thunders,  which  for  centu- 
ries had  made  the  mightiest  monarchs  tremble  on  their  thrones.  On 
the  6th  of  October  he  published  his  famous  tract  on  the  Babylonian 
captivity  of  the  church.  He  commences  this  work  by  ironically 
stating  all  the  advantages  for  which  he  is  indebted  to  his  enemies. 
"  Whether  I  will  or  no,"  says  he,  "  I  learn  more  and  more  every 
day,  urged  on  as  I  am  by  so  many  celebrated  masters.  Two  years 
ago  I  attacked  indulgences  ;  but  with  such  faltering  indecision  that 
I  am  now  ashamed  of  it.  It,  however,  is  not  to  be  wondered  at ; 
for  then  I  had  to  roll  forward  the  rock  by  myself."  He  then  re- 
turns thanks  to  Doctor  Eck  and  to  his  other  adversaries.  "  I  de- 
nied," he  continues,  "  that  the  Papacy  was  from  God,  but  admitted 
that  it  stood  by  human  right.  But  now,  after  having  read  all  the 
subtleties  on  which  these  worthies  set  up  their  idol,  I  know  that 
Papacy  is  nothing  but  the  reign  of  Babylon,  and  the  violence  of  the 
mighty  hunter  Nimrod.  I  therefore  request  all  my  friends,  and  all 
booksellers,  that  they  will  burn  the  books  I  have  before  written  on 
this  subject,  and  in  their  stead  substitute  this  single  proposition : — 
'  The  Papacy  is  a  general  chase,  led  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and 
having  for  its  object  the  snaring  and  ruining  of  souls?  " 

Luther  concludes  this  fearless  attack  upon  the  popish  Babylon  as 
follows  :  "  I  hear  that  new  papal  excommunications  have  been  con- 
cocted against  me.     If  this  be  so,  this  book  may  be  regarded  as  a 


chap,  viii.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  4G3 


Luther  burning  the  Pope's  bull  at  Wittemberg.  Finally  excommunicated  as  an  incorrigible  heretic. 

part  of  my  future  '  recantation.'  The  rest  will  follow  shortly,  in 
proof  of  my  obedience ;  and  the  whole  will,  by  Christ's  help,  form 
a  collection  such  as  Rome  has  never  yet  seen  or  heard  of." 

§  96. — On  the  10th  of  December  following,  Luther  took  the  final 
step  which  rendered  reconciliation  impossible.  On  that  day  a  placard 
was  affixed  to  the  walls  of  the  university  of  Wittemberg.  It  con- 
tained an  invitation  to  the  professors  and  students  to  repair  at  the 
hour  of  nine  in  the  morning  to  the  east  gate,  beside  the  Holy  Cross. 
A  great  number  of  doctors  and  youths  assembled,  and  Luther,  put- 
ting himself  at  their  head,  led  the  procession  to  the  appointed  spot. 
A  scaffold  had  already  been  erected.  One  of  the  oldest  among  the 
Masters  of  Arts  soon  set  fire  to  it.  As  the  flames  arose,  Luther 
drew  nigh,  and  cast  into  the  midst  of  them  the  Canon  Law,  the 
Decretals,  the  Clementines,  the  Extravagants  of  the  popes,  and  a 
portion  of  the  works  of  Eck  and  of  Emser.  When  these  books 
had  been  reduced  to  ashes,  Luther  took  the  Pope's  bull  in  his  hand, 
held  it  up,  and  said  aloud :  "  Since  thou  hast  afflicted  the  Lord's 
Holy  One,  may  lire  unquenchable  afflict  and  consume  thee  !"  and 
thereupon  he  threw  it  into  the  flames.  He  then  with  much  compo- 
sure bent  his  steps  toward  the  city,  and  the  crowd  of  doctors,  pro- 
fessors and  students,  with  loud  expressions  of  applause,  returned  to 
Wittemberg  in  his  train.  "  The  Decretals,"  said  Luther,  "  are  like 
a  body  whose  face  is  as  fair  as  a  virgin's  ;  but  its  limbs  are  forceful 
as  those  of  the  lion,  and  its  tail  is  that  of  the  wily  serpent.  In  all 
the  papal  laws,  there  is  not  a  single  word  to  teach  us  what  Jesus 
Christ  truly  is."  "  My  enemies,"  he  said  again,  "  by  burning  my 
books,  may  have  disparaged  the  truth  in  the  minds  of  the  common 
people,  and  occasioned  the  loss  of  souls ;  for  that  reason  I  have 
burned  their  books  in  my  turn.  This  is  a  mighty  struggle  but  just 
begun.  Hitherto  I  have  been  only  jesting  with  the  Pope.  I  entered 
upon  this  work  in  the  name  of  God  ; — He  will  bring  it  to  a  close 
without  my  aid,  by  his  own  power.  If  they  dare  to  burn  my  books 
— of  which  it  is  no  vain  boast  to  say  that  they  contain  more  of  the 
Gospel  than  all  the  Pope's  books  put  together, — I  may  with  far  bet- 
ter reason  burn  theirs,  which  are  wholly  worthless."  By  this  act, 
the  daring  reformer  distinctly  announced  his  separation  from  the 
Pope  and  the  papal  church.  He  now  accepted  the  excommunica- 
tion which  Rome  had  pronounced.  He  proclaimed  in  the  face  of 
Christendom  that  between  him  and  the  Pope  there  was  war  even 
to  the  death.  Like  the  Roman  who  burned  the  vessels  that  had 
conveyed  him  to  the  enemy's  shore,  he  left  himself  no  resource  but 
to  advance  and  offer  battle.  After  this,  there  could  be  no  peace 
with  Rome. 

§  97. — On  the  3d  of  January,  1521,  Leo  issued  his  final  bull  of 
excommunication  against  Luther.  The  former  had  given  him  op- 
portunity to  retract  within  a  limited  time  ;  in  this,  the  sentence  was 
definitively  pronounced,  and  Luther  declared  an  incorrigible  heretic, 
fitted  only  for  destruction.  Aleander  and  Caraccioli  were  appointed 
legates  of  the  Pope,  and  after  unsuccesslully  using  every  possible 


464  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


The  papal  legates  permitted  by  the  Emperor  to  burn  Luther's  books,  but  not  to  burn  him. 


persuasion  with  the  Elector,  to  employ  against  the  reformer  the 
secular  arm,  they  busied  themselves  everywhere  throughout  the 
empire  in  collecting  his  writings  and  publicly  committing  them  to 
the  flames.  To  these  measures,  the  papal  legates  had  obtained  the 
consent  of  the  young  emperor  Charles  V.  ;  but  after  all,  Aleander 
cared  little  about  books  or  papers — Luther  himself  was  the  mark 
he  aimed  at.  "  These  fires,"  he  remarked  again,  "  are  not  sufficient 
to  purify  the  pestilential  atmosphere  of  Germany.  Though  they 
may  strike  terror  into  the  simple-minded,  they  leave  the  authors  of 
the  mischief  unpunished.  We  must  have  an  imperial  edict  sen- 
tencing Luther  to  death."  Aleander  found  the  Emperor  less  com- 
pliant when  the  reformer's  life  was  demanded,  than  he  had  shown 
himself  before,  when  his  books  alone  were  attacked.  "  Raised  as  I 
have  been  so  recently  to  the  throne,  I  cannot,"  said  Charles,  "  without 
the  advice  of  my  counsellors,  and  the  consent  of  the  princes  of  the 
empire,  strike  such  a  blow  as  this  against  a  faction  so  numerous  and 
so  powerfully  protected.  Let  us  first  ascertain  what  our  father. 
the  elector  of  Saxony,  thinks  of  the  matter  ;  we  shall  then  be  pre- 
pared to  give  our  answer  to  the  Pope."  The  legates,  therefore, 
renewed  their  applications  to  Frederick,  but  that  humane  and  honor- 
able-minded prince  shuddered  at  the  thought  of  delivering  up  the 
courageous  Luther  to  the  fate  of  Huss  arid  of  Jerome. 

At  length,  for  the  first  time,  the  Elector  by  his  counsellors  publicly 
declared  his  intentions  with  regard  to  Luther.  He  stated  to  the  papal 
nuncios  that  "  neither  his  imperial  majesty  nor  any  one  else  had  yet 
made  it  appear  to  him  that  Luther's  writings  had  been  refuted,  or 
demonstrated  to  be  fit  only  for  the  flames  ;  that  he  demanded,  there- 
fore, that  doctor  Luther  should  be  furnished  with  a  safe-conduct, 
and  permitted  to  answer  for  himself  before  a  tribunal  composed  of 
learned,  pious,  and  impartial  judges."  In  reply  to  this,  said  the 
arrogant  Aleander,  "  I  should  like  to  know  what  would  the  Elector 
think,  if  one  of  his  subjects  were  to  appeal  from  his  judgment  to  that 
of  the  king  of  France,  or  some  other  foreign  sovereign."  But,  per- 
ceiving at  last  that  the  Saxon  counsellors  were  not  to  be  wrought 
upon,  "We  will  execute  the  bull,"  said  he  ;  "  we  will  pursue  and 
burn  the  writings  of  Luther.  As  for  his  person,"  he  added,  affect- 
ing a  tone  of  disdainful  indifference,  "  the  Pope  has  little  inclination 
to  imbrue  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  the  unhappy  wretch."  Thus  did 
the  legates  of  Rome  vainly  attempt  to  conceal  their  mortification 
and  chagrin,  that  their  expected  prey  had  escaped  out  of  their 
hands. 


465 


CHAPTER  IX. 

LUTHER    AT    THE    DIET    OF  WORMS,  AND    IN    HIS    PATMOS    AT  WARTBURG. 

§  98. — A  grand  diet  of  the  empire  was  about  to  be  held,  at  which 
the  Emperor  and  all  the  princes  of  Germany  would  be  present. 
Aleander  received  directions  to  attend  it,  and  to  demand,  on  the 
part  of  his  master,  the  employment  of  the  secular  arm  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  rising  heresy.  The  Diet  of  Worms  was  opened  Jan- 
uary 6,  1521.  A  more  splendid  assembly  has  been  scarcely  ever 
held.  The  nobles  of  Germany  were  anxious  to  do  honor  to  the 
court  of  their  young  Emperor,  and  to  testify  their  dutiful  regards. 
They  vied  with  each  other  in  the  costliness  of  their  equipments,  and 
the  number  and  rank  of  their  attendants.  It  seemed  as  if  the  wealth 
of  the  empire  had  been  collected  together  at  one  place  for  proud 
display.  The  occasion,  too,  was  unusually  interesting  and  impor- 
tant. In  addition  to  political  affairs  of  pressing  urgency,  the  state 
of  religion  called  for  anxious  deliberation.  The  cry  for  re'form  was 
heard  on  every  hand.  All  saw  that  the  disease  required  prompt 
attention  ;  but  none  knew  what  means  to  suggest,  while  danger  was 
daily  increasing.  Aleander,  the  papal  nuncio,  was  true  to  his  mas- 
ter's interests.  On  his  arrival  at  Worms  he  exerted  himself  to  the 
utmost  to  procure  the  immediate  condemnation  of  Luther.  He 
would  have  had  him  proscribed  and  put  to  the  ban  of  the  empire 
that  his  party  might  be  crushed  by  one  vigorous  blow.  But  this 
was  found  to  be  impracticable.  The  reformer's  opinions  had  taken 
too  deep  root  to  be  easily  plucked  up.  Some  even  talked  of  taking 
the  whole  matter  out  of  the  Pope's  hands,  and  referring  the  deci- 
sion to  impartial  judges,  chosen  by  the  principal  potentates  of  Eu- 
rope. Aleander  was  perplexed  and  enraged.  Still  he  persevered, 
sometimes  applying  to  the  Emperor,  sometimes  to  his  ministers  and 
other  members  of  the  diet,  among  whom  he  scattered  profusely 
large  sums  of  money  intrusted  to  him  by  the  court  of  Rome.  At 
length  he  succeeded,  by  force  of  bribes  and  intrigue,  in  obtaining 
permission  to  address  the  assembled  diet.  He  appeared  before 
them  on  the  13th  of  February,  and  spoke  for  three  hours  in  a  strain 
of  impassioned  eloquence,  describing  Luther  as  a  monster  of  iniqui- 
ty, whose  crimes  ought  to  be  visited  with  the  utmost  severity  of 
the  laws. 

Aleander  had  hoped  to  obtain  his  condemnation  without  giving 
him  an  opportunity  to  reply  ;  but  much  to  the  chagrin  of  the  Legate, 
the  reformer  was  summoned  to  the  diet,  that  he  might  in  person 
avow  or  retract  the  opinions  imputed  to  him,  and  be  dealt  with  ac- 
cordingly. With  the  summons  an  ample  safe-conduct  was  trans- 
mitted, guaranteeing  his  security  in  going  and  returning ;  signed, 
not  only  by  the  Emperor,  but  also  by  those  princes  through  whose 
States  it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  travel.  For  this  precaution 
he  was  indebted  to  the  elector  of  Saxony,  who  knew  the  men  with 


4G6  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Persuasions  of  friends  rind  foes  to  keep  Luther  from  the  Diet  at  Worms.  His  courageous  reply. 

whom  he  had  to  deal,  and  positively  refused  to  allow  the  reformer 
to  leave  Wittemberg  without  that  security.  This  was  another  mor- 
tification to  Aleandcr,  who  was  fully  prepared  to  act  over  again  the 
iniquity  of  the  infamous  council  of  Constance,  which  caused  Huss 
to  be  seized  and  burned,  notwithstanding  the  assurance  given  for 
his  safety.  The  popish  Nuncio  was,  however,  compelled  to  sub- 
mit to  the  decision  of  the  diet,  which  he  did  with  as  good  a  grace 
as  possible.* 

§  99. — Strenuous  efforts  were  employed  to  prevent  Luther  from 
appearing  at  Worms.  His  friends  trembled  for  his  safety  and  his 
life.  His  enemies  dreaded  (what  some  of  them  had  already  wit- 
nessed) his  reasoning,  eloquence,  and  knowledge  of  the  scriptures, 
so  superior  to  their  own.  The  papal  party  tempted  him  with  the 
hope  of  an  amicable  adjustment :  the  advocates  of  truth  sought  to 
excite  his  apprehensions.  All  their  efforts  failed.  "  Tell  your  mas- 
ter," he  said  to   a  messenger  from  Spalatin,  "  that  though  there 

SHOULD  BE  AS  MANY  DEVILS  IN  WoRMS  AS  THERE  ARE  TILES  ON  THE 
ROOFS  OF  THE  HOUSES,  I  WOULD  GO  !" 

Uninfluenced  by  persuasions  and  undaunted  by  threats,  Luther 
entered  Worms  on  the  16th  of  April.  The  day  after  his  arrival  he 
was  summoned  to  attend  the  diet.  On  the  morning  of  that  day  his 
soul  had  endured  unwonted  depression,  almost  amounting  to  an- 
guish. But  in  his  distress  he  sought  the  Lord  with  strong  crying 
and  tears,  and  was  graciously  heard.  Peace  returned,  and  holy, 
undaunted  courage  again  filled  his  spirit.  He  cheerfully  attended 
the  officer  who  was  appointed  to  conduct  him  to  the  hall  of  audi- 
ence. He  reached  the  place  with  some  difficulty,  so  great  was  the 
crowd  that  thronged  every  avenue,  in  eager  curiosity  to  see  the  man 
whose  fame  had  spread  throughout  Germany,  and  on  whom  the 
thunders  of  the  Vatican  had  hitherto  fallen  harmlessly.  At  length 
he  stood  before  the  august  assembly.  The  Emperor  occupied  the 
throne.  Next  to  him  sat  his  brother,  the  arch-duke  Ferdinand.  Six 
electors  of  the  empire  were  present ;  twenty-four  dukes ;  eighty 
margraves ;  thirty  prelates ;  seven  ambassadors  ;  the  deputies  of 
ten  free  cities ;  princes,  counts  and  barons ;  the  papal  nuncios  ;  in 
all,  two  hundred  and  four  noble  and  illustrious  personages.  The 
countenances  of  many  betrayed  deep  inward  concern  and  anxiety. 
Luther  had  held  communion  with  God,  and  enjoyed  "  perfect  peace." 
On  the  table  was  laid  a  collection  of  his  writings.  He  was  asked 
whether  he  acknowledged  them  as  his  productions,  and  whether  he 
was  prepared  to  retract  the  opinions  they  contained.  To  the  first 
question  he  answered  in  the  affirmative.  To  the  second  he  replied 
that  the  question  was  very  serious  and  important,  and  ought  not  to 
be  answered  without  due  consideration,  lest  he  should  in  any  way 

*  See  a  compendious,  but  deeply  interesting  history  of  the  "  Reformation  in 
Europe,  by  the  author  of  the  Council  of  Trent "  (Rev.  J.  M.  Cramp),  chap,  iii., 
sect.  3.  a  work  which  may  be  profitably  read  by  those  whose  time  would  forbid  the 
more  diffuse  and  circumstantial,  but  thrilling  narrative  of  D'Aubigne. 


chap,  ix.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.    46? 

Luther  refuses  to  retract  his  writings.  His  noble  and  memorable  protestatiou . 

injure  the  cause  of  truth ;  he  asked,  therefore,  for  a  brief  delay. 
So  reasonable  a  request  could  not  be  refused. 

Next  day  he  appeared  again.  The  questions  were  repeated. 
Luther  then  addressed  the  assembly.  He  had  acknowledged,  he 
said,  the  books  on  the  table  to  be  his.  Their  contents  differed  much 
from  each  other.  In  some,  he  had  treated  of  faith  and  works,  un- 
masking the  errors  of  the  age  ;  he  could  not  retract  them  without 
treachery  to  the  Gospel.  A  second  class  consisted  of  writings  in 
which  he  had  exposed  the  enormous  corruptions  and  abuses  of  the 
papacy  ;  these  were  so  notorious,  and  had  been  so  long  and  so  justly 
the  subjects  of  loud  complaint  in  Germany,  that  it  would  be  worse 
than  folly  to  suppress  the  works  in  which  they  were  held  up  to  pub- 
lic reprobation.  In  the  third  place,  he  had  in  some  of  his  books 
attacked  individuals  who  had  advocated  existing  evils ;  and  he  was 
willing  to  confess  (for  he  could  not  pretend  to  be  free  from  fault) 
that  he  had  sometimes  written  with  unbecoming  violence  :  yet  he 
could  not  retract  the  sentiments  advanced  in  those  writings,  because 
such  a  course  would  encourage  the  enemies  of  the  truth,  and  embolden 
them  in  their  opposition.  Wherefore  he  prayed  that  instead  of  per- 
sisting in  the  demand  for  retractation,  the  diet  would  take  measures 
to  convince  him,  from  the  Scriptures,  of  his  error.  As  soon  as  he 
should  be  convinced,  he  would  immediately  acknowledge  it.  "  You 
have  not  answered  the  question,"  said  the  chancellor  of  the  arch- 
bishop of  Treves,  to  whom  the  management  of  this  part  of  the  busi- 
ness was  intrusted.  "  A  clear  and  express  reply  is  required.  Will 
you  or  will  you  not  retract  r"  The  reformer's  answer  was  worthy 
of  him.  "  Since  your  most  serene  majesty,  and  the  princes,  require 
a  simple  answer,  I  will  give  it  thus  :  unless  I  shall  be  convinced  by 
proofs  from  Scripture,  or  by  evident  reason  (for  I  believe  neither  in 
popes  nor  in  councils,  since  they  have  frequently  erred  and  contra- 
dicted themselves),  I  cannot  choose  but  adhere  to  the  word  of  God, 
which  has  possession  of  my  conscience.  Nor  can  I  possibly,  nor  will 
I  ever  make  any  recantation,  since  it  is  neither  safe  nor  honest  to  act 
contrary  to  conscience.  Here  I  take  my  stand  ;  I  cannot  do  other- 
wise.    God  be  my  help  !     Amen." 

§  100. — This  speech  madea  deep  impression.  The  Emperor  himself 
was  struck  with  admiration.  "  If  you  will  not  retract,"  resumed  the 
chancellor,  "the  Emperor  and  the  States  of  the  empire  will  see 
what  ought  to  be  done  with  an  obstinate  heretic."  "  God  be  my 
help,"  rejoined  Luther  ;  "  I  can  retract  nothing."  He  then  with- 
drew, leaving  the  diet  in  deliberation.  When  he  was  called  in 
again,  another  effort  was  made.  His  appeal  to  Scripture  was 
treated  with  contempt,  since  he  had  revived  errors  which  had  been 
condemned  by  the  council  of  Constance  ;  as  if  the  authority  of  the 
council  of  Constance  were  superior  to  that  of  the  word  of  God  ! 
In  conclusion,  the  chancellor  said,  "The  Emperor  commands  you 
to  say  simply,  yes  or  no,  whether  you  mean  to  maintain  whatever 
you  have  advanced,  or  whether  you  will  retract  a  part  ?"  "  I  have 
no  other  answer  to  give  than  what  I  have  already  given,"  replied 
28 


408  HISTORY  OF  ROxMANISM.  [book  vi. 


The  popish  enemies  of  Luther  seek  in  vain  to  induce  the  Emperor  to  violate  his  safe-conduct. 


the  courageous  reformer.  In  spite  of  the  persuasions  or  menaces 
of  his  opposers,  he  persisted  in  this  noble  determination.  In  reply 
to  the  entreaties  of  the  archbishop  of  Treves,  who  labored  hard  to 
induce  him  to  submit  to  the  diet — "  I  will  put  my  person  and  my  life 
in  the  Emperor's  hands,"  said  he  ;  "  but  the  word  of  God — never  !" 
He  claimed  for  every  Christian  the  right  of  private  judgment ;  if 
he  consented  to  a  council,  it  would  only  be  on  condition  that  the 
council  should  be  compelled  to  judge  according  to  Scripture. 

Protracted  debates  followed.  Some  counselled  the  violation  of  the 
safe-conduct,  and  urged  the  Emperor  to  seize  Luther,  and  put  him 
to  death.  But  the  high-minded  princes  of  Germany  scorned  the 
base  proposal.  Charles  himself,  bigoted  as  he  was,  revolted  at  it. 
"  If  good  faith  were  banished  from  the  whole  earth,"  he  exclaimed, 
"  it  ought  still  to  find  refuge  in  the  courts  of  kings."  At  length,  the 
adversaries  of  the  reformer  saw  that  it  was  useless  to  labor  longer 
with  him  to  induce  him  to  submit,  and  other  measures  must  be 
adopted.  Efforts  were  made  by  some  of  Luther's  bitterest  popish 
adversaries,  but  without  success,  to  induce  the  Emperor,  like  hi? 
predecessor  Sigismund,  to  violate  his  safe-conduct,  and  to  leave 
Luther,  as  Sigismund  had  left  Huss,  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the 
church ;  and  it  was  in  reply  to  these  suggestions,  that  Charles 
uttered  that  expression  already  mentioned  in  the  account  of  the 
cruel  and  treacherous  murder  of  Huss,  "  /  should  not  like  to  blush 
like  Sigis?nund"     (See  page  402.) 

On  the  25th  of  April,  the  chancellor,  Doctor  Eck,  Luther's 
former  antagonist  at  Leipsic,  attended  by  the  chancellor  of  the 
Empire,  and  a  notary,  presented  themselves.  The  Chancellor  ad- 
dressed him  as  follows  : — "  Martin  Luther,  his  Imperial  Majesty, 
the  Electors,  Princes,  and  States  of  the  Empire,  having  repeatedly 
and  in  various  ways, — but  in  vain, — exhorted  you  to  submission, — 
the  Emperor,  in  his  character  of  defender  of  the  Catholic  faith, 
finds  himself  compelled  to  resort  to  other  measures.  He  therefore 
orders  you  to  return  to  whence  you  came,  within  the  space  of  twen- 
ty-one days,  and  prohibits  you  from  disturbing  the  public  peace  on 
your  journey,  either  by  preaching  or  writing." 

§  101 — If  Charles  V.  had  too  much  regard  for  his  word  to  violate 
his  safe-conduct  to  Luther,  it  was  not  because  he  favored  either  the 
reformer  or  his  doctrines.  He  was  willing  to  take  any  other  step, 
to  oblige  the  Pope  and  his  emissaries,  and  to  put  a  stop,  if  possible, 
to  the  rising  heresy.  At  the  instigation  of  Aleander,  he  issued  an 
edict,  the  draft  of  which  was  prepared  by  the  papal  Legate  him- 
self, placing  Luther  under  the  ban  of  the  empire,  and  threatening 
the  same  to  all  who  should  favor  or  protect  him.  The  nature  oi' 
this  sentence  will  be  best  explained  by  the  following  extract  from 
the  decree  : — "  We,  Charles  the  Fifth,  &c.,to  the  Electors,  Princes. 
Prelates,  and  to  all  to  whom  these  presents  may  come.  .  .  .  The 
Augustin  monk,  Martin  Luther,  regardless  of  our  exhortations, 
has  madly  attacked  the  holy  church,  and  attempted  to  destroy  it  by 
writings  full  of  blasphemy.  ...  In  a  word,  and  passing  over  many 


chap,  ix.]  POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  469 


Luther  under  the  ban  of  the  empire.  The  Emperor's  edict.  Seized  on  his  way  home. 

other  evil  intentions,  this  being,  who  is  no  man,  but  Satan  himself 
under  the  semblance  of  a  man  in  a  monk's  hood,  has  collected  in 
one  offensive  mass,  all  the  worst  heresies  of  former  ages,  adding 
his  own  to  the  number.  .  .  .  We  have,  therefore,  dismissed  from 
our  presence  this  Luther,  whom  all  reasonable  men  count  a  mad- 
man, or  possessed  by  the  devil  ;  and  it  is  our  intention  that,  so 
soon  as  the  term  of  his  safe-conduct  is  expired,  effectual  measures 
be  forthwith  taken  to  put  a  stop  to  his  fury.  .  .  .  For  this  end,  and 
on  pain  of  incurring  the  penalty  of  treason,  we  hereby  forbid  you  to 
receive  the  said  Luther  from  the  moment  when  the  said  term  is  ex- 
pired, or  to  harbor  or  to  give  him  meat  or  drink,  or  by  word  or  act, 
publicly  or  in  private,  to  aid  or  abet  him.  We  further  enjoin  you 
to  seize,  or  cause  him  to  be  seized,  wherever  he  may  be,  and  to 
bring  him  before  us  without  delay,  or  hold  him  in  durance  until  you 
shall  be  informed  how  to  deal  with  him,  and  have  received  the  re- 
ward due  to  your  co-operation  in  this  holy  work.  ...  As  to  his 
adherents,  you  are  enjoined  to  seize  upon  them,  putting  them  down, 
and  confiscating  their  property.  .  .  .  And  if  any  one,  whatever 
may  be  his  rank,  should  dare  to  act  contrary  to  this  decree  of  our 
Imperial  Majesty,  we  command  that  he  be  placed  under  the  ban  of 
the  Empire.     Let  each  one  observe  this  decree." 

§  102. — In  the  meanwhile,  Luther  had  left  Worms,  and  after 
spending  a  day  or  two  on  his  way  at  his  native  village,  at  Eisenach, 
was  on  the  road  to  Wittemberg,  accompanied  by  Amsdorffand  his 
brother  James.  They  skirted  the  woods  of  Thuringen,  taking  the 
path  that  leads  to  Waltershauscn.  As  the  wagon  was  passing  a 
narrow  defile  near  the  ruined  church  of  Glisbach,  a  short  distance 
from  the  castle  of  Altenstein,  suddenly  a  noise  was  heard,  and  in  a 
moment,  five  horsemen,  masked  and  armed  from  head  to  foot,  fell 
upon  them.  His  brother  James,  as  soon  as  he  caught  sight  of  the 
assailants,  jumped  from  the  wagon,  and  fled  as  fast  as  he  could, 
without  uttering  a  word.  The  driver  would  have  resisted.  "  Stop," 
cried  a  hoarse  voice,  and  instantly  one  of  the  attacking  party  threw 
him  to  the  earth.  Another  of  the  masks  grasped  Amsdorff,  and 
held  him  fast.  While  this  was  doing,  the  three  horsemen  laid  hold 
on  Luther,  maintaining  profound  silence.  They  forced  him  to 
alight,  and  throwing  a  knight's  cloak  over  his  shoulders,  set  him  on 
a  led  horse  that  they  had  with  them.  This  done,  the  two  other 
masks  let  go  Amsdorff  and  the  wagoner,  and  the  whole  five  sprang 
into  their  saddles.  One  dropped  his  cap,  but  they  did  not  stop  to 
recover  it ;  and  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the  party  and  their 
prisoner  were  lost  in  the  thick  gloom  of  the  forest.  At  first  they 
took  the  direction  of  Broderode  ;  but  they  rapidly  changed  their 
route,  and  without  quitting  the  forest,  rode  first  in  one  direction  and 
then  in  another,  turning  their  horses'  feet  to  baffle  any  attempt  to 
track  their  course.  Luther,  little  used  to  riding,  was  soon  over- 
come with  fatigue.  His  guides  permitted  him  to  stop  for  a  few 
instants.  He  rested  on  the  earth  beside  a  beech  tree,  and  drank 
some  water  from  a  spring  which  still  bears  his  name.     His  brother 


470  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 


Popery  robbed  of  its  prey.  Luther  curried  to  the  castle  of  Wartburg. 

James,  continuing  his  flight  from  the  scene  of  the  rencounter, 
reached  Waltershausen  that  evening.  The  driver,  hastily  throw- 
ing himself  into  the  wagon,  in  which  Amsdorff  had  already  mount- 
ed, galloped  his  horse  at  full  speed,  and  conducted  Luther's  friend 
to  Wittembcrg.  At  Waltershausen,  at  Wittemberg,  in  the  open 
country,  the  villages  and  towns  on  the  route,  the  news  spread  that 
Luther  was  carried  off.  Some  rejoiced  at  the  report,  but  the 
greater  number  were  struck  with  astonishment  and  ind.gnation, — 
and  soon  a  cry  of  grief  resounded  throughout  Germany — "  Luther 
has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies  !" 

§  103. — These  apprehensions,  however,  were  groundless.  The 
abduction  of  Luther  was  planned  by  his  friends  and  protectors, 
with  the  concurrence  of  the  elector  Frederick,  and,  as  some  sup- 
pose, with  the  connivance  even  of  the  Emperor  himself,  who,  not- 
withstanding his  desire  to  court  the  favor  of  the  Pope,  and  to  up- 
hold the  religion  of  Rome,  might  yet  have  been  unwilling  to  incur 
the  indignation  of  Germany  by  delivering  up  Luther  to  the  flames. 
Be  this  as  it  may  ;  without  doubt,  the  hand  of  God  was  visible  in 
thus  providing  his  faithful  servant  with  a  retreat  from  the  rage  of 
his  bloodthirsty  enemies.  When  the  emperor  Charles  was  induced 
to  issue  his  edict  against  Luther,  doubtless  his  popish  adversaries 
thought  that  the  victory  was  theirs.  Like  Haman  glutting  his 
eyes  with  the  gallows  he  had  prepared  for  Mordecai,  Aleander 
and  his  associates  were,  doubtless,  feasting  their  imaginations  with 
the  expected  destruction  of  the  reformer  and  the  reformation.  But 
God  had  other  designs.  Popery  must  be  robbed  of  its  prey,  and  his 
faithful  servant  must  have  leisure  and  retirement  to  continue  his 
bold  exposure  of  the  mother  of  harlots,  and  above  all,  to  give  the 
New  Testament,  from  which  he  had  learned  the  doctrines  he 
preached,  to  the  Germans  in  their  native  tongue.  These  objects 
were  accomplished  by  his  mysterious  but  providential  abduction. 

The  place  to  which  Luther  was  conducted  by  his  mysterious  guides 
was  the  lofty  and  isolated  castle  of  Wartburg,  an  ancient  resi- 
dence of  the  landgraves  of  Thuringen.  They  took  away  his  ec- 
clesiastical habit,  attiring  him  in  the  knightly  dress  prepared  for 
him,  and  enjoining  him  to  let  his  beard  and  hair  grow,  that  no  one 
in  the  castle  might  know  who  he  was.  The  attendants  of  the  cas- 
tle of  Wartburg  were  to  know  the  prisoner  only  by  the  name  of 
knight  George.  Luther  scarcely  recognized  himself  under  his  sin- 
gular metamorphosis.  Left  at  length  to  his  meditations,  he  had 
leisure  to  revolve  the  extraordinary  events  that  had  befallen  him  at 
Worms,  the  uncertain  future  that  awaited  him,  and  his  new  and 
strange  abode. 

During  the  ten  months  of  the  reformer's  captivity,  the  knight 
George  was  not  idle.  In  the  castle  of  Wartburg,  Luther  composed 
works  which  mightily  tended  to  shake  the  Romish  power  in  Ger- 
many. Auricular  confession,  private  masses  and  monastic  vows, 
were  the  themes  on  which  his  resistless  eloquence  was  employed. 
He  held  them  up  to  the  indignant  reprobation  of  men,  and  satisfac- 


chap,  ix.]   POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  471 

Translates  the  New  Testament.  Returns  to  Wittemberg.  Dies  peacefully  on  his  bed. 

torily  proved  that  they  are  alike  opposed  to  the  word  of  God  and  to 
Christian  freedom.  But  his  greatest  work  was  the  translation  of  the 
New  Testament  into  the  German  language.  That  also  was  execut- 
ed at  Wartburg.  It  is  the  noblest  monument  of  his  genius,  and 
was  the  most  precious  gift  that  Germany  had  yet  received.  The 
volume  was  published  in  September,  1522,  and  was  received  with 
gratitude  and  joy  by  those  who  loved  the  truth  ;  but  it  was  denoun- 
ced, vilified,  and  in  many  places  publicly  burned  by  the  bigoted  Ro- 
manists. 

§  104. — At  length,  Luther  left  his  retreat,  and  arrived  at  Wittem- 
berg,  on  the  6th  of  March,  1522,  where  he  was  joyfully  received 
by  his  beloved  Melancthon,  and  other  fellow-laborers  in  the  work 
of  reformation,  and  immediately  resumed  his  former  labors  with  ac- 
ceptance and  success.  The  imperial  edict  had  proved  as  harmless 
against  him  as  the  papal  bulls,  and  notwithstanding  his  being  placed 
under  the  ban  of  the  empire,  by  which  all  were  forbidden  to  give 
him  food  or  shelter,  and  authorized  to  seize  his  person  wherever  he 
might  be  found,  no  one  presumed  to  molest  him.  There  seemed  to 
be  a  shield  of  divine  protection  continually  around  him,  and  on  it 
inscribed  in  characters  which  made  even  his  popish  enemies  to 
falter,  "  Touch  not  mine  anointed,  and  do  my  prophet  no  harm." 

The  history  of  the  remaining  years  of  Luther's  life,  of  the  rapid 
progress  of  his  opinions  in  Germany,  France,  Switzerland,  and 
England,  and  other  countries  ;  of  the  diets  of  Nuremburg,  Spires, 
and  Augsburg,  and  the  protest  of  the  reformers  against  the  deci- 
sions of  Spires,*  seem  to  belong  rather  to  a  history  of  the  Reforma- 
tion than  of  Romanism.  It  will  be  sufficient  here  to  add,  that  in 
spite  of  all  the  rage  of  his  adversaries,  Luther  continued  for  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century  after  his  return  from  his  Patmos  (as  he  was 
accustomed  to  call  it)  at  Wartburg,  to  advocate  those  doctrines  for 
which  he  had  made  so  noble  a  stand  before  the  crowned  and  mitred 
heads  of  the  diet  at  Worms,  and  with  redoubled  energy  to  expose 
the  abominations,  and  attack  the  corruptions  of  apostate  Rome. 
Luther  died  peacefully  and  triumphantly  in  his  bed  on  the  18th 
of  February,   1546,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age,f  and   the 

*  In  the  year  1526,  a  diet  of  the  empire  had  been  held  at  Spires,  which  granted 
liberty  to  the  reformers  of  holding  their  opinions  till  a  general  council,  notwith- 
standing the  clamors  of  the  popish  party  for  the  execution  of  the  edict  of  Worms, 
against  Luther  and  his  friends.  In  1529,  a  second  diet  was  held  at  Spires,  in 
which  the  popish  party  triumphed.  The  decisions  of  the  former  diet  of  Spires 
were  revoked,  and  the  mass  was  ordered  to  be  restored  to  the  churches.  Against 
this  decree,  the  reformers  entered  their  solemn  protest,  and  from  this  circumstance 
were  called  frotestants. 

f  For  seme  few  years  before  his  death,  Luther  had  suffered  much  from  disease. 
His  popish  enemies  hoped  every  day  he  would  die,  and  about  a  year  before  his 
death,  a  pamphlet  was  published  at  Naples,  to  inform  the  world  that  Luther  was 
dead,  and  giving  the  particulars  of  his  end.  In  this  ebullition  of  popish  malignity, 
it  was  asserted  that  Luther  had  spent  his  time  in  gluttony  and  drunkenness,  and 
blaspheming  the  Pope  ;  that  upon  the  approach  of  death  he  had  received  the  sacra- 


472  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Circumstances  of  Luther's  death.  Ignatius  LoyaJa,  the  founder  of  the  Jesuits. 

anti-Christian  church  of  Rome  never  has,  and  never  can,  recover  from 
the  blow  struck  by  the  German  reformer,  till  the  voice  of  pro- 
phecy is  fulfilled  and  the  triumphant  shout  of  the  angel  of  the  Reve- 
lation is  heard,  "  Babylon  the  great  is  fallen,  is  fallen." 

§  105. — Contemporary  with  the  great  reformer,  another  remark- 
able individual,  but  of  an  entirely  opposite  character,  appeared  in 
Spain,  and  five  years  previous  to  the  death  of  Luther,  succeeded  in 
establishing  a  Society  which  exerted  a  mighty  influence  on  be- 
half of  the  papacy  in  after  generations,  the  celebrated  order  of  the 
Jesuits.  This  was  Ignatius  Loyala,  who  was  born  in  1491,  and 
was  consequently  eight  years  younger  than  Luther.  In  early  life, 
Loyala  was  a  soldier  and  a  warrior,  infected  with  all  the  vices  that 
are  so  common  in  camps.  At  about  the  age  of  thirty,  he  received 
a  severe  wound  in  the  leg,  at  the  siege  of  Pampeluna,  in  the  war  be- 
tween the  emperor  Charles  V.,  and  the  French  king,  Francis  I. 
During  the  lingering  sickness  which  ensued  upon  this  wound,  he  em- 
ployed himself  in  reading  books  of  romance  and  chivalry,  and  the 
lives  of  the  Saints,  till  combining  the  two  ideas  of  chivalry  and  de- 
votion to  the  Virgin,  he  resolved  to  become  a  knight  errant  in 
the  cause  of  "  our  Blessed  Lady." 

Full  of  this  idea  he  arose  from  his  bed  an  altered  man.  The 
soldier  had  become  a  Saint.  He  betook  himself  to  study,  self-mor- 
tification and  penance.  He  journeyed  to  Italy,  to  Jerusalem,  and 
there,  on  the  spot,  where  Christ  was  crucified,  claimed  to  have  re- 
ceived from  the  Saviour  himself,  a  revelation,  that  he  should  found 

ment,  and  immediately  died ;  but  the  consecrated  wafer  had  leaped  out  of  the 
stomach  of  the  arch-heretic,  and  to  the  astonishment  of  all  beholders,  remained 
suspended  in  the  air  (!)  ;  that  the  morning  after  he  was  buried,  the  tomb  was  found 
empty,  but  such  an  intolerable  smell,  and  such  an  odor  of  burnt  brimstone  came 
from  it,  that  it  made  everybody  sick  who  came  near  it,  whereupon  many  fearing 
the  Devil  would  in  like  manner  come  and  steal  their  dead  bodies  out  of  their  graves, 
repented  and  joined  the  Catholic  church  !  !  A  copy  of  this  pamphlet  was  sent  to 
Luther  by  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  with  which  the  reformer  was  very  much 
amused,  and  in  reply,  only  expressed  his  joy  that  "  the  Devil  and  his  crew,"  the 
Pope  and  the  papists,  hated  him  so  heartily. 

Luther  died  during  a  visit  to  his  native  village  of  Eisleben.  About  the  last 
words  he  uttered  were,  "  O,  heavenly  father,  although  this  body  is  breaking  away 
from  me,  and  I  am  departing  from  this  life,  yet  I  certainly  know  I  shall  for  ever  be 
with  thee,  for  no  one  can  pluck  me  out  of  thy  hand."  Dr.  Jonas  said  to  him, 
"  Most  beloved  father,  do  you  still  hold  on  to  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  our  Saviour 
and  Redeemer  ?"  His  fading  countenance  once  more  brightened,  his  clear  blue 
eyes  sparkled  with  intelligence,  and  he  replied,  in  a  distinct  and  thrilling  tone,  "  O 
yes  !"  These  were  the  last  words  he  was  heard  to  utter.  An  affecting  incident 
occurred  just  as  he  breathed  his  last.  One  of  the  old  men  of  the  village  in  at- 
tendance, who,  nearly  sixty  years  before,  had  often  carried  the  favorite  little  Martin 
to  school  in  bad  weather,  forgetting  in  that  moment  the  mighty  reformer,  and  think- 
ing only  of  the  friend  of  his  aged  heart,  putting  his  withered  face  to  the  cheek  of  the 
departed  Luther,  and  his  arm  across  his  bosom,  exclaimed  in  the  plaintive  notes  of 
his  childhood,  "  Martin,  dear  Martin,  do  speak  to  me  once  more  !"  But  there  was 
no  reply.  The  mighty  spirit  had  fled,  and  Luther  was  in  the  presence  of  that 
Saviour  whom  he  had  ardently  loved  and  faithfully  served.  (See  an  interesting 
article  on  the  last  days  and  death  of  Luther,  in  the  Biblical  Repository  and  Clas- 
sical Review  for  April,  1845,/rwn  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  Professor  Stowe.D.  D.) 


CHAP,  ix.]   POPERY  ON  A  TOTTERING  THRONE— A.  D.  1303-1545.  473 


Pope  Paul  III.  sanctions  the  order  of  the  Jesuits.    Popish  parallel  between  the  Jesuit  and  the  Reformer. 

a  new  order,  to  be  called, "  the  Society  of  Jesus."  Returning  home, 
he  was  joined  by  Lainez  (the  second  general  of  the  order),  Francis 
Xavier.  Salmeron,  Bobadilla,  Rodriguez  and  Le  Fevre,  and  in  1534. 
these  seven  united  in  recording  their  solemn  vow  at  the  altar  of  St. 
Denys,  in  the  city  of  Paris.  Six  years  afterwards  (A.  D.  1540),  a 
bull  was  granted  by  pope  Paul  III.,  sanctioning  the  order  of  the  Je- 
suits, granting  to  the  members  the  most  ample  privileges,  and  appoint- 
ing Ignatius  Loyala,  the  first  general  of  the  order,  with  almost  des- 
potic power  over  its  members.  In  return,  Ignatius  and  his  follow- 
ers were  to  render  unlimited  obedience  to  the  Pope,  and  to  hold 
themselves  in  readiness,  at  a  moment's  notice,  to  go  to  any  part  of 
the  world  to  advance  the  interests  and  to  promote  the  designs  of  the 
Holy  See ;  and  the  wily  pontiff  was  too  sagacious  not  to  perceive 
the  immense  value  of  such  an  army  of  obedient  soldiers  to  fight  his 
battles  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  since  the  terrible  blow  inflicted  on 
the  papacy  by  the  efforts  of  Luther  and  his  associates,  in  the  work 
of  reformation.  Thus  was  originated  a  Society,  which  has  filled  a 
large  share  in  the  history  of  the  world  for  the  last  three  centuries, 
and  which,  after  passing  through  many  reverses,  still  exists  ;  an  ever 
active  and  almost  omnipresent  instrument  of  papal  despotism  ;  the 
secret,  insinuating,  but  ever-watchful  and  vigilant  foe  to  freedom, 
civil  or  religious,  and  to  the  pure  and  unadulterated  gospel  of 
Christ. 

§  106. — The  following  parallel  between  Luther  and  Ignatius  Loy- 
ala, from  the  pen  of  Damianus,  a  bigoted  papist,  one  of  the  first  his- 
torians of  the  Jesuits,  may  be  regarded,  considering  the  source 
whence  it  proceeds,  as  the  highest  possible  eulogium  upon  the  Ger- 
man reformer.  It  is  taken  from  the  "  Synopsis  Historiae  Societ. 
Jes.,"  printed  in  1G40.  "  In  the  same  year,  1521,  Luther,  moved  by 
a  consummate  malice,  declared  war  openly  against  the  church  : 
Ignatius,  wounded  in  the  fortress  of  Pampeluna,  having  become  bet- 
ter, and,  as  it  were,  stronger,  from  his  wound,  raised  the  standard  in 

defence  of  religion. Luther  attacks  the  See  of  St.  Peter,  with 

insults  and  blasphemies  :  Ignatius,  as  if  to  undertake  his  cause,  is 

miraculously  cured  by  St.  Peter. Luther,  subdued  by  rage, 

ambition,  and  lust,  quits  a  religious  life  :  Ignatius,  eagerly   obeying 

the  call  of  God,  changes  from  a  profane  to  a  religious  life. 

Sacrilegious  Luther  contracts  an  incestuous  marriage  with  a  holy 
virgin  of  God :  Ignatius  binds  himself  by  a  vow  of  perpetual  con- 

tinency. Luther  contemns  all  the  authority  of  his  superiors : 

the  first  precepts  of  Ignatius,  full  of  Christian  humility,  are  to  sub- 
mit and  obey. Luther  declaims  like  a  fury   against  the  Holy 

See :  Ignatius  everywhere  supports  it. Luther  draws  as  many 

from  it  as  he  can  :  Ignatius  conciliates  and  brings  back  as  many  to 

it  as  he  can. All  Luther's  studies  and  enterprises  are  directed 

against  it :  Ignatius  by  a  special  vow,  consecrates  his  labors,  with 
those  of  his  associates,  to  it. Luther  detracts  from  the  venera- 
tion and  worship  of  the  sacred  rites  of  the  church  :  Ignatius  main- 
tains all  veneration  for  them. The  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  the 


474  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vi. 

Quotation  from  Damianus's  history  of  the  Jesuits.         His  comparison  of  Ignatius  Loyaln,  and  Luther. 

eucharist,  the  mother  of  God,  the  tutcjary  saints,  the  indulgences  of 
the  pontiff's,  and  the  things  attacked  by  Luther  with  such  fury,  were 
objects  which  the  industry  of  Ignatius  and  his  companions  was 
eagerly  and  continually  employed  in  seeking  new  modes  of  cele- 
brating.  To  this  Luther,  the  disgrace  of  Germany,  the  hog  of 

Epicurus,  the  destroyer   of  Europe,  the    accursed  portent  of  the 

universe,  the  abomination   of  God  and  men,  etc. God,  in  his 

eternal  wisdom,  opposed  Ignatius."* 

*  As  the  reader  may  be  gratified  to  see  the  identical  words  of  this  remarkable 
effusion  of  popish  bigotry,  the  original  Latin  is  subjoined.  "  Eodem  anno  vigesi- 
mo-primo,  adulta  jam  nequitia,  palam  ecclesiae  bellum  indixit  Lutherus  :  lapsus  in 
Pampelonensi  arce  Ignatius,  alius  ex  vulnere,  fortiorque   quasi   defendenda;    reli- 

gionis  signum  sustulit. Lutherus  Petri  sedem  probris,  convitiisque  lacessere 

aggreditur  :  Ignatius  quasi  ad  suscipiendam  causam,  a  S.  Petro  prodigiose  cura- 
tur. Lutherus  ira,  ambitione,  libidine  victus,  a  religiosa  vita  discessit :  Ig- 
natius Deo  vocante  impigre  obsecutus,  a  profana  ad   religiosam  transit. 

Lutherus  cum  sacra  Deo  virgine  incesta  nuptias  init  sacrilegas :  perpetual  conti- 

nentiae  voto  se  adstringit  Ignatius. Lutherus  cmnem  superiorum  contemnit 

auctoritatem :  prima  Ignatii  monita  sunt,  plena  christianae  demissionis,  subesse  et 

parere. In  sedem  apostolicam,  furentis  in  morem,  declamat  Lutherus  :  illam 

ubique  tuetur  Ignatius. Ab  ea  quotquot  potest  Lutherus  avertit :  quotquot 

potest  conciliat,  reducitque  Ignatius. Adversus  illam  minentur  omnia  Lutheri 

studia  atque  conatus  :  Ignatius  suos  suorumque  labores  peculiari  voto  ill i  conse- 

crat. Lutherus  sacris  ecclesiae  ritibus  venerationem,   cultumque  detraxit  : 

Ignatius  omnem  illis  reverentiam  asserit. Missa?que  sacrificio,  eucharistiae, 

Dei  parae,  tutelaribus  divis,  et  illis,  tanto  Lutheri  furore  impugnatis,  pontificum 
indulgentiis  ;  in  quibus  novo  semper  invento  celebrandis  Ignatii  sociorumque  desu- 

dat  industria. Luthero  illo  Germaniae  probro,  Epicuri  porco,  Europa;  excitio. 

orbis  infelici  portento,  Dei  atque  hominum  odio,  etc.,  aeterno  consilio  Deus  op- 
posuit  Ignatium."     (Damianus  Hist.  Soc.  Jes. —  Lib.  i.  Diss,  vi.,  p.  18.) 


BOOK   VII. 


POPERY    AT    TRENT. 


FROM    THE    OPENING    SESSION    OF    THE    COUNCIL    OF    TRENT,    A.  D.    1545,   TO   THE 
CLOSING    SESSION,   A.  D.    1563. 


CHAPTER  1. 

THE     FIRST     FOUR     SESSIONS.       PRELIMINARIES,    AND    DECREE    UPON    THE 
AUTHORITY    OF    TRADITION    AND    THE    APOCRYPHA. 

§  1. — At  the  time  of  Luther's  death,  the  fathers  of  Trent  had 
just  commenced  the  celebrated  council,  called  at  that  city  by  pope 
Paul  III.,  partly  with  the  professed  design  of  promoting  a  reform 
of  the  abuses  in  the  church,  and  of  the  morals  and  manners  of  the 
clergy,  which  was  so  loudly  demanded  ;  but  chiefly  for  the  pur- 
pose of  rooting  out  the  Lutheran  heresy ;  and,  in  opposition  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  German  reformers,  of  stating  and  defining  with 
more  exactitude  and  precision  than  ever  before,  the  doctrines  of 
the  Romish  church.  The  opening  session  of  the  council  of  Trent 
was  held  on  the  13th  of  December,  1545,  and  the  closing  session 
was  not  held,  till  the  month  of  December,  1563  (after  several  sus- 
pensions and  intermissions),  about  eighteen  years  from  its  com- 
mencement. The  council  of  Trent  is  the  last  general  council  ever 
held  by  the  Romish  church,  and  consequently  the  very  highest 
source  of  authority  as  to  the  present  doctrines  and  character  of 
Romanism.  In  the  present  chapter  we  shall  give  a  synopsis  of 
the  most  remarkable  doctrinal  decrees  of  the  different  sessions  of 
this  celebrated  council.* 

*  The  principal  original  authorities  for  the  history  of  the  council  of  Trent,  are, 
(1)  The  History  of  the  council  of  Trent,  by  Father  Paul  Sarpi,&  learned  Roman- 
ist, born  at  Venice,  in  1552,  and  died  in  1623,  aged  71.  The  work  was  first 
printed  at  London,  in  Italian,  in  1619,  and  in  Latin  in  1620.  The  English  edition 
which  I  have  used,  "  translated  out  of  Italian  by  a  person  of  quality,"  is  that  of 
London,  1676.  The  work  of  Father  Paul  was  regarded  by  the  Pope  as  too  favor- 
able to  protestants,  and  he  was  called  by  some  "  a  protestant  in  a  friar's  frock." 

(2.)  The  History  of  the  council  of  Trent  by  cardinal  Sforza  Pallavicini,  who 
was  born  in  1607,  and  died  in  1667,  aged  60,  a  bigoted  papist,  written  in  opposi- 
tion to  that  of  Father  Paul.  The  evident  partiality  and  bigotry  of  Pallavicini  ren- 
der him  an  unsafe  guide,  but  his  work  may  be  profitably  read,  in  connection  with 


47G  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vn. 


Question  whether  to  begin  with  doctrine  or  discipline.  Popery  t  jo  corrupt  to  be  reformed. 

§  2. — About  the  commencement,  an  important  question  arose,whe- 
ther  the  fathers  should  begin  with  the  subject  of  doctrine  or  of  disci- 
pline ;  whether  they  should  first,  for  the  sake  of  guarding  the  church 
against  the  growing  Lutheran  heresy,  discuss  and  accurately  define 
the  doctrines  which  every  true  son  of  the  church  must  receive  ;  or 
whether,  in  compliance  with  the  demands  that  reached  them  from 
every  quarter,  they  should  proceed  at  once  to  the  reformation  of 
the  notorious  abuses  in  the  church,  and  to  enact  laws  to  restrain  the 
acknowledged  immorality  and  profligacy  of  the  clergy.  The  em- 
peror Charles,  by  his  representatives  and  advocates  in  the  council, 
contended  earnestly  for  the  latter  course,  maintaining  that  the  refor- 
mation of  the  ecclesiastics  would  be  the  fittest  means  of  reclaiming 
men  from  heretical  depravity.  The  Pope  had  already  determined 
on  the  former,  and  had  instructed  his  legates  to  use  all  their  influ- 
ence to  settle  the  matters  of  doctrine,  before  they  turned  their  atten- 
tion to  matters  of  reform.  If  this  course  had  been  fully  adopted, 
years  would  doubtless  have  been  exclusively  occupied  in  splitting 
hairs  and  framing  decrees  on  doctrinal  subjects,  and  probably  the 
subject  of  reform,  so  much  dreaded  by  a  corrupt  Pope  and  priest- 
hood, have  been  crowded  out  altogether. 

As  it  was,  the  influence  of  the  Emperor's  party  was  sufficient  to 
secure  a  compromise  of  this  question,  by  the  adoption  of  a  plan 
proposed  by  the  bishop  of  Feltri,  that  some  subject  of  doctrine,  and 
some  subject  of  reform  or  discipline,  should  be  decided  in  each  ses- 
sion of  the  council.* 

Every  effort  was  employed  by  the  Pope  and  his  legates  to  defeat 
important  measures  of  reform  ;  and  the  little  that  was  done  on 
this  head  during  the  whole  session  of  the  council,  is  scarcely  worthy 
of  mention.  The  fact  is  that  Popery  had  become  a  mass  of  moral 
corruption — far  too  corrupt  indeed  to  admit  of  a  radical  reform, 
without  demolishing  the  whole  system;  and  the  insignificant 
attempts  at  reform  made  during  the  council,  in  matters  relative  to 
pluralities  of  benefices,  intrusions  of  mendicant  monks,  &c,  &c, 
were  like  attempting  to  cure  a  human  body  covered  all  over  with 
ulcers  from  the  mass  of  corruption  within  by  sticking  a  square  half 
inch  of  court-plaster  upon  one  or  two  of  the  sores.     Nothing  effec- 

that  of  Father  Paul.  The  best  edition  is  that  of  Rome,  two  vols.,  folio,  1656. 
For  an  able  dissertation  on  the  comparative  merits  of  Sarpi  and  Pallavicini,  see 
Ranke's  history  of  the  Popes,  appendix,  section  ii.,  pp.  437-448. 

(3.)  A  translation  of  Father  Paul's  work  into  French,  in  two  volumes,  folio, 
with  copious  and  valuable  notes,  reviewing  the  criticisms  and  cavils  of  Pallavicini, 
by  Pierre  F.  Courayer,  a  French  divine,  who  was  born  in  1681,  and  died  in  1776, 
aged  95.  The  title  of  this  valuable  performance  is,  "  Histoire  du  Concile  de 
Trente,  traduite  de  nouveau  en  Francois  avec  des  Notes  Critiques,  Historiques, 
et  Theologiques  par  Pierre  F.  le  Courayer,  D.D."  1736. 

The  most  valuable  accessible  history  of  the  council  of  Trent,  drawn  from  ac- 
curate original  sources,  with  care  and  skill,  is  that  of  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Cramp,  a 
work  which  I  cannot  recommend  too  highly,  and  to  which  I  would  take  this  oppor- 
tunity of  acknowledging  my  obligations  in  the  present  division  of  my  work. 

*  Pallavicini,  book  vi.,  chap.  7,  sec.  6 — 8. 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  477 

Ceremonies  of  opening.  Indulgences  promised  to  all  who  should  pray  for  the  council. 

tual  could  be  done  with  Popery  by  way  of  reformation,  but  by  dis- 
placing tradition  and  papal  dictation  from  the  throne,  and  restoring 
the  Bible  to  its  proper  place,  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  discipline  ; 
and  this  would  have  been  at  once  to  overturn,  from  the  very  foun- 
dation, the  whole  fabric,  and  to  establish  in  its  stead  the  doctrine 
and  discipline  of  Luther  and  the  reformation. 

The  decrees  of  the  council  of  Trent,  therefore,  are  chiefly  useful 
as  being  the  most  correct  and  authoritative  exposition  of  what  Po- 
pery was  in  the  Trentine  age,  and  what  it  still  continues  to  be. 
Passing  over  the  decrees  on  discipline,  which  are  of  very  little  im- 
portance, we  shall  proceed  to  cite  the  most  important  portions  of  the 
decrees  on  doctrines,  accompanied  with  such  historical  and  explana- 
tory remarks  as  may  be  necessary  to  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
whole.  The  portions  of  the  decrees  cited  will  be  in  the  original 
Latin  as  well  as  in  English,  to  guard  against  that  hacknied  resort  of 
Romanists,  the  charge  of  inaccurate  translation.  The  original  Latin 
of  the  decrees  is  copied  from  the  first  edition,  printed  at  Rome 
in  1564. 

§  3. — First  Session. — This  was  held,  as  already  remarked,  on 
the  13th  of  December,  1545.  Three  legates  had  been  appointed  to 
preside  in  the  name  of  the  Pope — the  cardinals  De  Monte,  Santa 
Croce  and  Pole.  Of  these,  De  Monte  was  the  president.  Much 
pomp  and  religious  solemnity  were  exhibited  on  the  occasion  of  the 
opening  of  the  council.  The  legates,  accompanied  by  the  cardinal 
of  Trent,  four  archbishops,  twenty-four  bishops,  five  generals  of 
orders,  the  ambassadors  of  the  king  of  the  Romans,  and  many 
divines,  assembled  in  the  church  of  the  Trinity,  and  thence  went 
in  procession  to  the  cathedral,  the  choir  singing  the  hymn  Veni  Cre- 
ator. When  all  were  seated,  the  cardinal  De  Monte  performed  the 
mass  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  at  the  end  of  which  he  announced  a  bull 
of  indulgences  issued  by  the  Pope,  promising  full  par-don  of  sin  to 
all  who  in  the  week  immediately  after  the  publication  of  the  bull  in 
their  respective  places  of  abode  should  fast  on  Wednesday  and  Friday, 
receive  the  sacrament  on  Sunday,  and  join  in  processions  and  suppli- 
cations for  a  blessing  on  the  council.  A  long  discourse  followed,  de- 
livered by  the  bishop  of  Bitonto.  After  this,  the  Cardinal  rose  and 
briefly  addressed  the  assembly ;  the  accustomed  prayers  were  offered, 
and  the  hymn  Veni  Creator  again  sung.  The  papal  bull  authorizing 
their  meeting  was  then  produced  and  read  ;  and  a  decree  was  una- 
nimously passed,*  declaring  that  the  sacred  and  general  council  of 
Trent  was  then  begun — for  the  praise  and  glory  of  the  holy  and 
undivided  Trinity — the  increase  and  exaltation  of  true  religion — the 
extirpation  of  heresy — the  peace  and  union  of  the  Church — the 
reformation  of  the  clergy  and  Christian  people — and  the  destruction 
of  the  enemies  of  the  Christian  name.  The  Pope  adopted  decisive 
measures  to  secure  his  authority,  and  prevent  all  intermeddling  with 

*  The  members  of  the  council  signified  their  assent  by  the  word  placet  (it 
pleaseth),  and  their  dissent  by  non  placet  (it  doth  not  please.) 


478  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vn. 


A  popish  bishop  declares  that  laymen  have  "  nothing  to  do  but  to  hear  and  submit." 

his  prerogative.  He  appointed  a  congi  egation  or  committee  of 
cardinals  to  superintend  the  affairs  of  the  council,  watch  its  pro- 
ceedings, and  aid  him  with  their  advice.  The  legates  were 
instructed  to  begin  with  the  discussion  of  disputed  doctrines  and  to 
treat  the  reformation  of  abuses  as  a  matter  of  secondary  moment ; 
notes  were  to  be  taken  and  transmitted  to  him,  of  any  observations 
relative  to  his  court,  the  reform  of  which  he  reserved  for  himself. 
To  all  letters  and  documents  his  own  name  and  those  of  the  legates 
were  to  be  prefixed,  that  it  might  appear  that  he  was  not  only  the 
author,  but  also  "  the  head  and  ruler"  of  the  council  :*  and  he  ap- 
pointed the  secretary  and  other  necessary  officers  without  consult- 
ing the  fathers,  or  permitting  them  to  exercise  their  undoubted  right 
of  election. 

§  4. — The  Second  Session  was  held  January  7th,  1546,  and 
was  chiefly  consumed  in  discussions  as  to  the  style  to  be  adopted 
by  the  council,  and  the  order  of  the  future  proceedings,  whether 
they  should  commence  with  doctrine  or  discipline.  Several  of  the 
members  of  the  council  desired  the  insertion  of  the  words  "  repre- 
senting the  universal  church."  In  the  debate  which  ensued,  the 
bishop  of  Feltri  observed,  that  if  the  clause  were  admitted,  the 
Protestants  would  take  occasion  to  say,  that  since  the  church  is 
composed  of  two  orders,  the  clergy  and  the  laity,  it  could  not  be 
fully  represented  if  the  latter  were  excluded.  To  this  the  bishop  of 
St.  Mark  replied,  that  the  laity  could  not  be  termed  the  church, 
since,  according  to  the  canons,  they  had  only  to  obey  the  commands 
laid  upon  them  ;  that  one  reason  why  the  council  was  called  was, 
to  decide  that  laymen  ought  to  receive  the  faith  which  the  church 
dictated,  icithout  disputing  or  reasoning  ;  and  that  consequently  the 
clause  should  be  inserted,  to  convince  them  that  they  were  not  the 
church,  and  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  hear  and  submit !  It  was 
finally  agreed  to  employ  the  words  oecumenical  and  universal  in  the 
designation  of  the  council. 

§  5. — The  Third  Session  was  celebrated  February  4th,  1546, 
and  nothing  was  done,  except  to  adopt  as  a  decree  of  the  council 
and  to  repeat  the  Nicene  creed.  It  was  objected  by  some  that  it 
would  be  very  ridiculous  to  hold  a  session  for  the  purpose  of  repeat- 
ing a  creed  1200  years  old,  and  which  was  universally  believed  ; 
that  it  would  be  of  no  service  against  the  Lutherans,  who  received 
it  as  well  as  themselves ;  and  that  the  heretics  would  take  occasion 
to  say,  and  with  good  reason,  that  if  that  creed  contained  the  faith 
of  the  church,  they  ought  not  to  be  compelled  to  believe  anything 
else.  Many  of  the  fathers  could  not  help  expressing  their  discon- 
tent, and  were  heard  complaining  to  one  another  as  they  left  the 
assembly,  that  the  negotiations  of  twenty  years  had  ended  in  com- 
ing together  to  repeat  the  belief ! 

§  6. — The  Fourth  Session  was  celebrated  on  the  8th  of  April, 
1546,  and  was  one  of  the  most  important  sessions  of  the  council. 

*  Pallavicini,  Lib.  v.,  cap.  16,  sec.  2. 


CHAP.   I.] 


POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563. 


479 


The  Council  places  Tradition  on  a  level  with  Scripture. 


So  do  the  Puseyites — note. 


In  this  session,  a  decree  was  passed  which  placed  tradition  upon  an 
equality  with  the  Scriptures — declared  the  boohs  of  the  Apocrypha  to 
be  a  part  of  the  word  of  God — elevated  the  Latin  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  called  the  Vulgate,  to  an  authority  superior  to  that  of  the 
inspired  Hebrew  and  Greek  originals,  and  enacted  severe  penal  laws 
against  the  liberty  of  the  press.  The  decree  passed  at  this  session 
was  divided  into  two  parts: — (1.)  Of  the  Canonical  Scriptures; 
(2.)  Of  the  Edition  and  Use  of  the  Sacred  Books.  In  quoting  from 
this  decree  I  shall,  for  the  sake  of  order  and  perspicuity,  prefix  head- 
ings in  italics. 

Tradition  declared  of  equal  authority  with  the  Scripture. 


Sacro-sancta  oecumenica  et  generalis 
Tridentina  Synodus,  in  Spiritu  sancto 
legitime  congregata,  prassidentibus  in  ea 
eisdem  tribus  Apostolical  Sedis  Legatis, 
hoc  sibi  perpetuo  ante  oculos  proponens, 
ut  sublatis  erroribus,  puritas  ipsa  Evan- 
gelii  in  Ecclesia  conservetur  :  quod 
promissum  ante  per  Prophetas  in  Scrip- 
turis  Sanctis,  Dominus  noster  Jesus 
Christus  Dei  Filius,  proprio  ore  primum 
promulgavit ;  deinde  per  suos  Apostolos, 
tanquam  fontem  omnis  et  salutaris  veri- 
tatis,  et  morum  disciplinae,  omni  creaturae 
praedicari  jussit :  perspiciensque  hanc  ve- 
ritatem  et  disciplinam  contineri  in  libris 
scriptis,  et  sine  scripto  traditionibus,  qua 
ab  ipsius  Christi  ore  ab  Apostolis  accep- 
ts, aut  ab  ipsis  Apostolis,  Spiritu  sancto 
dictante,  quasi  per  manus  traditag,  ad  nos 
usque  pervenerunt ;  orthodoxorum  Pa- 
trura  exempla  secuta,  omnes  libros  tarn 
veteris  quam  novi  Testamenti,  cum  utri- 
usque  unus  Deus  sit  auctor,  necnon  tra- 
ditiones  ipsas,  turn  ad  fidem,  turn  ad 
mores  pertinentes,  tanquam  vel  receptas 
a  Christo,  vel  a  Spiritu  sancto  dictatas, 
et  continua  successione  in  Ecclesia  Ca- 
tholica  conservatas,  pari  pietatis  affectu 
ac  reverentia  suscipit,  et  veneratur. 


The  sacred,  holy,  oecumenical  and 
general  council  of  Trent,  lawfully  as- 
sembled in  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  three 
before  mentioned  legates  of  the  Aposto- 
lic See  presiding  therein  ;  having  con- 
stantly in  view  the  removal  of  error  and 
the  preservation  of  the  purity  of  the 
gospel  in  the  church,  which  gospel,  pro- 
mised before  by  the  prophets  in  the  sa- 
cred Scriptures,  was  first  orally  published 
by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God,  who  afterwards  commanded  it  to 
be  preached  by  his  apostles  to  every 
creature,  as  the  source  of  all  saving 
truth  and  discipline  ;  and  perceiving  that 
this  truth  and  discipline  are  contained 

BOTH  IN  WRITTEN  BOOKS  AND  IN  UNWRIT- 
TEN traditions,  which  have  come  down 
to  us,  either  received  by  the  apostles 
from  the  lip  of  Christ  himself,  or  trans- 
mitted by  the  hands  of  the  same  apos- 
tles, under  the  dictation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  ;  following  the  example  of  the 
orthodox  fathers,  doth  receive  and  rever- 
ence, With  EQUAL  PIETY  AND  VENERATION, 

all  the  books,  as  well  of  the  Old  as  of 
the  New  Testament,  the  same  God  be- 
ing the  author  of  both — and  also  the 
aforesaid  traditions,  pertaining  both 
to  faith  and  manners,  whether  received 
from  Christ  himself,  or  dictated  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  and  preserved  in  the  Catho- 
lic church  by  continual  succession. 

This  placing  of  uncertain  Tradition  upon  an  equality  with  the 
Sacred  Scriptures  is  still,  of  course,  the  doctrine  of  Rome,  and  may 
be  regarded  as  the  grand  distinguishing  point  between  Popery  and 
Protestantism.  He  who  receives  a  single  doctrine  as  matter  of 
faith  upon  the  mere  unsupported  authority  of  tradition,  so  far  occu- 
pies the  popish  ground  defined  in  the  above  decree.* 

*  That  the  Puseyite  unites  with  the  Romanist  in  occupying  this  popish  ground, 
see  the  proofs  adduced  above,  page  67,  and  also  the  valuable  work  of  Bishop  MTi- 
vaine  upon  the  Oxford  divinity,  pp.  307 — 315. 


480 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  VII. 


Canon  of  Scripture  adopted  by  the  council,  including  the  apocryphal  books. 

§  7. — The  Apocryphal  books  placed  on  a  level  with  the  inspired 
Scriptures. 


Sacrorum  vero  librornm  indicem  huic 
decreto  adscribendum  censuit ;  ne  cui 
dubitatio  suboriri  possit,  quinam  sint,  qui 
ab  ipsa  Synodo  suscipiuntar.  Sunt  vero 
infra  scripti :  Tostampnti  veteris,  quin- 
que  Moysis,  id  est,  Genesis,  Exodus, 
Leviticus,  Numeri,  Deuteronomium  ;  Jo- 
sue,  Judicum,  Ruth,  quatuor  Regum,  duo 
Paralipomenon.  Esdrae  primus,  et  secun- 
dus,  qui  dicitur  Nehemias,  Tobias,  Ju- 
dith, Hester,  Job,  Psalterium  Davidicum 
centum  quinquaginta  psalmorum,  Para- 
bo^,  Ecclesiastes,  Canticum  cantico- 
rum,  Sapientia,  Ecclesiasticus,  Isa'ias, 
Jeremias  cum  Barucb,  Ezechiel,  Daniel, 
duodecim  Propheta?  minores,  id  est, 
Osea,  Joel,  Amos,  Abdias,  Jonas.  Mi- 
cheas,  Nahum,  Habacuc,  Sophonias,  Ag- 
gaeus,  Zacharias,  Malacbias  ;  duo  Ma- 
chabaeorum,  primus  et  secundus.  Testa- 
menti  novi,  quatuor  Evangelia,  secun- 
dum Matthaeum,  Marcum,  Lucam  et 
Joannem  ;  Actus  Apostolorum  a  Luca 
Evangelista  conscripti  :  quatuordecim 
Epistolae  Pauli  Apostoli ;  ad  Romanos, 
duEe  ad  Corinthios,  ad  Galatas,  ad  Ephe- 
sios,  ad  Philippenses,  ad  Colossenses, 
dua?  ad  Thessalonicenses,  duae  ad  Timo- 
theum,  ad  Titum,  ad  Philemonem,  ad 
Hebraos  ;  Petri  Apostoli  duas,  Joannis 
Apostoli  tres,  Jacobi  Apostoli  una,  Judas 
Apostoli  una,  et  Apocalypsis  Joannis 
Apostoli. 


Moreover,  lest  any  doubt  should  arise 
respecting  the  sacred  books  which  are 
received  by  the  council,  it  has  been 
judged  proper  to  insert  a  list  of  them  in 
the  present  decree. 

They  are  these  :  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, the  five  books  of  Moses, — Gene- 
sis, Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  and 
Deuteronomy  ;  Joshua ;  Judges  ;  Ruth  ; 
four  books  of  Kings;  two  books  of 
Chronicles  ;  the  first  and  second  of  Es- 
dras,  the  latter  is  called  Nehemiah ;  To- 
bit  ;  Judith  ;  Esther  ;  Job ;  the  Psalms 
of  David,  in  number  150  ;  the  Proverbs  ; 
Ecclesiastes  ;  the  Song  of  Songs  ;  Wis- 
dom ;  Ecclesiasticus ;  Isaiah  ;  Jeremiah, 
with  Baruch ;  Ezekiel ;  Daniel ;  the 
twelve  minor  Prophets, — Hosea,  Joel, 
Amos,  Obadiah,  Jonah,  Micah,  Nahum, 
Habakkuk,  Zephaniah,  Haggai,  Zecha- 
riah,  and  Malachi  ;  and  two  books  of 
Maccabees,  the  first  and  second.  Of  the 
New  Testament,  the  four  Gospels,  ac- 
cording to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and 
John  ;  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  written 
by  the  Evangelist  Luke  ;  fourteen  Epis- 
tles of  the  Apostle  Paul, — to  the  Ro- 
mans, two  to  the  Corinthians,  two  to  the 
Galatians,  to  the  Ephesians,  to  the 
Philippians,  to  the  Colossians,  to  the 
Thessalonians,  two  to  Timothy,  to  Titus, 
to  Philemon,  and  to  the  Hebrews  ;  two 
of  the  Apostle  Peter ;  three  of  the  Apos- 
tle John ;  one  of  the  Apostle  James : 
one  of  the  Apostle  Jude  ;  and  the  Reve- 
lation of  the  Apostle  John. 


Thus  did  the  apostate  church  of  Rome  add  unto  the  inspired  word 
of  God,  a  series  of  books,  the  writers  of  which  lay  no  claim  to  inspi- 
ration, and  which  possess  no  higher  title  to  that  distinction  than  the 
Metamorphoses  of  Ovid,  or  the  forged  popish  decretals  of  Isidore : 
thus  subjecting  itself  to  the  curse  pronounced  in  the  Apocalypse, 
upon  such  as  presume  to  add  to  the  word  of  God  :  "  For  I  testify 
unto  every  man  that  hcareth  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this 
book,  if  any  man  shall  add  unto  these  things,  God  shall  add  unto 
him  the  plagues  that  are  written  in  this  book."  (Rev.  xxii.,  18.) 

§  8. — The  motives  of  the  papists  in  giving  these  apocryphal 
books  a  place  in  the  canon  of  Scripture,  are  abundantly  evident 
from  the  use  which  they  make  of  them  in  establishing  some  of  their 
unscriptural  doctrines  and  practices.  Yet  so  entirely  opposed  arc 
the  passages  usually  cited  for  this  purpose  to  the  whole  tenor  of  the 
inspired  word  of  God,  as  to  be  sufficient,  of  themselves,  were  there 


chap,    i.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A  D.  1545-1563.  481 

Arguments  against  the  inspiration  of  the  Apocrypha— false  in  doctrine— immoral. 

no  other  arguments,  to  prove  that  they  are  not  inspired.  Two  or 
three  instances  of  this  only  can  be  given. 

(1.)  The  Apocrypha  teaches,  as  do  the  papists,  that  a  man  can 
justify  himself  and  make  atonement  for  his  sins  by  his  own  works  ; 
the  inspired  word  of  God  ascribes  justification  and  atonement 
wholly  to  the  merit  of  Christ's  righteousness,  and  the  efficacy  of  his 
sufferings. 

Apocryphal  Texts. — Says  one  of  these  writers  :  "  The  just,  which 
have  many  good  works  laid  up  with  thee,  shall  out  of  their  own  deeds 
receive  reward."     Tobit  xii.,  8,  9.    "  Prayer  is  good  with  fasting,  and 

alms,  and  righteousness." "  Alms  doth  deliver  from  death,  and 

shall  purge  away  all  sins.  Those  that  exercise  alms  and  righteous- 
ness shall  be  filled  with  life."  Ecclus.  iii.,  3.  "  Whoso  honoreth  his 
father  maketh  atonement  for  his  sins."  30.  "  Alms  maketh  atone- 
ment for  sins  !"  xxxv.,  3.  "  To  forsake  unrighteousness  is  a  pro- 
pitiation." 

Inspired  Texts. — To  show  how  entirely  these  texts  are  opposed  to 
the  inspired  word  of  God,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  cite  the  following 
two  as  specimens  of  hundreds,  teaching  the  same  glorious  doc- 
trine. Rom.  iii.,  24,  25.  "  Being  justified  freely,  by  his  grace, 
through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus  :  whom  God  hath 
set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation,  through  faith  in  his  blood"  Gal.  ii., 
16.  "Knowing  that  a  man  is  not  justified  by  the  works  of  the 
law  but  by  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  even  we  have  believed  in 
Jesus  Christ,  that  we  might  be  justified  by  the  faith  of  Christ,  and 
not  by  the  works  of  the  law  :  for  by  the  works  of  the  law  shall 

NO  FLESH  BE  JUSTIFIED." 

(2.)  The  apocryphal  book  of  Maccabees  teaches  the  popish  prac- 
tice of  praying  for  the  dead ;  which  is  opposed  to  the  whole  tenor 
of  God's  inspired  word,  and  never  once  hinted  at  in  a  single  pas- 
sage of  the  old  or  the  new  Testament  (2  Mace,  xii.,  43,  44).  "And 
when  he  had  made  a  gathering  throughout  the  company,  to  the  sum 
of  2000  drachms  of  silver,  he  sent  it  to  Jerusalem  to  offer  a  sin- 
offering,  doing  therein  very  well  and  honestly :  for  if  he  had  not 
hoped  that  they  that  were  slain  should  have  risen  again,  it  had  been 
superfluous  and  vain  to  pray  for  the  dead." 

(3.)  But  these  apocryphal  books  are  not  only  destitute  of  the  slight- 
est claim  to  inspiration,  they  are  also  immoral,  and  teach  and  com- 
mend practices  plainly  condemned  in  God's  word.  The  bible  con- 
demns suicide.  (Exodus  xx.,  13.)  The  book  of  Maccabees  com- 
mends as  noble  and  virtuous  the  desperate  act  of  Razis,  in  falling 
upon  his  sword  rather  than  suffering  himself  to  be  taken  by  the 
enemy  (2  Mace,  xiv.,  41,  &c).  The  bible  condemns  the  assassina- 
tion of  the  Shechemites,  in  language  of  just  severity  (Gen.  xlix.,  7). 
The  Apocrypha  highly  commends  this  base  and  treacherous  whole- 
sale murder  (Judith  ix.,  2,  &c).  The  bible  forbids  and  condemns 
magical  incantations  (Lev.  xix.,  26,  and  Deut.  xviii.,  10, 11,14).  The 
Apocrypha  represents  an  angel  of  God  as  giving  directions  for  such 
incantations,  by  the  heart,  liver,  and  gall  of  a  fish  (!)  in  a  ludicrous 


js-2  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  to 

Silly  apocryphal  story  of  incantation  by  a  fish's  liver.       Apocryphal  books  not  in  the  ancient  catalogue. 

and  contemptible  story,  fitter  for  the  Arabian  Nights'  Entertain- 
ments, or  the  Adventures  of  Baron  Munchausen,  than  for  a  book 
claiming  to  be  a  part  of  God's  word  (Tobit  vi.,  1-8).  "  And 
as  they  went  on  their  journey  they  came  to  the  river  Tigris,  and 
they  lodged  there  ;  and  when  the  young  man  went  down  to  wash 
himself,  a  fish  leaped  out  of  the  river,  and  would  have  drowned  him. 
Then  the  angel  said  unto  him,  take  the  fish.  And  the  young  man 
laid  hold  of  the  fish  and  drew  it  to  land.  To  whom  the  angel  said, 
open  the  fish,  and  take  the  heart  and  the  liver,  and  the  gall,  and  put 
them  up  safely.  So  the  young  man  did  as  the  angel  commanded 
him,  and  when  they  had  roasted  the  fish,  they  did  eat  it.  Then  the 
young  man  said  unto  the  angel,  brother  Azarias,  to  what  use  is  the 
heart  and  the  liver  and  the  gall  of  the  fish  ?  And  he  said  unto  him, 
touching  the  heart  and  the  liver,  if  a  devil,  or  an  evil  spirit  trouble 
any,  we  must  make  a  smoke  thereof  before  the  man  or  the  woman, 
and  the  party  shall  be  no  more  vexed.  As  for  the  gall,  it  is  good 
to  anoint  a  man  that  hath  whiteness  in  his  eyes  ;  he  shall  be 
healed."  In  the  same  book  of  Tobit,  the  angel  that  is  introduced, 
is  guilty  of  wilful  lying,  by  representing  himself  as  being  a  kins- 
man of  Tobit  (v.  12),  and  afterwards  contradicting  himself,  by  af- 
firming that  he  is  Raphael,  one  of  the  holy  angels  (xii.,  17).  It  is 
unnecessary  to  refer  to  the  silly  fable  of  Bel  and  the  dragon,  the 
ark  going  after  Jeremiah  at  the  prophet's  command  (2  Mace,  ii.,  4), 
the  story  of  Judith,  &c,  and  the  numerous  contradictions  and  ab- 
surdities that  are  found  in  these  books.  It  will  be  sufficient,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  above,  to  show  that  the  apocryphal  books  were  never 
admitted  into  the  canon  of  Scripture  during  the  first  four  centuries, 
that  the  writers  themselves  lay  no  claim  to  inspiration,  and  that 
even  popish  authors,  previous  to  the  council  of  Trent,  have  admit- 
ted that  they  did  not  belong  to  the  canon  of  scripture. 

(4.)  These  apocryphal  books  are  not  mentioned  in  any  of  the  earliest 
catalogues  of  the  sacred  writings ;  neither  in  that  of  Melito,  Bishop 
of  Sardis,  in  the  second  century,*  nor  in  those  of  Origen,f  in  the 
third  century,  of  Athanasius,J  Hilary,§  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,||  Epi- 
phanius,H  Gregory  Nazianzen,**  Amphilochius,ft  Jcrome,JJ  Rufi- 

*  This  catalogue  is  inserted  by  Eusebius  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History,  lib.  iv., 
c.  26. 

f  Ibid.,  lib.  vi.,  c.  25,  p.  399. 

I  In  his  Festal  or  Paschal  Epistle.  See  the  extract  in  Dr.  Lardher's  Works, 
vol.  iv.,  pp.  282—285.,  8vo.  ;  vol.  2,  pp.  399,  400,  4to. 

§  Prolog,  in  Psalmos,  p.  9.  Paris,  1693.  Lardner,  vol.  iv.,  p.  305,  8vo.  ;  vol. 
ii.,  p.  413,  4to. 

||  In  his  Fourth  Catechetical  Exercise.  Ibid.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  299,  8vo. ;  vol.  ii., 
p.  411,  4to. 

IT  In  various  catalogues  recited  by  Dr.  Lardner,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  312,  313,  8vo  ;  vol. 
ii.,  p.  409,  4to. 

**  Carm.  33.  Op.,  torn,  ii.,  p.  98.  Ibid.,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  407,  408,  8vo. ;  vol.  ii., 
n.    170,  4to. 

tf  In  Carmine  Iambico  ad  Seleucum,  p.  126.     Ibid.,  p.  413,  8vo. ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  473. 

\\  In  Praefat.  ad  Libr.  Regum  Bive  Prologo  Galeato.     Lardner,  vol.  v.,  pp.   16, 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  483 


Never  quoted  by  Christ  and  his  apostles.  Lay  no  claim  themselves  to  inspiration. 

nus,*  and  others  of  the  fourth  century  ;  nor  in  the  catalogue  of 
canonical  books  recognized  by  the  council  of  Laodicea,f  held  in  the 
same  century,  whose  canons  were  received  by  the  Catholic  church  ; 
so  that,  as  Bishop  Burnet  well  observes,  "  we  have  the  concurring 
sense  of  the  whole  church  of  God  in  this  matter."! 

(5.)  These  books  were  never  quoted,  as  most  of  the  inspired  books 
were,  by  Christ  and  his  apostles.  They  evidently  formed  therefore  no 
part  of  that  volume  to  which  Christ  and  his  apostles  so  often  referred, 
under  the  title  of  Moses  and  the  prophets.  There  is  scarcely  a  book  in 
the  Old  Testament,  which  is  not  quoted  or  referred  to  in  some  passage 
of  the  New  Testament.  Christ  has  thus  given  the  sanction  of  his 
authority  to  Moses,  and  the  Psalms,  and  the  prophets  ;  that  is,  to  the 
whole  volume  of  scripture  which  the  Jews  had  received  from 
Moses  and  the  prophets  ;  which  they  most  tenaciously  maintained 
as  canonical :  and  which  is  known  by  us  under  the  title  of  the  Old 
Testament.  But  there  was  not  one  of  the  apocryphal  books  so  ac- 
knowledged by  the  Jews,  or  so  referred  to  by  Christ  and  his 
apostles. 

(6.)  The  authors  of  these  books  lay  no  claim  to  inspiration,  and  in 
some  instances  make  statements  utterly  inconsistent  therewith. 
The  book  of  Ecclesiasticus,  which,  though  not  inspired,  is  superior  to 
all  the  other  apocryphal  books,  was  written  by  one  Jesus  the  son  of 
Sirach.  His  grandfather,  of  the  same  name,  it  seems,  had  written 
a  book,  which  he  left  to  his  son  Sirach ;  and  he  delivered  it  to  his 
son  Jesus,  who  took  great  pains  to  reduce  it  into  order  ;  but  he  no- 
where assumes  the  character  of  a  prophet  himself,  nor  does  he  claim 
it  for  the  original  author,  his  grandfather.  In  the  prologue,  he  says, 
"  My  grandfather  Jesus,  when  he  had  much  given  himself  to  the 
reading  of  the  Law,  and  the  Prophets,  and  other  books  of  our 
fathers,  and  had  gotten  therein  good  judgment,  was  drawn  on  also 
himself  to  write  something  pertaining  to  learning  and  wisdom,  to 
the  intent  that  those  which  are  desirous  to  learn,  and  are  addicted 
to  these  things,  might  profit  much  more,  in  living  according  to  the 
law.  Wherefore  let  me  entreat  you  to  read  it  with  favor  and  at- 
tention, and  to  pardon  us  wherein  we  may  seem  to  come  short  of 
some  words  which  we  have  labored  to  interpret.  Farther,  some 
things  uttered  in  Hebrew,  and  translated  into  another  tongue,  have 
not  the  same  force  in  them.  From  the  eight  and  thirtieth  year, 
coming  into  Egypt  when  Euergetes  was  king,  and  continuing  there 
for  some  time,  I  found  a  book  of  no  small  learning :  therefore  I 

17,  8vo. ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  540,  4to.,  and  also  in  several  of  his  prefaces  to  other  books, 
which  are  given  by  Dr.  L.,  vol.  v.,  pp.  17 — 22,  8vo.  ;  or  vol.  ii.,  pp.  540 — 543,  4to. 

*  Expositio  ad  Symb.,  Apost.  Lardner,  vol.  v.,  p.  75,  76,  8  vo. ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  573,  4to. 

f  Can.  59,  60.  Lardner,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  308,  309,  8vo. ;  vol.  ii.,  pp.  414,  415,  4to. 
Besides  Dr.  Lardner,  Bishop  Cosin,  in  his  Scholastical  History  of  the  Canon,  and 
Moldenhawer  (Introd.  ad  Vet.  Test.,  pp.  148 — 154),  have  given  extracts  at  length 
from  the  above  mentioned  fathers,  and  others,  against  the  authority  of  the  apocry- 
phal books. 

I  On  the  Sixth  Article  of  the  Anglican  church,  p.  111.  6th  edit. 
29 


484  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vri. 

The  author  of  the  Maccabees  disavows  inspiration.         A  temperance  argument  against  the  Apocrypha. 

thought  it  most  necessary  for  me  to  bestow  some  diligence  and 
travail  to  interpret  it ;  using  great  watchfulness  and  skill,  in  that 
space,  to  bring  the  book  to  an  end,"  &c.  These  avowals,  as  will 
be  seen  at  a  glance,  are  altogether  inconsistent  with  the  supposition 
that  this  modest  and  candid  author  wrote  under  the  direction  of  in- 
spiration. 

The  writer  of  the  second  book  of  the  Maccabees  professes  to 
have  reduced  a  work  of  Jason  of  Gyrene,  consisting  of  five  volumes, 
into  one  volume.  Concerning  which  work,  he  says,  "  Therefore  to 
us  that  have  taken  upon  us  this  painful  labor  of  abridging,  it  was 
not  easy,  but  a  matter  of  sweat  and  watching."  Again,  "  leaving 
to  the  author  the  exact  handling  of  every  particular,  and  laboring 
to  follow  the  rules  of  an  abridgment.  To  stand  upon  every  point, 
and  go  over  things  at  large,  and  to  be  curious  in  particulars,  belong- 
eth  to  the  first  author  of  the  story ;  but  to  use  brevity,  and  avoid 
much  laboring  of  the  work,  is  to  be  granted  to  him  that  maketh  an 
abridgment."  "  Is  anything  more  needed  to  prove  that  this  wri- 
ter did  not  profess  to  be  inspired  ?  If  there  was  any  inspiration  in 
the  case,  it  must  be  attributed  to  Jason  of  Cyrene,  the  original 
writer  of  the  history  ;  but  his  work  is  long  since  lost,  and  we  now 
possess  only  the  abridgment  which  cost  the  writer  so  much  labor 
and  pains.  Thus,  I  think  it  sufficiently  appears,  that  the  authors  of 
these  disputed  books  were  not  prophets  ;  and  that,  as  far  as  we  can 
ascertain  the  circumstances  in  which  they  wrote,  they  did  not  lay 
claim  to  inspiration,  but  expressed  themselves  in  such  a  way,  as  no 
man  under  the  influence  of  inspiration  ever  did."*  The  author  of 
this  book  concludes  with  the  following  words,  which  are  utterly  un- 
worthy of  a  person  writing  by  inspiration.  "  Here  will  I  make  an 
end.     And  if  I  have  done  well,  and  as  is  fitting  the  story,  it  is 

THAT  WHICH  I  DESIRED  ;    BUT  IF  SLENDERLY    AND    MEANLY,     IT  IS    THAT 

which  I  could  attain  unto.  For  as  it  is  hurtful  to  drink  wine  or 
water  alone  ;  and  as  wine  mingled  with  water  is  pleasant,  and  de- 
lighteth  the  taste  ;  even  so  speech  finely  framed  delighteth  the  ears 
of  them  that  read  the  story.      And  here  shall  be  an  end." 

(7)  There  is  one  additional  evidence  at  least,  that  this  book  is  not 
inspired,  to  be  drawn  from  the  silly  expression  just  quoted  that  "  it 
is  hurtful  to  drink  water  alone"  If  there  were  no  other  proof,  this 
single  expression  would  be  sufficient  to  show  that  God  was  not  its 
author,  especially  since  the  investigations  of  total  abstinence  so- 
cieties have  proved  that  cold  w^ater  alone,  instead  of  being  hurtful, 
is  the  most  healthful  beverage  which  can  be  used.f 

*  Alexander  on  the  Canon,  page  80. 

fThe  above  brief  sketch  of  the  evidences  which  prove  that  the  books  of  the 
Apocrypha  are  uninspired,  and  therefore  not  a  part  of  the  sacred  scriptures,  would 
not  have  appeared  in  the  present  work,  had  it  not  been  called  for,  by  the  fact  that 
Ftomish  priests  are  taking  advantage  of  the  general  ignorance  lhat  prevails  rela- 
tive to  the  Apocrypha,  to  inculcate  some  of  the  unscriptural  doctrines  of  their  apostate 
church  upon  the  authority  of  these  books.  In  a  recent  course  of  popular  lectures 
in  defence  of  the  doctrines  of  Popery  in  the  city  of  New  Yoik,  the  preacher  took 


chap,   ii.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1515-1563.  4S< 


The  curse  against  rejecters  of  tradition  or  the  Apocrypha.       Standard  authors  on  the  Apocrypha  (note). 

After  attentively  weighing  the  above  evidences,  that  the  apocry- 
phal books  possess  not  the  slightest  claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  part 
of  God's  word,  let  the  reader  peruse  the  following  additional  extract 
from  the  decree  of  the  council  of  Trent. 

The  curse  upon  those  who  refuse  to  receive  the  apocryphal  books  as 
inspired,  or  who  reject  the  authority  of  the  traditions. 

Si  quis  autem  libros  ipsos  integros  Whoever  shall  not  receive,  as  sacred 
cum  omnibus  suis  partibus,  prout  in  Ec-  and  canonical,  all  those  books  and  every 
clesia  Catholica  legi  consueverunt,  et  in  part  of  them,  as  they  are  commonly 
veteri  vulgata  Latina  editione  habentur,  read  in  the  Catholic  Church,  and  are 
pro  sacris  et  canonicis  non  susceperit ;  contained  in  the  old  Vulgate  Latin  edi- 
ct traditiones  prsedictas  sciens  et  prudens  tion,  or  shall  knowingly  and  deliberately 
contempserit ;  ANATHEMA  SIT.  despise  the   aforesaid  traditions  ;  LET 

HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 


CHAPTER  II. 

FOURTH  SESSION  CONTINUED.  LATIN  VULGATE  EXALTED  ABOVE  THE 
INSPIRED  HEBREW  AND  GREEK  SCRIPTURES.  PRIVATE  JUDGMENT  AND 
LIBERTY  OF  THE  PRESS  FORBIDDEN,  AND  A  POPISH  CENSORSHIP  OF 
THE    PRESS    ESTABLISHED. 

§  9. — The  second  part  of  the  decree  passed  at  the  fourth  ses 
sion  is  entitled,  "  of  the  edition  and  use  of  the  Sacred  books,"  and 
as  this  decree  authoritatively  declares  the  present  doctrine  of  the 
Romish  church  with  respect  to  the  Scriptures,  I  shall  quote  the 
largest  part  of  it  in  three  divisions,  with  appropriate  headings. 

as  his  text  to  establish  the  doctrine  of  prayers  for  the  dead,  evidently  because  he 
could  not  find  one  in  God's  inspired  word,  2  Mace,  xii.,  43.  44,  above  cited.  He 
might  just  as  well,  in  the  estimation  of  protestants,  have  taken  a  text  from  the  his- 
tory of  Robinson  Crusoe  or  Sinbad  the  Sailor.  Yet  many  might  be  ensnared 
with  the  plausible  train  of  remark ;  "  If  these  books  are  not  inspired,"  say  the 
papists,  "  why  have  even  protestants  bound  them  up  in  their  bibles  ?"  And  to 
this  we  can  only  reply — why  indeed  ?  No  consistent  protestant  should  ever  pur- 
chase a  bible  with  the  Apocrypha.  Let  booksellers,  if  they  choose,  publish  these 
apocryphal  books,  and  let  readers  purchase  and  read  them  as  they  would  any  other 
curious  and  ancient  writings,  but  let  them  never  be  bound  in  the  same  volume 
with  God's  inspired  word. 

The  reader  who  would  examine  still  further  the  overwhelming  evidences  that 
the  apocryphal  books  are  uninspired  and  uncanonical,  is  referred  to  any  or  all  of 
the  following  works  : — Lardner's  works,  Vol.  v.  ;  Home's  Critical  Introduction,  Vol. 
i.,  Appendix  No.  v. ;  Alexander  on  the  Canon.  But  especially  the  recent 
valuable  work  entitled,  "  The  arguments  of  Romanists  on  behalf  of  the  apocrypha, 
discussed  and  refuted  by  Professor  Thornwall,  of  South  Carolina  College." 


486 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vn. 

A  mere  human  performance,  and  an  imperfect  one  too,  placed  above  God's  inspired  word. 


The  Latin  Vulgate  put  in  the  place  of  the  inspired  Hebrew  and 
Greek  Scriptures  as  the  only  authentic  word  of  God,  from  which  all 
translations  were  therefore  in  future  to  be  made,  and  to  which  all 
appeals  were  to  be  ultimately  referred. 

Insuper  eadem  sacro-sancta  Synodus  Moreover,  the  same  most  holy  coun- 

considerans    non   parum    utilitatis   ac-  cil,  considering  that  no  small  advantage 

cedere  posse  Ecclesiae  Dei,  si  ex  omni-  will  accrue  to  the  church  of  God,  if  of 

bus  Latinis  editionibus,  quae  circumfe-  all   the   Latin   editions   of   the   Sacred 

runtur,  sacrorum  librorum,  quasnam  pro  Book  which  are  in  circulation,  some  one 

authen'tica  habenda  sit,  innotescat,  sta-  shall    be   distinguished   as   that   which 

tuit,  et  declarat,  ut  haec  ipsa  vetus  et  ought  to  be  regarded  as  authentic — doth 

vulo-ata  editio,  quae  longo  tot  seculorum  ordain  and  declare,  that  the  same  old 

usu°in  ipsaEcclesia  probata  est,  in  pub-  and  Vulgate  edition  which  has  been 

licis   lectionibus,    disputationibus,   prae-  approved  by  its  use  in  the  church  for  so 

dicationibus,  et  expositionibus  pro  au-  many  ages,  shall  be  held  as  authentic,  in 

thentica  habeatur  ;  et  ut  nemo  illam  re-  all  public  lectures,  disputations,  sermons, 

jicere  quovis  pratextu  audeat  vel  pree-  and  expositions;  and  that  no  one  sliall 

sumat.  dare  or  presume  to  reject  it,  under  any 

pretence  whatsoever. 

Thus  were  the  ipsissima  verba,  the  very  words,  in  the 
original  Hebrew  and  Greek,  which  were  dictated  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  thrown  aside  by  the  council  of  Trent,  and  a  mere  human 
performance  substituted  in  their  place,  viz.,  the  Latin  translation 
of  Jerome,  which  many  of  the  most  learned  Romanists  have  ac- 
knowledged to  abound  with  errors.  The  learned  Roman  Catholic, 
Dr.  Jahm  confesses  that  in  translating  the  Scriptures  into  the  Vul- 
gate Latin,  Jerome  "  did  not  invariably  give  what  he  himself  be- 
lieved to  be  the  best  translation  of  the  original,  but  occasionally,  as 
he  confesses  {Prof,  ad  Com.  in  Eccles.)  followed  the  Greek  trans- 
lators, although  he  was  aware  that  they  had  often  erred  through 
negligence,  because  he  was  apprehensive  of  giving  umbrage  to  his 
readers  by  too  wide  a  departure  from  the  established  version ;  and 
therefore  we  find  that,  in  his  commentaries,  he  sometimes  corrects 
his  own  translation.  Sometimes,  too,  he  has  substituted  a  worse  in 
place  of  the  old  translation."  In  another  place,  Dr.  Jahn  adds  as 
follows :  "  The  universal  admission  of  this  version  throughout  the 
vast  extent  of  the  Latin  church  multiplied  the  copies  of  it,  in  the 
transcription  of  which  it  became  corrupted  with  many  errors. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  eighth  or  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury, it  was,  at  the  command  of  Charlemagne,  corrected  by  Alcuin 
from  the  Hebrew  text.  This  recension  was  either  not  widely  pro- 
pagated, or  was  again  infected  with  errors ;  for  which  reason  Lan- 
franc,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  died  in  1089,  caused  some 
copies  to  be  again  corrected.  Nevertheless,  cardinal  Nicholas, 
about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  found  '  tot  exemplaria  quot 
codices'  (as  many  copies  as  manuscripts),  and  therefore  prepared  a 
correct  edition." 

In  the  year  1540,  the  celebrated  printer,  Robert  Stephens, 
printed  an  edition  of  the  Vulgate  with  the  various  readings  of 
three  editions  and  fourteen  manuscripts.     "  This  again,"  says  Dr. 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  487 

The  two  infallible  papal  editions  of  the  Vulgate  with  2000  variations  between  them. 

Jahn,  "  was  compared  by  Hentenius  with  many  other  manuscripts 
and  editions,  and  he  added  the  various  readings  to  an  edition  pub- 
lished at  Lou  vain  in  1547.  This  edition  was  frequently  reprinted, 
and  was  published  at  Antwerp  in  1580,  and  again  in  1585,  en- 
riched with  many  more  various  readings,  obtained  by  a  new  colla- 
tion of  manuscripts  by  the  divines  of  Louvain."* 

§  10. — As  the  Vulgate  was  thus  exalted  by  the  council  of  Trent  to 
the  place  of  the  inspired  original,  it  was,  of  course,  necessary  to 
prepare  an  authorized  edition  of  this  Latin  version  on  account  of 
the  innumerable  variations  in  the  different  editions  of  the  Vulgate 
issued  previous  to  that  time.  To  effect  this  object,  pope  Sixtus  V. 
commanded  a  new  revision  of  the  text  to  be  made,  and  corrected  the 
proofs  himself  of  an  edition  which  was  published  at  Rome  in  1590, 
and  proclaimed,  by  his  infallible  papal  authority,  to  be  the  authentic 
and  unalterable  standard  of  Scripture. 

It  was  very  soon  discovered,  however,  that  this  edition  abounded 
with  errors,  though  it  had  been  accompanied  by  a  bull,  enjoining 
its  universal  reception,  and  forbidding  the  slightest  alterations,  un- 
der pain  of  the  most  dreadful  anathemas. 

The  popish  dignitaries  thus  found  themselves  in  a  most  em- 
barrassing predicament,  and  that  whichever  horn  of  the  painful 
dilemma  they  choose,  if  the  facts  only  became  known,  it  would  be 
equally  fatal'to  themselves  !  *  Either  this  edition  must  be  maintain- 
ed as  a  standard  with  thousands  of  glaring  errors,  or  infallibility 
must  be  shown  to  be  fallible,  by  the  correction  of  these  errors.  To 
make  the  best  of  a  bad  thing,  the  edition,  as  far  as  possible,  was 
called  in,  and  a  more  correct  edition  issued  by  pope  Clement  VIII. 
in  1592,  accompanied  by  a  similar  bull.  Happily  for  the  cause  of 
truth,  the  popish  doctors  were  unable  to  effect  an  entire  destruc- 
tion of  the  edition  of  Sixtus.  It  is  now  exceedingly  rare,  but  there 
is  a  copy  of  it  in  the  Bodleian  library  at  Oxford,  and  another  in 
the  royal  library  at  Cambridge. 

The  learned  Dr.  James,  who  was  keeper  of  the  Bodleian  li- 
brary, compared  the  editions  of  Sixtus  and  Clement,  and  exposed 
the  variations  between  the  two  in  a  book  which  he  called,  from  the 
opposition  between  them,  Bellum  Papale,  i.  e.  the  Papal  War.  In 
this  work  Dr.  James  notices  2000  variations,  some  of  whole  verses, 
and  many  others  clearly  and  decidedly  contradictory  to  each  other. 
Yet  both  editions  were  respectively  declared  to  be  authentic  by  the 
same  plenitude  of  knowledge  and  power,  and  both  guarded  against 
the  least  alteration  by  the  same  tremendous  excommunication.f 

Dr.  Jahn  candidly  relates  the  facts  above  named,  and  makes 

*  See  Dr.  Jahn's  Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament,  sect.  62,  64. 

f  For  a  full  account  of  these  two  editions  of  the  Vulgate,  see  Dr.  Townley's 
illustrations  of  biblical  literature,  ii.,  168,  &c.  For  between  thirty  and  forty 
specimens  of  these  variations,  between  the  two  infallible  editions,  see  a  small 
work  published  by  the  present  author  in  1843,  entitled  "  Defence  of  the  protes- 
tant  Scriptures  against  popish  apologists  for  the  Champlain  Bible-burners,"  pp. 
45-48. 


488  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vn. 


Eighty  thousand  errors  in  the  Vulgate.  Laws  forbidding  private  judgment  and  liberty  of  the  press. 

the  following  remarkable  admission  : — •'  The  more  learned  Catho- 
lics have  never  denied  the  existence  of  errors  in  the  Vulgate  ;  on 
the  contrary,  Isidore  Clarius  collected  eighty  thousand."  It  is 
amusing  to  notice  the  embarrassment  caused  to  this  learned  Roman- 
ist, by  the  decree  of  the  council  of  Trent  establishing  the  authority 
of  the  Vulgate.  As  a  good  Catholic  he  was  bound  to  receive  that 
decree,  and  yet  his  learning  forbade  him  to  blind  his  eyes  to  the  errors 
of  that  version,  elevated  by  the  said  decree  to  a  higher  stand  than 
the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek  text.  The  attempt  of  Dr.  Jahn  to 
explain  the  decree  of  the  council  of  Trent,  so  as  to  reconcile  it 
with  his  own  enlightened  views  of  the  Latin  Vulgate,  exhibits  an 
amusing  specimen  of  ingenuity,  and  may  be  seen  in  his  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Old  Testament,  section  65. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add,  that  the  Rhemish  Testament, 
Douay  bible,  and  all  other  popish  versions  of  the  Scriptures  are 
made  (not  from  the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek,  but)  from  the 
above  imperfect  Latin  Vulgate  version  of  Jerome  ;  and  as  the  stream 
cannot  be  expected  to  rise  higher  than  the  fountain,  the  errors  of 
the  Vulgate  are  perpetuated  in  all  the  translations  made  from  it. 
True,  even  the  Douay  bible  is  better  than  none  :  but  Romish  priests 
are  afraid  to  let  even  that  be  given  to  their  blinded  adherents  with- 
out notes  to  prove  that,  wherever  it  condemns  their  anti-Christian 
system,  it  does  not  mean  what  it  says.  This,  however,  is  in  strict 
accordance  with  the  council  of  Trent,  which  we  shall  see  in  the 
next  extract  forbids  the  right  of  private  judgment. 

§  11. — The  right  of  private  judgment  in  reading  the  Scriptures 
prohibited,  and  its  exercise  punished.  The  next  extracts  which 
we  shall  quote  from  the  decree,  are  as  follows : — 

Praeterea,  ad  coercenda  petulentia  in-  In  order  to  restrain  petulant  minds, 

genia,  decernit,  ut  nemo,  sua?  prudential  the  council  further  decrees,  that  in  mat- 

innixus,  in   rebus   fidei,  et  morum,  ad  ters  of  faith  and  morals  and  whatever 

redificationem  doctrinae  Christians  perti-  relates  to  the  maintenance  of  Christian 

nentium,  sacram  scripturam  ad  suos  sen-  doctrine,  no  one,  confiding  in  his  own 

sus   contorquena,  contra  eum  sensum,  judgment,  shall  dare  to  wrest  the  sacred 

quern  tenuit  et  tenet  sancta  mater  Ec-  Scriptures  to  his  own  sense  of  them,  con- 

clesia,  cujus  est  judicare  de  vero  sensu  trary  to  that  which  hath  been  held  and 

et  interpretatione   Scripturarum  sancta-  still  is  held  by  holy  mother  church,  whose 

rum,  aut  etiam  contra  unanimem  con-  right  it  is  to  judge  of  the  true  meaning 

sensum  Patrum,  ipsam  Scripturam  sa-  and  interpretation  of  Sacred  Writ ;  or 

cram  interpretari  audeat ;  etiam  si  hu-  contrary  to  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 

jusmodi  interpretationes  nullo  unquam  fathers;  even  though  such  interpretations 

tempore  in  lucem  edendae  forent.     Qui  should  never  be  published.     If  any  dis- 

contravenerint,  per  Ordinarios  declaren-  obey,  let  him  be  denounced  by  the  ordina- 

tur,  et  pcenis  a  jure  statutis  puniantur.  ries,  and  punished  according  to  law. 

§  12. — The  liberty  of  the  press  authoritatively  forbidden. 

Sed  et  Impressoribus  modum  in  hac  Being  desirous  also,  as  is  reasonable, 

parte,  ut  par  est,  imponere  volens,  qui  of  setting  bounds  to  the  printers,  who  with 

jam  Fine  modo,  hoc  est,  putantes  sibi  li-  unlimited  boldness,  supposing  themselves 

cere  quidquid  libet,  sine  licentia  superi-  at  liberty  to  do  as  they  please,  print  edi- 

orum     ecclesiasticorum,     ipsos     sacra;  tions  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  with  notes 


II.] 


POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563. 


489 


The  decree  of  the  council  enacting  fines  and  penalties  for  exercising  the  liberty  of  the  press. 


Scripture  libros  et  super  illis  annota- 
tiones,  et  expositiones  quorumlibet  in- 
differenter,  szepe  tacito,  ssepe  etiam 
ementito  praelo,  et  quod  gravius  est,  sine 
nomine  auctoris  imprimunt;  alibi  etiam 
impressos  libros  hujusmodi  temere  ve- 
nales  habent ;  decernit,  et  statuit,  ut  post- 
hac  sacra  Scriptura,  potissimum  vero 
ha2C  ipsa  vetus  et  vulgata  editio,  quam 
emendatissime  imprimatur;  nullique  li- 
ceat  imprimere,  vel  imprimi  f'acerequos- 
vis  libros  de  rebus  sacris  sine  nomine 
auctoris ;  neque  illos  in  futurum  ven- 
dere,  aut  etiam  apud  se  retinere,  nisi 
primum  examinati  probatique  fuerint  ab 
Ordinario,  sub  poena  anathematis  et  pe- 
cuniae in  canone  Concilii  novissimi  La- 
teranensis  apposita.  Et,  si  regularcs 
fuerint,  ultra  exarninationem,  et  proba- 
tionem  hujusmodi,  licentiam  quoque  a 
suis  superioribus  impetrave  tencantur, 
recognitis  per  eos  libris,  juxta  formam 
suarum  ordinationum.  Qui  autemscrip- 
to  eos  communicant,  vel  evulgant,  nisi 
antea  examinati,  probatique  fuerint,  eis- 
dem  poenis  subjaceant  quibus  impres- 
sores.  Et  qui  eos  habuerint,  vel  lege- 
rint,  nisi  prodiderint  auctores,  pro  aucto- 
ribus  habeantur.  Ipsa  vero  hujusmodi 
librorum  probatio  in  scriptis  detur,  atque 
ideo  in  fronte  libri,  vel  scripti,  vel  im- 
pressi,  authentice  appareat :  idque  to- 
tum,  hoc  est,  et  probatio,  et  examen, 
gratis  fiat :  ut  probanda  probentur,  et 
reprobentur  improbanda. 


and  expositions  taken  indifferently  from 
any  writer,  without  the  permission  of  their 
ecclesiastical  superiors,  and  that  at  a  con- 
cealed or  falsely-designated  press,  and 
which  is  worse,  without  the  name  of  the 
author — and  also  rashly  expose  books  of 
this  nature' to  sale  in  other  countries  ;  the 
holy  council  decrees  and  ordains,  that 
for  the  future  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and 
especially  the  old  Vulgate  edition,  shall 
be  printed  in  the  most  correct  manner 
possible  ;  and  no  one  shall  be  permitted 
to  print,  or  cause  to  be  printed  any  books 
relating  to  religion  without  the  name  of 
the  author;  neither  shall  any  one  here- 
after sell  such  books,  or  even  retain  them 
in  his  possession,  tinless  they  have  been 
first  examined  and  approved  by  the  ordi- 
nary, under  penalty  of  anathema,  and 

THE   PECUNIARY  FINE  ADJUDGED    BY  THE 

last  council  of  Lateran.*  And  if 
they  be  regulars,  they  shall  obtain,  be- 
sides this  examination  and  approval,  the 
license  of  their  superiors,  who  shall  ex- 
amine the  books  according  to  the  forms 
of  their  statutes.  Those  who  circulate 
or  publish  them  in  manuscript  without 
being  examined  and  approved,  shall  be 
liable  to  the  same  penalties  as  the 
printers;  and  those  who  possess  or  read 
them,  unless  they  declare  the  authors  of 
them,  shall  themselves  be  considered  as  the 
author.  The  approbation  of  books  of 
this  description  shall  be  given  in  writ- 
ing, and  shall  be  placed  in  due  form  on 
the  title-page  of  the  book,  whether  ma- 
nuscript or  printed  ;  and  the  whole,  that 
is,  the  examination  and  the  approval, 
shall  be  gratuitous,  that  what  is  deserv- 
ing may  be  approved,  and  what  is  un- 
worthy may  be  rejected. 

The  above  extracts  from  this  decree  need  no  comment.  Let  it 
be  remembered  that  these  prohibitions  and  penalties  were  enacted 
by  the  last  general  council  of  the  Romish  church,  that  they  have 
never  been  repealed,  that  they  are  now  enforced  wherever  Popery 
has  the  power  to  enforce  them,  and  always  will  be,  wherever  that 
power  shall  be  possessed.  The  proofs  are  abundant  that  Popery 
hates  liberty  of  opinion  and  of  the  press,  as  much  in  the  nineteenth 
century  as  she  did  in  the   sixteenth,  when  these  laws  were   passed 


*  The  decree  of  the  council  of  Lateran  here  referred  to,  which  was  enacted  in 
1515,  was  to  this  effect  ;  that  no  book  whatever  should  be  printed  without  exami- 
nation and  license  by  the  bishop,  his  deputy,  or  an  inquisitor  ;  and  that  those  who 
offended  should  forfeit  the  whole  impression  of  the  book  printed,  which  should  be 
publicly  burnt,  pay  a  fine  of  100  ducats,  be  suspended  from  the  exercise  of  their 
trade  for  one  year,  and  lie  under  excommunication  !     (See  above,  p.  434.) 


490  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vn. 

Indignation  of  the  protestants  at  the  deer  es  of  the  council  upon  tradition,  the  Apocrypha,  &c. 

by  the  supreme  authority  of  the  church.  As,  however,  we  are  about 
to  transcribe  the  ten  rules  of  the  congregation  of  the  index  in  rela- 
tion to  prohibited  books,  no  comments  are  necessary.  Those  cele- 
brated rules  are  an  emphatic  commentary  upon  the  above  cited 
decree. 

§  13. — The  proceedings  of  the  council — says  Mr.  Cramp  (p.  57) — 
were  carefully  watched  by  the  protestants.  They  quickly  per- 
ceived that  it  was  altogether  under  the  control  of  the  Pope,  and 
would  issue  no  enactment  contrary  to  the  established  order  of  things 
at  Rome.  Several  publications  were  sent  forth,  declaratory  of  their 
views  and  feelings,  one  of  which  was  written  by  Melancthon.  In 
these  works,  while  they  expressed  their  willingness  to  abide  by  the 
decisions  of  a  council  composed  of  learned  and  pious  men,  eminent 
for  the  fear  and  love  of  God,  they  positively  refused  to  acknowledge 
the  authority  of  the  assembly  at  Trent.  Their  reasons  were  nu- 
merous and  weighty.  They  objected  to  the  presidency  of  the  Pope, 
he  being  a  party  in  the  cause  ;  to  the  Romish  prelates,  the  appointed 
judges,  many  of  whom  were  ignorant  and  wicked  men,  and  all  of 
them  declared  enemies  of  the  reformation,  but  especially  to  the 
rules  of  judgment  laid  down  in  connexion  with  Scripture,  and 
treated  with  equal  or  greater  deference — viz.,  tradition  and  the  scho- 
lastic divines. 

The  friends  of  the  departed  Luther,  who  had  just  been  gathered 
to  his  rest,  the  great  champion  of  the  Bible,  were  deservedly  indig- 
nant that  the  council  should  place  tradition  on  a  level  with  the  Scrip- 
tures, which  they  regarded  as  an  act  of  daring  impiety.  They 
were  surprised  to  hear,  that  several  books  which  had  ever  been 
regarded  as  of  doubtful  authority,  and  had  only  received  the  sanc- 
tion of  some  provincial  councils  and  of  two  or  three  popes,  should 
now,  without  examination,  be  ranked  among  the  acknowledged  pro- 
ductions of  inspired  men,  and  be  made  portions  of  the  Sacred  Vol- 
ume. Nor  were  they  less  astonished  and  surprised  at  the  decision 
respecting  the  Vulgate,  in  which  that  version,  though  confessed  to 
abound  with  errors,  was  made  the  authoritative  and  sole  standard 
of  faith  and  morals,  to  the  neglect  of  the  original  Greek  and  He- 
brew Scriptures.  Nor  were  the  free  spirits  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury less  indignant  that  so  insignificant  a  company  of  priests  and 
monks  should  endeavor,  by  restraining  the  liberty  of  the  press,  and 
appointing  a  censorship  of  popish  priests,  to  crush  the  germ  of 
inquiry,  to  strengthen  the  bonds  which  had  held  the  nations  so  long, 
and  to  cast  the  mantle  of  ignorance  over  the  population  of  a  whole 
continent.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore,  that  the  protes- 
tants looked  upon  the  council,  not  only  with  suspicion  but  disgust, 
and  positively  refused  to  submit  to  its  authority  or  decrees. 

During  the  continuance  of  the  council,  a  committee  was  appoint- 
ed, called  the  congregation  of  the  index,  whose  duty  it  was  to  pre- 
pare an  index  of  prohibited  books.  This  index  was  not  published 
till  March 24, 1564,  shortly  after  the  adjournment  of  the  council,  by 
pope  Pius  IV.,  to  whom  it  had  been  committed  by  the  council.    The 


chap,    ii.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  491 

The  teu  rules  of  the  index  of  prohibited  books.    These  rules  the  present  imperative  laws  of  Romanisrcn. 

folk/wing  ten  rules,  generally  called  "  the  rules  of  the  congregation 
of  the  index,"  are  here  given,  though  belonging  to  a  later  period  of 
the  council,  on  account  of  their  connection  with  the  subject  of  the 
present  chapter,  and  they  are  transcribed  entire,  on  account  of  their 
vast  importance,  as  illustrative  of  the  policy  of  the  church  of  Rome, 
in  repressing  as  much  as  possible  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  in  placing  restrictions  upon  the  freedom  of  the  press.  Let  it  be 
remembered  that  the  following  rules  are  the  present  imperative 
laws  of  the  Romish  church,  adopted  by  the  very  highest  authority 
in  that  church,  the  last  general  council,  and  sent  forth  to  the  world 
under  the  sanction  of  its  supreme  head,  pope  Pius.  These  rules 
are  the  laws  of  the  Romish  church,  in  precisely  the  same  sense  as  a 
statute  enacted  by  the  House  of  Representatives  and  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  and  signed  by  the  President,  becomes  the  law  of 
the  American  nation  ;  and  all  popish  bishops  and  priests  are  bound 
to  enforce  these  laws,  wherever  Popery  prevails,  to  the  very  utmost 
of  their  ability.  Let  the  protestant  lover  of  his  bible,  and  of  that 
glorious  bulwark  of  liberty,  the  freedom  of  the  Press,  pay  particu- 
lar attention  to  the  passages  marked  by  italics  or  capitals,  and  then 
say  whether  it  is  possible  for  freedom  to  exist  in  any  land  where 
Popery  is  the  predominant  religion,  and  the  priests  of  Rome  pos- 
sess the  power  to  enforce  these  laws  of  their  church. 

§  14. — The  ten  rules  of  the  congregation  of  the  index  of  pro- 
hibited books,  enacted  by  the  council  of  Trent,  and  approved  by  pope 
Pius  IV.  in  a  bull,  issued  on  the  24th  of  March,  1564. 

By  these  rules,  the  following  descriptions  of  books  are  con- 
demned and  prohibited  : — 

Regula    1.    Libri   omnes   quos    ante  Rule  \.  "  All  books  condemned  by  the 

annum  MDXV  aut  Sunimi  Pontifices,  supreme  pontiffs,  or  general    councils, 

aut  Concilia  oecumenica  damnarunt,  et  bet'oce  the  year  1515,  and  not  comprised 

in  hoc   indice   non  sunt,  eodem  modo  in  the  present  Index,  are,  nevertheless, 

damnati   esse    censeantur,    sicut    olim  to  be  considered  as  condemned 
damnati  fuerint. 

Regula  2.  Hasresiarcharum  libri,  tarn         Rule  2.    "The  books  of  heresiarchs, 

eorum    qui     post     prsdictum    annum  whether  of  those  who  broached  or  dis- 

hareses    invenerunt,    vel     suscitarunt,  seminated   their   heresies  prior   to   the 

quam  qui  hrereticorum  capita  aut  duces  year  above  mentioned,  or  of  those  who 

sunt  vel  fuerunt,  quales  sunt  Lutherus,  have  been,  or  are,  the  heads  or  leaders 

Zuinglius,    Calvinus,    Balthasar    Paci-  of  heretics,  as  Luther,  Zuingle,  Calvin, 

montanus,  Swenchfeldius,  et  his  similes,  Balthasar   Pacimontanus,    Swenchfeld, 

cujuscumque  nominis,  tituli  aut  argu-  and  other  similar  ones,  are  altogether 

menti     existant,    omnino    prohibentur,  forbidden,  whatever  may  be  their  names, 

Aliorum  autem  haereticorum  libri,  qui  titles,   or  subjects.     And  the  books  of 

de  religione  quidem  ex  professo  tractant,  other   heretics,   which    treat    professedly 

omnino   damnantur.     Qui  vero  de  re-  upon   religion,   are   totally  condemned; 

ligione  non  tractant,  a  Theologis  Catho-  but  those  which  do  not  treat  upon  re- 

licis,  jussu  Episcoporum  et  Inquisitorum  ligion  are  allowed  to  be  read,  after  be- 

examinati    et    approbati    permittuntur.  ing  examined  and  approved  by  Catholic 

Libri  etiam  Catholici  conscripti,  tarn  ab  divines,  by  order  of  the  bishops  and  in- 

aliis  qui  postea  in  haeresim  lapsi  sunt,  quisitors.      Those  Catholic  books  also 

quam  ab  il lis  qui  post  lapsum  ad  Eccle-  are  permitted  to  be  read,  which  have 

sis  gremium  rediere,  approbati  a  facul-  been   composed  by  authors  who  have 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[eook  VII. 


492 

Rules  on  prohibited  books  continued.       The  circulation  of  the  Bible  "will  cause  more  evil  than  good." 

tate  Theologica  alicujus  Universitatis 
Catholics,  vel  ab  Inquisitione  generali 
permitti  poterunt. 


Regula  3.  Versiones  scriptorum  etiam 
Ecclesiasticorum,  qua?  hactenus  edit® 
sunt  a  damnatia  auctoribus,  modo  nihil 
contra  sanam  doctrinam  contineant,  per- 
mittuntur.  Librorum  autem  veteris 
Testament!  versiones,  viris  tantum  doc- 
tis  et  piis  judicio  Episcopi  concedi  pote- 
runt :  modo  hujusmodi  versionibus  tam- 
quam  elucidationibus  Vulgatae  editionis, 
ad  intelligendam  sacram  Scripturam, 
non  autem  tanquam  sano  textu  utantur. 
Versiones  vero  novi  Testamenti,  ab 
auctoribus  prima?  classis  hujus  indicis 
factae  nemini  concedantur,  quia  utilitatis 
parum,  periculi  vero  plurimum  lectoribus 
ex  earum  lectione  manare  solet.  Si  qua? 
vero  annotationes  cum  hujusmodi  qua? 
permittuntur  versionibus,  vel  cum  Vul- 
gata  editione  circumferuntur,  expunctis 
locis  suspectis  a  facultate  Theologica 
alicujus  Universitatis  Catholicae,  aut 
inquisitione  generali  permitti  eisdem 
poterunt,  quibus  et  versiones.  Quibus 
conditionibus  totum  volumen  Bibliorum, 
quod  vulgo  Biblia  Vatabli  dicitur,  aut 
partes  ejus  concedi  viris  piis  et  doctis 
poterunt.  Ex  Bibliis  vero  Isidori  Clarii 
Brixiani  prologus  et  prolegomena  praci- 
dantur  :  ejus  vero  textum,  nemo  textum 
Vulgata?  editionis  esse  existimet. 


Regula  4.  Cum  experimento  mani- 
festum  sit,  si  sacra  Biblia  vulgari  lin- 
gua passim  sine  discrimine  permittantur, 
plus  inde,  ob  hominum  temeritatem,  de- 
trimenti,  quam  utilitatis  oriri,  hac  in 
parte  judicio  Episcopi,  aut  inquisitoris 
stetur:  ut  cum  concilio  Parochi  vel 
Confessarii,  Bibliorum  a  Catholicis  auc- 
toribus versorum  lectionem  in  vulgari 
lingua  eis  concedere  possint,  quos  in- 
tellexerint  ex  hujusmodi  lectione,  non 
damnum,  sed  fidei  atque  pietatis  aug- 
mentum  capere  posse,  quam  facultatem 
in  scriptis  habeant.  Qui  autem  absque 
tali  facultate  ea  legere  seu  habere  pne- 
sumpserit,  nisi  prius  Bibliis  Ordinario 
redditis,  peccatorum  absolutionem  per- 
cipere  non  possit.     Bibliopola?  vero,  qui 


afterwards  fallen  into  heresy,  or  who, 
after  their  fall,  have  returned  into  the 
bosom  of  the  church,  provided  they 
have  been  approved  by  the  theological 
faculty  of  some  Catholic  university,  or 
by  the  general  inquisition. 

Rule  3.  "Translations  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal writers,  which  have  been  hitherto 
published  by  condemned  authors,  are 
permitted  to  be  read,  if  they  contain 
nothing  contrary  to  sound  doctrine. 
Translations  of  the  Old  Testament  may 
also  be  allowed,  but  only  to  learned  and 
pious  men,  at  the  discretion  of  the  bishop ; 
provided  they  use  them  merely  as  eluci- 
dations of  the  vulgate  version,  in  order 
to  understand  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
not  as  the  sacred  text  itself.  But 
Translations  of  the  New  Testament 
made  by  authors  of  the  first  class  of 
this  Index,  are  allowed  to  no  one,  since 
little  advantage,  but  much  danger, 
generally  arises  from  reading  them.  If 
notes  accompany  the  versions  which 
are  allowed  to  be  read,  or  are  joined  to 
the  vulgate  edition,  they  may  be  per- 
mitted to  be  read  by  the  same  persons 
as  the  versions,  after  the  suspected 
places  have  been  expunged  by  the  theo- 
logical faculty  of  some  Catholic  uni- 
versity, or  by  the  general  inquisitor. 
On  the  same  conditions  also,  pious  and 
learned  men  may  be  permitted  to  have 
what  is  called  Vatablus's  Bible,  or  any 
part  of  it.  But  the  preface  and  pro- 
legomena of  the  Bible  published  by 
Isidorus  Clarius  are,  however,  excepted  ; 
and  the  text  of  his  editions  is  not  to  be 
considered  as  the  text  of  the  vulgate 
edition. 

Rule.  4.    "  Inasmuch  as  it  is  mani- 
fest  FROM     EXPERIENCE,   THAT    IF    THE 

Holy  Bible,  translated  into  the 
vulgar  tongue,  be  indiscriminately 
allowred  to  every  one,  the  temerity 
of  men  will  cause  more  evil   than 

GOOD    TO    ARISE    FROM    IT.    it    is,    on    this 

point,  referred  to  the  judgment  of  the 
bishops,  or  inquisitors,  who  may,  by  the 
advice  of  the  priest  or  confessor,  permit 
the  reading  of  the  blble  trans- 
lated into  the  vulgar  tongue  by 
Catholic  authors,  to  those  persons 
whose  faith  and  piety,  they  appre- 
hend, will  be  augmented,  and  not 
injured  by  it  *,   and  this  permission 

THEY    MUST    HAVE    IN  WRITING.       Bllt  if 

any  one  shall  have  the  presumption  TO 


CHAP,    n.] 


POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563. 


493 


Punishments  for  those  who  have  the  "presumption  "  to  read  or  sell  the  Bible  without  permission. 


praedictam  facultatem  non  habenti  Bib- 
lia  idiomate  vulgari  conscripto  vendi- 
derint,  vel  alio  quovis  modo  concesse- 
rint,  Hbrorum  pretium,  in  usos  pios  ab 
Episcopi  convertendum,  amittant,  aliis- 
que  pcenis  pro  delicti  qualitate  ejusdem 
Episcopo  arbitrio  subjaceant.  Regu- 
lares  veto  non  nisi  facultate  a  Praelatis 
suis  habita,  ea  legere,  aut  emere  pos- 
sint. 


Regula  5.  Libri  illi,  qui  haEreticorum 
auctorum  opera  interdum  prodeunt,  in 
quibus  nulla  aut  pauca  de  suo  apponunt, 
sed  aliorum  dicta  colligunt,  cujusmodi 
sunt  Lexica,  Concordantias,  Apophtheg- 
mata,  Similitudines,  Indices,  et  hujus- 
modi,  si  quae  habeant  admista,  quas  ex- 
purgatione  indigeant,  illis  Episcopi  et 
Inquisitores,  una  cum  Theologorum 
Catholicorum  concilio,  sublatis,  aut 
emendatis,  permittantur. 

Regula  6.  Libri  vulgari  idiomate  de 
controversiis  inter  Catholicos  et  haereti- 
cos  nostri  temporis  disserentes  non  pas- 
sim permittantur  :  sed  idem  de  iis  ser- 
vetur,  quod  de  Bibliis  vulgari  lingua 
scriptis  statutum  est.  Qui  vero  de  ra- 
tione  bene  vivendi,  contemplandi,  con- 
fltendi,  ac  similibus  argumentis,  vulgari 
sermone  conscripti  sunt,  si  sanam  doc- 
trinam  contineant,  non  est  cur  prohibe- 
antur ;  sicut  nee  sermones  populares 
vulgari  lingua  habiti.  Quod  si  hacte- 
nus  in  aliquo  regno  vel  Provincia  aliqui 
libri  sunt  prohibiti,  quod  nonnulla  con- 
tinerint  qua?  sine  delectu  ab  omnibus 
legi  non  expediat,  si  eorum  auctores 
Catholici  sunt,  postquam  emendati  fue- 
rint,  permitti  ab  Episcopo  et  Inquisitore 
poterunt. 


Regula  7.  Libri  qui  res  lascivas  seu 
obsccenas  ex  professo  tractant,  narrant, 
aut  docent,  cum  non  solum  fidei,  sed  et 
morum,  qui  hujusmodi  librorum  lectione 


READ     OR     POSSESS     IT     WITHOUT      SUCH 

written  permission,  he  shall  not  re- 
ceive absolution  until  he  have  first  de- 
livered up  such  Bible  to  the  ordinary. 
Booksellers,  however,  who  shall  sell,  or 
othenvise  dispose  of  Bibles  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  to  any  person  not  having  such 
permission,  shall  forfeit  the  value 
of  the  books,  to  be  applied  by  the  bishop 
to  some  pious  use ;  and  be  subjected  by 
the  bishop  to  such  other  penalties  as 
the  bishop  shall  judge  proper,  according 
to  the  quality  of  the  offence.  But  regu- 
lars shall  neither  read  nor  purchase 
such  Bibles  without  a  special  license 
from  their  superiors. 

Rule  5.  "  Books  of  which  heretics  are 
the  editors,  but  which  contain  little  or 
nothing  of  their  own,  being  mere  com- 
pilations from  others,  as  lexicons,  con- 
cordances, apophthegms,  similes,  in- 
dexes, and  others  of  a  similar  kind,  may 
be  allowed  by  the  bishops  and  inquisi- 
tors, after  having  made,  with  the  advice 
of  Catholic  divines,  such  corrections  and 
emendations  as  may  be  deemed  requi- 
site. 

Rule  6.  "Books  of  controversy  be- 
twixt the  Catholics  and  heretics  of  the 
present  time,  written  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  are  not  to  be  indiscriminately 
allowed,  but  are  to  be  subject  to  the 
same  regulations  as  Bibles  in  the  vul- 
gar tongue.  As  to  those  works  in  the 
vulgar  tongue,  which  treat  of  morality, 
contemplation,  confession,  and  similar 
subjects,  and  which  contain  nothing 
contrary  to  sound  doctrine,  there  is  no 
reason  why  they  should  be  prohibited  ; 
the  same  may  be  said  also  of  sermons 
in  the  vulgar  tongue,  designed  for  the 
people.  And  if  in  any  kingdom  or 
province,  any  books  have  been  hitherto 
prohibited,  as  containing  things  not 
proper  to  be  read,  without  selection,  by 
all  sorts  of  persons,  they  may  be  al- 
lowed by  the  bishop  and  inquisitor,  after 
having  corrected  them,  if  written  by 
Catholic  authors. 

Ride  7.  "  Books  professedly  treating 
of  lascivious  or  obscene  subjects,  or 
narrating,  or  teaching  them,  are  utterly 
prohibited,*   since,   not   only   faith  but 


*  We  suppose  this  rule  is  not  intended  to  apply  to  obscene  and  lascivious  books 
intended  for  the  instruction  of  candidates  for  the  priesthood,  or  for  examination  of 


494 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  VII. 


Rules  of  the  Index  continued. 


Further  restrictions  upon  the  liberty  of  the  press. 


facile  corrumpi  solent,  ratio  habenda  sit, 
omnind  proliibentur :  et  qui  eos  habue- 
rint,  severe  ab  Episcopis  puniantur. 
Antiqui  vero  ab  Etbnicis  conscripti, 
propter  sermonis  elegantiam  et  proprie- 
tatem  pennittuntur :  nulla,  tamen  ra- 
tione  pueris  pralegendi  erunt. 


Regula  8.  Libri  quorum  principale 
argumentum  bonum  est,  in  quibus  ta- 
men obiter  aliqua  inserta  sunt,  qua?  ad 
hasresim,  seu  impietatem,  divinationem, 
seu  superstitionem  spectant,  a  Catholi- 
cis  Theologis,  inquisitionis  generalis 
auctoritate,  expurgati,  concedi  possunt. 
Idem  judicium  sit  de  prologis,  suinma- 
riis,  seu  annotationibus  quae  a  damnatis 
auctoribus,  libris  non  damnatis,  appositae 
sunt:  sed  posthac  non  nisi  emendati 
excudantur. 


Regula  9.  Libri  omnes  et  scripta 
Geomantiae,  Hydromantiae,  Aeromantias, 
Pyromantiae,  Onomantias,  Chiromantias, 
Necromantiae,  sive  in  quibus  continentur 
sortilegia,  veneficia,  auguria,  auspicia, 
incantationes  artis  magica?  prorsus  re- 
jiciantur.  Episcopi  vero  diligenter 
provideant,  ne  astrologiae  judicariae  libri, 
tractatus,  indices  legantur,  vel  habean- 
tur,  qui  de  futuris  contingentibus,  suc- 
cessibus,  fortuitisve  casibus,  aut  iis  ac- 
tionibus,  quae  ab  humana  voluntate  pen- 
dent, certi  aliquid  eventurum  affirmare 
audent.  Permittuntur  autem  judicia,  et 
naturales  observationes,  qua?  naviga- 
tionis,  agricultural,  sive  medicas  artis 
juvanda?  gratia  conscripta  sunt. 


Regula  10.  In  librorum,  aliarumve 
scripturarum  impressione  servetur,  quod 
in  Concilio  Lateranensi  sub  Leone  X., 
Sess.  10,  statutum  est.  Quare,  si  in 
alma  urbe  Roma  liber  aliquis  sit  impri- 
mendus,  perVicarium  Summi  Pontificis 
et  Sacri  Palatii  Magistrum,  vel  per- 
sonas  a  Sanctissimo  Uomino  nostro  de- 


morals,  which  are  readily  corrupted  by 
the  perusal  of  them,  are  to  be  attended 
to ;  and  those  who  possess  them  shall 
be  severely  punished  by  the  bishop. 
But  the  works  of  antiquity,  written  by 
the  heathens,  are  permitted  to  be  read, 
because  of  the  elegance  and  propriety 
of  the  language  ;  though  on  no  account 
shall  they  be  suffered  to  be  read  by 
young  persons. 

Rule  8.  "  Books,  the  principal  sub- 
ject of  which  is  good,  but  in  which 
some  things  are  occasionally  introduced 
tending  to  heresy  and  impiety,  divina- 
tion, or  superstition,  may  be  allowed, 
after  they  have  been  corrected  by  Catholic 
divines,  by  the  authority  of  the  general 
inquisition.  The  same  judgment  is 
also  formed  of  prefaces,  summaries,  or 
notes,  taken  from  the  condemned  au- 
thors, and  inserted  in  the  works  of  au- 
thors not  condemned ;  but  such  works 
must  not  be  printed  in  future,  until  they 
have  been  amended. 

Rule  9.  "  All  books  and  writings  of 
geomancy,  hydromancy,  aeromancy,  py- 
romancy, onomancy,  chiromancy,  and 
necromancy ;  or  which  treat  of  sorce- 
ries, poisons,  auguries,  auspices,  or 
magical  incantations,  are  utterly  re- 
jected. The  bishops  shall  also  dili- 
gently guard  against  any  persons  read- 
ing or  keeping  any  books,  treatises,  or 
indexes,  which  treat  of  judicial  astrolo- 
gy, or  contain  presumptuous  predictions 
of  the  events  of  future  contingencies, 
and  fortuitous  occurrences,  or  of  those 
actions  which  depend  upon  the  will  of 
man.  But  such  opinions  and  observa- 
tions of  natural  things  as  are  written  in 
aid  of  navigation,  agriculture,  and  me- 
dicine, are  permitted. 

Rule  10.  "  In  the  printing  of  books  or 
other  writings,  the  rules  shall  be  ob- 
served, which  were  ordained  in  the 
10th  session  of  the  council  of  Late- 
ran,  under  Leo  X.  Therefore,  if  any 
book  is  to  be  printed  in  the  city  of 
Rome,  it  shall  first  be  examined  by 
the    Pope's    Vicar   and  the   master    of 


conscience  preparatory  to  confession.  If  so,  Dens's  Theology,  their  most  popu- 
lar standard  work  for  students,  and  "  the  Garden  of  the  Soul,"  published  at  New 
York,  1844,  with  the  approbation  of  bishop  Hughes,  must  certainly  be  included  in 
the  prohibition.  Probably,  however,  the  rule  was  only  intended  to  apply  to  works 
of  this  description  when  published  by  heretics. 


n.] 


POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563. 


495 


Punishments  of  booksellers  who  violate  these  rules. 


Their  shops  to  be  examined  by  inquisitors. 


putandas  prius  examinetur.  In  aliis 
vero  locis  ad  Episcopum,  vel  alium  ha- 
bentem  scientiam  libri  vel  scripture  im- 
primendae,  ab  eodem  Episcopo  deputan- 
dum,  ac  Inquisitorem  heretics  pravita- 
tis  ejus  civitatis,  vel  dicecesis,  in  qua 
impressio  fiet,  ejus  approbatio  et  examen 
pertineat,  et  per  eorum  manurn  propria 
subscriptione  gratis  et  sine  dilatione  im- 
ponendam  sub  pcenis  et  censuris  in 
eodem  decreto  contentis  approbetur : 
hac  lege  et  conditione  addita,  ut  exem- 
plum  libri  imprimendi  authenticum,  et 
manu  auctoris  subscriptum,  apud  ex- 
aminatorem  remaneat ;  eos  vero,  qui 
libellos  manuscriptos  vulgant,  nisi  ante 
examinati  probatique  fuerint  iisdem  pce- 
nis  subjici  debere  judicarunt  Patres  de- 
putati,  quibus  impressores  :  et  qui  eos 
habuerint  et  legerint,  nisi  auctores  pro- 
diderint,  pro  auctoribus  habeantur.  Ip- 
sa vero  hujusmodi  librorum  probatio  in 
scriptis  detur,  et  in  fronte  libri  vel 
scripti,  vel  impressi  authentice  appareat, 
probatioque  et  examen  ac  cetera  gra- 
tias  fiant. 


Preterea  in  singulis  civitatibus  ac 
dicecesibus,  domus  vel  loci  ubi  ars  im- 
pressoria  exercetur,  et  bibliotheca;  li- 
brorum venialium  saepius  visitentur  a 
personis  ad  id  deputandis  ab  Episcopo, 
sive  ejus  Vicario,  atque  etiam  ab  In- 
quisitore  hereticee  pravitatis,  ut  nihil 
eorum  quae  prohibentur,  aut  imprimatur, 
aut  vendatur,  aut  habeatur.  Omnes  vero 
librarii,  et  quicumque  librorum  venditores 
habeant  in  suis  bibliothecis  Indicem 
librorum  venalium,  quos  habent,  cum 
subscriptione  dictarum  personarum,  nee 
alios  libros  habeant,  aut  vendant  aut 
quacumque  ratione  tradant,  sine  licen- 
tia  eorumdem  deputandorum,  sub  poena 
amissionis  librorum,  et  aliis  arbitrio 
Episcoporum  vel  Inquisitorum  impo- 
nendis.  Emptores  vero  lectores,  vel 
impressores,  eorumdem  arbilrio  punian- 
tur.  Quod  si  aliqui  libros  quoscumque 
in  aliquam  civitatem  introducant,  tene- 
antur  eisdem  personis  deputandis  re- 
nunciare  :  vel  si  locus  publicus  merci- 
bus  ejusmodi  constitutus   sit,   ministri, 


the  sacred  palace,  or  other  persons  chosen 
by  our  most  holy  father  for  that  purpose. 
In  other  places,  the  examination  of  any 
book  or  manuscript  intended  to  be  print- 
ed shall  be  referred  to  the  bishop,  or 
some  skilful  person  whom  he  shall 
nominate,  and  the  inquisitor  of  heretical 
pravity  of  the  city  or  diocess  in  which 
the  impression  is  executed,  who  shall 
gratuitously  and  without  delay  affix 
their  approbation  to  the  work  in  their 
own  handwriting,  subject,  nevertheless, 
to  the  pains  and  censures  contained  in 
the  said  decree;  this  law  and  condition 
being  added,  that  an  authentic  copy  of 
the  book  to  be  printed,  signed  by  the 
author  himself,  shall  remain  in  the 
hands  of  the  examiner :  and  it  is  the 
judgment  of  the  fathers  of  the  present 
deputation,  that  those  persons  who  pub- 
lish works  in  manuscript,  before  they 
have  been  examined  and  approved,  should 
be  subject  to  the  same  penalties  as  those 
who  print  them ,  and  that  those  who 
read  or  possess  them  should  be  con- 
sidered as  the  authors,  if  the  real  au- 
thors of  sucli  writings  do  not  avow 
themselves.  The  approbation  given  in 
writing  shall  be  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  books,  whether  printed  or  in  manu- 
script, that  they  may  appear  to  be  duly 
authorized ;  and  this  examination  and 
approbation,  &c,  shall  be  granted  gra- 
tuitously. 

"  Moreover,  in  every  city  and  diocess, 
the  house  or  places  where  the  art  of  print- 
ing is  exercised,  and  also  the  shops  of 
booksellers,  shall  be  frequently  visited  by 
persons  deputed  for  that  purpose  by  the 
bishop  or  his  vicar,  conjointly  with  the 
inquisitor  of  heretical  pravity,  so  that 
nothing  that  is  prohibited  may  be  printed, 
kept,  or  sold.  Booksellers  of  every  de- 
scription shall  keep  in  their  libraries  a 
catalogue  of  the  books  which  they  have  on 
sale,  signed  by  the  said  deputies ;  nor 
shall  they  keep  or  sell,  nor  in  any  way 
dispose  of  any  other  books,  without  per- 
mission from  the  deputies,  under  pain 

OF  FORFEITING  THE  BOOKS,  AND  BEING 
LIABLE  TO  SUCH  OTHER  PENALTIES  AS 
SHALL  BE  JUDGED  PROPER  BY  THE 
BISHOP  OR  INQUISITOR,  WHO  SHALL  AL- 
SO    PUNISH     THE    BUYERS,    READERS,   OR 

printers  of  such  works.  If  any  per- 
son import  foreign  books  into  any  city, 
they  shall  be  obliged  to  announce  them  to 
the  deputies;  or  if  this  kind  of  mer- 
chandise be  exposed  to  sale  in  any  public 


49G 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  vn. 


Books  of  deceased  persons  not  to  be  used,  till  examined  by  inquisitors.        Punishments  of  disobedience. 


publici  ejus  loci  pradictis  personis  sig- 
nificent  libros  esse  adductos.  Nemo  ve- 
ro audeat  librum,  quem  ipse  vel  alius  in 
civitatem  introduxit,  alicui  legendum 
tradere,  vel  aliqua  ratione  alienare,  aut 
commodare,  nisi  ostenso  prius  libro,  et 
habita  licentia  a  personis  deputandis, 
aut  nisi  notorie  constet,  librum  jam  esse 
omnibus  permissum. 

Idem  quoque  servetur  ab  heredibus  et 
executoribus  ultimarum  voluntatum,  ut 
libros  a  defunctis  relictos,  sive  eorum 
indicem  illis  personis  deputandis  offer- 
rant,  et  ab  iis  licentiam  obtineant.  prius- 
quam  eis  utantur,  aut  in  alias  personas 
quacumque  ratione  transferant.  In  his 
autem  omnibus  et  singulis  poena  statua- 
tur  vel  amissionis  librorurn,  vel  alia  ar- 
bitrio  eorumdem  Episcoporum,  vel  In- 
quisitorum  pro  qualitate  contumaciam 
vel  delicti. 

Circa  vero  libros,  quos  Patres  depu- 
tati  examinarunt  aut  expugnarunt,  aut 
oxpurgandos  tradiderunt,  aut  certis  con- 
ditionibus,  ut  rursus  excuderentur,  con- 
cesserunt,  quidquid  illos  statuisse  con- 
stiterit,  tarn  bibliopolam,  quam  ceteri  ob- 
servent.  Liberum  tamen  sit  Episcopis 
aut  Inquisitoribus  generalibus  secun- 
dum facultatem  quam  habent,  etiam 
libros,  qui  his  regulis  permitti  videntur, 
prohibere,  si  hoc  in  suis  regnis,  aut  pro- 
vinciis,  vel  diamcessibus  expedire  judi- 
caverint.  Ceterum  nomina,  cum  libro- 
rurn qui  a  Patribus  deputatis  purgati 
sunt,  turn  eorum  quibus  illi  hanc  pro- 
vinciam  dederunt,  eorumdem  deputato- 
rum  Secretarius  notario  Sacra?  univer- 
salis Inquisitionis  Roma?  descripta 
Sanctissimi  Domini  nostri  jussu  tradidit. 

Ad  extremum  vero  omnibus  fidelibus 
pracipitur,  ne  quis  audeat  contra  harum 
regularum  prascriptum,  aut  hujus  in- 
diris  prohibitionem  libros  aliquos  legere 
aut  habere.  Quod  si  quis  libros  hsere- 
ticorum,  vel  cujusvis  auctoris  scripta, 
ob  haeresin,  ob  falsi  dogmatis  suspicio- 
nem  damnata  atque  prohibita,  legerit, 
sive  habuerit,  statim  in  excommunica- 
tionis  sententiam  incurrat.  Qui  vero 
libros  alio  nomine  interdictos  legerit, 
aut  habuerit,  prater  peccati  mortal  is 
reatum,  quo  afficitur,  judicio  Episcopo- 
rum severe  puniatur. 


place,  the  public  officers  of  the  place  shall 
signify  to  the  said  deputies,  that  such 
books  have  been  brought ;    and  no  one 

SHALL  PRESUME  TO  GIVE  TO  READ,  OR 
LEND,  OR  SELL,  ANT  BOOK  WHICH  HE 
OR  ANY  OTHER  PERSON  HAS  BROUGHT 
INTO  THE  CITY,  UNTIL  HE  HAS  SHOWN 
IT     TO     THE     DEPUTIES,     AND     OBTAINED 

their  permission,  unless  it  be  a  work 
well  known  to  be  universally  allowed. 

"  Heirs  and  testamentary  executors 
shall  make  no  use  of  the  books  of  the  de- 
ceased, nor  in  any  way  transfer  them  to 
others,  until  they  have  presented  a  cata- 
logue of  them  to  the  deputies,  and  ob- 
tained their  license,  under  pain  of  the 
confiscation  of  the  books,  or  the  inflic- 
tion  OF  SUCH  OTHER   PUNISHMENT  as  the 

bishop  or  inquisitor  shall  deem  proper, 
according  to  the  contumacy  or  quality  of 
the  delinquent. 

"  With  regard  to  those  books  which  the 
fathers  of.  the  present  deputation  shall 
examine,  or  correct,  or  deliver  to  be  cor- 
rected, or  permit  to  be  reprinted  on  cer- 
tain conditions,  booksellers  and  others 
shall  be  bound  to  observe  whatever  is  or- 
dained respecting  them.  The  bishops  and 
general  inquisitors  shall,  nevertheless,  be 
at  liberty,  according  to  the  power  they 
possess,  to  prohibit  such  books  as  may 
seem  to  be  permitted  by  these  rules,  if 
they  deem  it  necessary  for  the  good  of  the 
kingdom,  or  province,  or  diocess.  And 
let  the  secretary  of  those  fathers,  accord- 
ing to  the  command  of  our  holy  father, 
transmit  to  the  notary  of  the  general  in- 
quisitor, the  names  of  the  books  that  have 
been  corrected,  as  toell  as  of  the  persons 
to  whom  the  fathers  have  granted  the 
power  of  examination. 

"Finally,  it  is  enjoined  on  all  the 
faithful,  that  no  one  presume  to 
keep  or  read  any  books  contrary 
to  these  rules,  or  prohibited  by 
this  index.  but  if  any  one  keep  or 
read  any  books  composed  by  here- 
tics, or  the  writings  of  any  author 
suspected  of  heresy,  or  false  doc- 
trine, he  shall  instantly  incur  the 
sentence  of  excommunication  ;  and 
those  who  read  or  keep  works  in- 
terdicted on  another  account,  be- 
sides the  mortal  sin  committed. 
shall  be  severely  punished  at  the 
will  of  the  bishops." 


chap,   n.l  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  497 

Authors  honored  with  a  place  in  the  index.  Extracts  from  a  popish  license  to  read  heretical  books. 

§  15. — The  committee  appointed  at  the  council  of.  Trent,  and 
under  whose  supervision  the  above  rules  were  drawn  up,  was  made 
permanent,  and  exists  at  the  present  day  under  the  style  of  "  the 
congregation  of  the  index."  Under  the  care  of  this  committee,  the 
original  index  of  prohibited  books  has  ever  since  been  receiving 
constant  additions,  and  of  course,  by  this  time,  has  grown  to  a  pon- 
derous size.  Among  the  names  of  authors  included  in  this  index 
prohibitorius,  are  many  familiar  and  dear  to  the  protestant  world  : 
Wickliff,  Luther,  Calvin,  Bucer,  Zwinglius,  Melancthon,  Beza,  Tyn- 
dal,  Crahmer,  Ridley,  Latimer,  Knox,  Coverdale,  Bishop  Hooper, 
John  Fox,  John  Huss,  Jerome  of  Prague,  Addison,  Lord  Bacon, 
George  Buchanan,  Cave,  Claude,  Grotius,  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  Locke, 
Milton,  Mosheim,  Robertson,  Saurin,  Jeremy  Taylor,  Young,  the 
author  of  Night  Thoughts,  and  even  Leigh  Richmond,  the  sainted 
author  of  that  sweet  little  tract,  which  has  been  the  means  of  lead- 
ing so  many  souls  to  Christ,  has,  for  writing  "  The  Dairyman's 
Daughter,"  been  honored  (for  it  is  an  honor)  by  a  place  in  this  pro- 
scriptive  popish  index.* 

None  of  the  works  of  these  authors  are  allowed  to  be  read  by  the 
blinded  and  priest-ridden  votaries  of  Rome,  according  to  the  above 
rules  of  the  index,  without  a  special  license  from  the  popish  bishop  : 
and  this  can  only  be  obtained  by  favored  individuals  under  very 
peculiar  circumstances.  Bishop  Burnet,  in  the  collection  of  records 
appended  to  his  history  of  the  Reformation,  has  preserved  a  Latin 
copy  of  such  a  license,  granted  by  the  Romish  Bishop  Tonstal,  of 
London,  on  the  7th  of  March,  1527,  to  the  celebrated  papist,  Sir  Tho- 
mas More,  who  was  about  to  write  against  the  reformed  doctrines, 
from  which  the  following  extracts  are  translated  : — "  Forasmuch  as 
the  church  of  God  has,  of  late  throughout  Germany,  been  infested 
by  heretics,  certain  sons  of  iniquity  have  joined  together,  who  are 
endeavoring  to  bring  into  our  country  the  ancient  damned  heresy 
of  Wickliff  and  of  Luther,  and  are  publishing  in  great  abundance 
their  most  corrupt  writings  into  our  vernacular  tongue  ;  and  striv- 
ing with  great  efforts  to  corrupt  the  truth  of  the  Catholic  faith  by 
their  most  pestilential  dogmas.  And  forasmuch  as  it  is  greatly  to 
be  feared  that  the  Catholic  verity  may  be  in  danger,  unless  good 
and  learned  men  oppose  themselves  to  the  malignity  of  the  afore- 
said men,  &c.  .  .  .  And  forasmuch  as  thou,  most  famous  brother, 
both  in  our  own  tongue  and  in  Latin  can  excel  even  a  Demosthenes," 
&c.     The  document  then  alludes,  as  an  example,  to  the  most  illus- 

*  Beside  the  index  prohibitorius,  the  papists  have  their  index  expurgalorius — 
that  is,  an  index  of  books  not  entirely  prohibited,  but  in  which  certain  passages 
are  expurgated ;  and  this  includes  multitudes  of  passages  not  only  from  protestant 
but  from  Romish  writers,  and  even  from  various  editions  of  the  works  of  the 
Fathers.  For  a  full  account  of  both  these  indexes,  see  that  valuable,  learned, 
and  authentic  work,  "  Mendham's  Literary  Policy  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  exhib- 
ited in  an  account  of  the  damnatory  catalogues,  or  Indices,  both  Prohibitory  and 
Expurgatory."     London,  1820. 


498  HISTORY  OF  ROMAMSM.  [book  vii. 


Bishop  Tonstal's  license  to  Sir  Thomas  More  to  read  tiie  works  of  Luther,  &.c.—nutc. 


trious  king,  Henry  VIII.,  who  by  his  defence  of  the  Sacraments  of 
the  Church  "  had  merited  the  immortal  name  of"  the  Defender  of 
the  faith,"  and  to  the  writings  of  Luther,  by  reading  of  which  Sir 
Thomas  might  understand  in  what  lurking  places  these  crooked 
serpents  hide  themselves  '  quibus  latibulis  tortuosi  serpentes  sese  . 
condant ;'  and  after  exhorting  him  to  obtain  an  immortal  name  by 
thus  defending  the  church  against  the  heretics,  concludes  by  grant- 
ing him  the  license  to  read  the  heretical  books  in  the  following 
words :  "  To  that  end  we  grant  and  concede  unto  you  the  power 
and  license  of  keeping  and  reading  books  of  this  kind."* 

May  the  time  never  arrive  when  the  free-born  sons  of  Protestant 
America,  before  being  at  liberty  to  write,  and  to  publish,  and  to 
read  what  they  choose,  must,  like  the  ignorant  and  degraded  inhab- 

*  The  following  is  a  correct  transcript  of  this  curious  and  ancient  document : 
"  Cuthbertus  permissione  Divina  London  Episcopus  Clarissimo  et  Egregio  viro 
Domino  Thorns  More  fratri  et  amico  Charissimo  Salutem  in  Domino  et  Benedict. 
Quia  nuper,  postquam  Ecclesia  Dei  per  Germaniam  ab  haereticis  infestata  est, 
juncti  sunt  nonnulli  iniquitatis  Filii,  qui  veterem  et  damnatum  haeresim  Wycliffi- 
anam  et  Lutherianam,  etiam  haeresis  Wycliffianae  alumni  transferendis  in  nostra- 
tem  vernaculam  linguam  corruptissimis  quibuscunq  ;  eorum  opusculis,  atque  illis 
ipsis  magna  copia  impressis,  in  hanc  nostram  Regionem  inducere  conantur  :  quam 
sane  pestilentissimis  dogmatibus  Catholicae  fidei  veritati  repugnantibus  maculare 
atq ;  inficere  magnis  conatibus  moliuntur.  Magnopere  igitur  verendum  est  ne 
Catholica  Veritas  in  totum  periclitetur  nisi  boni  et  eruditi  viri  malignitati  tarn  prae- 
dictorum  hominum  strenue  occurrant,  id  quod  nulla  ratione  melius  et  aptius  fieri 
poterit,  quam  si  in  lingua  Catholica  Veritas  in  totum  expugnans  heec  insana  dog- 
mata simul  etiam  ipsissima  prodeat  in  lucem. 

"  Quo  fiet  ut  Sacrarum  Literarum  imperiti  homines  in  manus  sumentes  novos 
i.stos  Haereticos  Libros,  atq ;  una  etiam  Catholicos  ipsos  refellentes,  vel  ipsi  per  se 
verum  discernere,  vel  ab  aliis  quorum  perspicacius  est  judicium  recte  admoneri  et 
doceri  possint.  Et  quia  tu,  Frater  Clarissime,  in  lingua  nostra  vernacula,  sicut 
etiam  in  Latina,  Demosthenem  quendam  prsestare  potes,  et  Catholicos  veritatis  as- 
sertor  acerrimus  in  omni  congressu  esse  soles,  melius  subcisivas  horas,  si  quas 
tuis  occupationibus  suffurari  potes,  collocare  nunquam  poteris,  quam  in  nostrate 
lingua  aliqua  edas  quae  simplicibus  et  ideotis  hominibus  subdolam  hrereticorum 
malignitatem  aperiant,  ac  contra  tarn  impios  Ecclesiae  supplantatores  reddant  eos 
instructiores  ;  habes  ad  id  exemplurn  quod  imiteris  prae-clarissimum,  illustrissi  Do- 
mini nostri  Regis  Henrici  octavi,  qui  Sacramenta  Ecclesia?  contra  Lutherum  totis 
viribus  ea  subvertentem  asserere  aggressus,  immortale  nomen  Defensoris  Ecclesia* 
in  omne  aevum  promeruit.  Et  ne  Andabatarum  more  cum  ejusmodi  larvis  lucteris, 
ignorans  ipse  quod  oppugnes,  mitto  ad  te  insanas  in  nostrate  lingua  istorum  na> 
nias,  atque  una  etiam  nonnullos  Lutheri  Libros  ex  quibus  haec  opinionum  monstra 
prodierunt. 

"  Quibus  abs  te  diligenter  perlectis,  facilius  intelligas  quibus  latibulis  tortuosi  ser- 
pentes sese  condant,  quibusq  ;  anfractibus  elabi  deprehensi  studeant.  Magni 
enim  ad  victoriam  momenti  esthostium  Consilia  explorata  habere,  et  quid  sentiant 
quove  tendant  penitus  nosse :  nam  si  convellere  pares  quae  isti  se  non  sensisse 
dicent,  in  totum  perdas  operam.  Macte  igitur  virtute,  tam  sanctum  opus  aggre- 
dere,  quo  et  Dei  Ecclesiae  prosis,  et  tibi  immortale  nomen  atq  ;  aeternam  in  Coelis 
gloriam  parrs :  quod  ut  facias  atque  Dei  Ecclesiam  tuo  patrocinio  munias,  magno- 
pere in  Domino  obsecramus,  atq ;  ad  ilium  fmem  ejusmodi  libros  et  retinendi  et 
legendi  facultatem  atq  ;  licentiam  impertimur  et  concedimus.  Dat.  7  die  Martii, 
Anno  1527  et  nostrae  Cons,  sexto."  (Regisl.  Tonst.,  Fol.  138;  Burnet,  vol.  iv., 
p.  4.) 


chap,  m.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  499 

Fifth  and  Sixth  Session.  Canons  and  curses  on  original  sin  remitted  by  baptism  and  on  justification. 

itants  of  popish  countries,*  humbly  sue  for  permission  to  the  despotic 
priests  and  inquisitors  of  Rome  ! 


CHAPTER  III. 

ORIGINAL    SIN    AND    JUSTIFICATION. 

§  16. — The  Fifth  Session  was  held  June  17th,  1546.  After  several 
days  spent  in  unprofitable  debate  upon  the  subject  of  original  sin,  in 
which  more  use  was  made  of  the  subtleties  of  Aquinas  and  Bona- 
ventura  and  of  the  unintelligible  dogmas  of  the  schoolmen  than  of 
the  word  of  God,  a  decree  was  passed,  which  is  hardly  worth 
recording,  expressive  of  the  views  of  Rome  on  this  point,  and  con- 
cluding as  usual  with  the  awful  anathema  on  all  who  presumed  even 
to  think  differently.  The  following  two  brief  extracts  are  sufficient, 
as  specimens  of  the  spirit  of  this  decree  : — 

Si  quis   parvulos  recentes  ab  uteris  Whosoever  shall    affirm,  that  new- 

matrum  baptizandos  negat,  etiam  si  fu-  born  infants,  even  though  sprung  from 

erint  a  baptizatis  parentibus  orti,  &c,  baptized  parents,  ought  not  to  be  bap- 

ANATHEMA  SIT.  tized,  &c,  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Si  quis  per  Jesu  Christi  Domini  nos-  Whosoever  shall  deny  that  the  guilt 
tri  gratiam,  quae  in  Baptismate  confer-  of  original  sin  is  remitted  by  the  grace  of 
tur,  reatum  originalis  peccati  remitti  ne-  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  bestowed  in  bap- 
gat,  &c.  Si  quis  autem  contrarium  tism,  &c.  If  ant  one  THINKS  differ- 
senserit,  ANATHEMA  SIT.  ently,  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

The  Sixth  Session  was  to  have  been  held  July  28th,  but  the  pro- 
tracted debates  on  the  important  subject  of  justification  so  long  de- 
layed the  preparation  of  the  decree  that  it  had  to  be  deferred  till 
the  13th  of  January,  1547,  when  a  long  decree,  consisting  of  six- 
teen chapters  and  thirty-three  canons,  was  finally  passed.  A  few 
of  the  canons  and  curses  will  be  sufficient  to  indicate  the  doctrine 
of  Rome  on  this  point. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  homines  justificari  vel  Whoever   shall  affirm,  that   men   are 

sola   imputatione   justitiae    Christi,   vel  justified  solely  by  the  imputation  of  the 

sola    peccatorum    remissione,    exclusa  righteousness  of  Christ,  by  the  remission 

gratia,   et  charitate,  quae   in    cordibus  of  sin,  to  the  exclusion  of  grace  and 

eorum  per   Spiritum  sanctum  diffunda-  charity,  which  is  shed  abroad  in  their 

tur,  atque  illis  inhsereat ;  aut  etiam  gra-  hearts,  and  inheres  in  them  ;  or  that  the 

tiam,  qua  justificamur,  esse  tantum  fa-  grace  by  which  we  are  justified  is  only 

vorem  Dei :  ANATHEMA  SIT.  the  favor  of  God ;  LET  HIM  BE  AC- 
CURSED. 

*  In  popish  priest-ridden  Spain  these  prohibitions  of  the  index  still  operate  in  all 
their  force,  and  wo  be  to  the  man  who  presumes  to  sell  or  to  read  a  book  pro- 
scribed by  these  priestly  enemies  of  the  freedom  of  the  press.  "  There  is  still 
fixed,"  says  Mr.  Bourgoing,  "  every  year,  at  the  church  doors;,the  index,  or  list  of 
those  books,  especially  foreign,  of  which  the  holy  office  has  thought  fit  to  inter- 
dict the  reading,  on  pain  of  excommunication."  Modern  State  of  Spain,  ii.,  p.  276. 
30 


iOO 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  VII. 


Canons  and  curses  of  the  council  on  Justification. 


Si  quis  lioininem  semel  justificatum 
dixerit  amplius  peccare  non  posse, 
ueque  gratiam  amittere,  atque  ideo  eum 
qui  labitur,  et  peccat,  nunquam  vere  fu- 
isse  justificatum ;  aut  contra,  posse  in 
tota  vita  peccata  omnia,  etiam  venialia, 
vitare,  nisi  ex  speciali  Dei  privilegio, 
quemadmodum  de  beata  Virgine  tenet 
Ecclesia ;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 


Si  quis  dixerit,  justitiam  acceptam 
non  conservari,  atque  etiam  augeri  co- 
ram Deo  per  bona  opera ;  sed  opera  ipsa 
fructus  solummodo  et  signa  esse  justifi- 
cationis  adeptae,  non  autem  ipsius  au- 
genda?  causam ;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 

Si  quis  in  quolibet  bono  opere  justum 
saltern  venialiter  peccare  dixerit,  aut, 
quod  intolerabilius  est,  mortaliter ;  atque 
ideo  poenas  aaternas  mereri  ;  tantumque 
ob  id  non  damnari,  quia  Deus  ea  opera 
non  imputet  ad  damnationem ;  ANA- 
THEMA SIT. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  eum,  qui  post  Baptis- 
;num  lapsus  est,  non  posse  per  Dei  gra- 
tiam  resurgere,  aut  posse  quidem,  sed 
sola  fide  amissam  justitiam  recuperare 
sine  Sacramento  Poenitentia?,  prout 
sancta  Romana,  et  universalis  Ecclesia, 
a  Christo  Domino,  et  ejus  Apostolis 
edocta,  hue  usque  professa  est,  servavit, 
et  docuit :  ANATHEMA  SIT. 


Si  quis  post  acceptam  justificationis 
gratiam,  cuilibet  peccatori  pcenitenti  ita 
culpam  remitti,et  reatum  reterna?  poena? 
deleri  dixerit,  nt  nullus  remaneat  reatus 
poena?  temporalis  exsolvenda3  vel  in  hoc 
seculo,  vel  in  futuro  in  Purgatorio,  an- 
tequam  ad  regna  coelorum  aditus  patere 
possit ;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 


Si  quis  dixerit,  hominis  justificati  bona 
opera  ita  esse  dona  Dei,  ut  non  sint 
etiam  bona  ipsius  justificati  merita ;  aut, 
ipsum  justificatum  bonis  operibus,  qua? 
ab  eo  per  Dei  gratiam,  et  Jesu  Christi 
meritum,  cujus  vivum  membrum  est, 
fiunt,  non  \ere  mereri  augmentum  gra- 
tia?, vitam  a?ternam,  et  ipsius  vita?  ster- 
na?, si  tamen  in  gratia  decesserit,  con- 
secutionem,  atque  etiam  gloria?  augmen- 
tum ;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 


Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  a  man 
once  justified  cannot  fall  into  sin  any 
more,  nor  lose  grace,  and  therefore  that 
he  who  falls  into  sin  never  was  truly 
justified  ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  that  he 
is  able,  all  his  life  long,  to  avoid  all 
sins,  even  such  as  are  venial,  and  that 
without  a  special  privilege  from  God, 
such  as  the  church  believes  was  granted 
to  the  blessed  Virgin  ;  LET  HIM  BE 
ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  justifi- 
cation received  is  not  preserved,  and 
even  increased,  in  the  sight  of  God, 
by  good  works  ;  but  that  works  are  only 
the  fruits  and  evidences  of  justification 
received,  and  not  the  causes  of  its  in- 
crease :  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  a  righteous 
man  sins  in  every  good  work,  at  least 
venially  ;  or,  which  is  yet  more  intolera- 
ble, mortally  ;  and  that  he  therefore  de- 
serves eternal  punishment,  and  only  for 
this  reason  is  not  condemned,  that  God 
does  not  impute  his  works  to  condemna- 
tion ;  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  he  who 
has  fallen  after  baptism  cannot  by  the 
grace  of  God  rise  again  ;  or  that  if  he 
can,  it  is  possible  for  him  to  recover  his 
lost  righteousness  by  faith  only,  without 
the  sacrament  of  penance,  which  the 
holy  Roman  and  universal  church,  in- 
structed by  Christ  the  Lord  and  his 
Apostles,  has  to  this  day  professed,  kept, 
and  taught  ;  LET  HIM  BE  AC- 
CURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  when  the 
grace  of  justification  is  received,  the  of- 
fence of  the  penitent  sinner  is  so  for- 
given, and  the  sentence  of  eternal  pun- 
ishment reversed,  that  there  remains  no 
temporal  punishment  to  be  endured,be- 
fore  his  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  either  in  this  world,  or  in  the  fu- 
ture state,  in  purgatory ;  LET  HIM  BE 
ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  the  good 
works  of  a  justified  man  are  in  such 
sense  the  gifts  of  God,  that  they  are  not 
also  his  worthy  merits  ;  or  that  he,  being 
justified  by  his  good  works,  which  are 
wrought  by  him  through  the  grace  of 
God,  and  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  of 
whom  he  is  a  living  member,  does  not 
really  deserve  increase  of  grace,  eternal 
life,  the  enjoyment  of  that  eternal  life  if 
he  dies  in  a  state  of  grace,  and  even  an 
increase  of  glory  ;  LET  HIM  BE  AC- 
CURSED. 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  l546-f563.  501 

Way  in  which  Popery  makes  the  work  of  Christ  a  stepping  stone  for  human  merit. 

§  17. — Thus  did  the  doctors  of  Trent  transform  the  finished  work 
of  our  Lord  J  csus  Christ,  into  a  mere  stepping-stone  for  human  merit, 
and  teach  men  to  look  rather  to  their  own  good  works  as  the  founda- 
tion of  their  hope  than  to  the  glorious  righteousness  of  the  Son  of  God 
imputed  to  the  believer,  and  received  by  faith ;  and  such  has  ever  been 
the  doctrine  of  Rome.  Still  further  to  "  darken  counsel,"  the  doctors 
connected  justification  with  baptism,  whether  in  the  case  of  an  infant 
or  an  adult.  Is  an  individual  distressed  on  account  of  sin  ?  If  he 
.  was  baptized  in  infancy,  he  is  told  that  he  was  then  justified,  and 
that  penance  is  now  the  path  to  peace,  the  "  second  plank  after  ship- 
wreck." If  he  was  not  baptized  in  infancy,  as  soon  as  that  ordin- 
ance is  administered  he  is  assured  that  he  is  safe.  He  is  not  bidden 
to  look  to  the  cross  of  Christ ;  nothing  is  said  of  the  "  blood  that 
cleanseth  from  all  sin  ;"  he  has  been  washed  in  the  "  laver  of  regene- 
ration ;"  the  "  instrumental  cause"  of  justification,  and  with  this  he 
is  to  be  satisfied.  Here  is  no  room  for  the  Apostolic  declaration, 
"  Being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ"  (Rom.  v.,  1) :  it  is  shut  out  altogether. 

The  effect  of  these  sentiments  on  the  mind,  and  the  influence  it  is 
intended  they  should  exert,  may  be  ascertained  by  a  reference  to 
the  manner  in  which  they  are  interwoven  with  the  devotional  exer- 
cises of  Roman  Catholics.  The  following  extracts  are  taken  from 
the  "  Garden  of  the  Soul."  A  "  Morning  Prayer"  contains  these 
expressions  :  "  I  desire  by  thy  grace  to  make  satisfaction  for  my  sins 
by  worthy  fruits  of  penance  ;  and  I  will  willingly  accept  from  thy 
hands  whatever  pains,  crosses,  or  sufferings  I  shall  meet  with  during 
the  remainder  of  my  life,  or  at  my  death,  as  just  punishments  of  my 
iniquities ;  begging  that  they  may  be  united  to  the  sufferings  and 
death  of  my  Redeemer,  and  sanctified  by  his  passion,  in  which  is  all 
my  hope  for  mercy,  grace,  and  salvation."  "  How  very  short  the 
time  of  this  life  is,  which  is  given  us  in  order  to  labor  for  eternity, 
and  to  send  before  us  a  stock  of  good  works,  on  which  we  may  live 
for  eternity."  The  sick  person  is  thus  instructed,  "Beg  that  God 
would  accept  of  all  your  pains  and  uneasiness,  in  union  with  the  suf- 
ferings of  your  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  in  deduction  of  the  punish- 
ment due  to  your  sins."  On  these  passages  no  comment  is  re- 
quired :  their  design  and  tendency  are  sufficiently  apparent. 

We  add  some  specimens  of  the  prayers  prescribed  in  the  Roman 
Missal.  "  Let  our  fasts,  we  beseech  thee,  O  Lord,  be  acceptable  to 
thee,  that  by  atoning  for  our  sins,  they  may  both  make  us  worthy 
of  thy  grace,  and  bring  us  to  the  everlasting  effects  of  thy  promise." 
"  Receive,  O  Lord,  we  beseech  thee,  the  prayers  of  the  faithful,  to- 
gether with  these  oblations ;  that  by  these  duties  of  piety  they  may 
obtain  eternal  life."*  "  O  God,  who  by  innumerable  miracles  hast 
honored  blessed  Nicholas,  the  bishop ;  grant,  we  beseech  thee,  that 
by  his  merits  and  intercession  we  may  be  delivered  from  eternal 

*  Roman  Missal  for  the  use  of  the  Laity,  pp.  61,  337 


502  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vn. 


Tyndal  and  Luther  on  the  glorious  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith. 


flames."*  "  O  God,  who  wast  pleased  to  send  blessed  Patrick,  thy 
bishop  and  confessor,  to  preach  thy  glory  to  the  Gentiles  ;  grant, 
that  by  his  merits  and  intercession  we  may,  through  thy  grace,  be 
enabled  to  keep  thy  commandments."!  "  O  God,  who  hast  translated 
the  blessed  Dunstan,  thy  high  priest,  to  thy  heavenly  kingdom  ; 
(n-ant  that  we,  by  his  glorious  merits,  may  pass  from  hence  to  never- 
ending  joys."J  "  O  God,  who  grantest  us  to  celebrate  the  transla- 
tion of  the  relics  of  blessed  Thomas,  thy  martyr  and  bishop  ;  we 
humbly  beseech  thee  that,  by  his  merits  and  prayers,  we  may  pass 
from  vice  to  virtue,  and  from  the  prison  of  this  flesh  to  an  eternal 
kingdom."^ 

§  18. — In  opposition  to  these  anti-scriptural  popish  sentiments,  it  is 
cheering  to  turn  to  the  glorious  doctrine  advocated  by  Luther, 
Melancthon,  and  their  noble  associates  in  the  work  of  reforma- 
tion. There  was  no  doctrine  upon  which  the  reformers  were  more 
unanimously  agreed,  than  the  glorious  truth  of  justification  by  faith 
alone  through  the  righteousness  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Says 
the  martyred  Tyndal,  the  early  translator  of  the  New  Testament, 
in  his  "  Prologe  to  the  Romayns  :"  "  The  somme  and  hole  cause  of 
the  writing  of  this  epistle  is,  to  prove  that  a  man  is  justified  by 
fayth  onely  ;  which  jrroposition  whoso  denyeth,  to  him  is  not  onely 
this  Epistle  and  al  that  Paul  wryteth,  but  also  the  hole  Scripture  so 
locked  up,  that  he  shall  never  understand  it  to  his  soul's  health." 
Luther  calls  this  doctrine  '  articulus  stands  aut  cadentis  ecclesia? — 
the  article  by  which  a  church  stands  or  falls  ;  he  says,  "  it  is  the 
head  corner-stone  which  supports,  nay,  gives  existence  and  life  to 
the  church  of  God  ;  so  that  without  it  the  church  cannot  subsist  for 
an  hour." — He  calls  it  the  "  only  solid  rock."  "  This  Christian  article," 
he  writes,  "  can  never  be  handled  and  inculcated  enough.  If  this 
doctrine  fall  and  perish,  the  knowledge  of  every  truth  in  religion 
will  fall  and  perish  with  it.  On  the  contrary,  if  this  do  but  flourish, 
all  good  things  will  also  flourish,  namely,  true  religion,  the  true 
worship  of  God,  the  glory  of  God,  and  a  right  knowledge  of  every- 
thing which  it  becomes  a  Christian  to  know.|| 

The  following  memorable  protestation  of  Luther  on  this  subject, 
deserves  to  be  written  in  letters  of  gold.  "  I,  Martin  Luther,  an  un- 
worthy preacher  of  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  thus  pro- 
fess, and  thus  believe  ;  that  this  article,  that  faith  alone,  without 
works,  can  justify  before  Gou,  shall  never  be  overthrown,  neither 
by  the  Emperor,  nor  by  the  Turk,  nor  by  the  Tartar,  nor  by  the 
Pope,  with  all  his  cardinals,  bishops,  sacrificers,  monks,  nuns,  kings, 

*  Roman  Missal  for  the  use  of  the  Laity,  p.  527.   f  Ibid.,  p.  563.  %  Ibid.,  p.  585. 

\  Ibid.,  614.  The  late  celebrated  Romanist,  Dr.  Milner,  said  of  bishop  Poynter, 
"  that  he  would  give  the  universe  to  possess  half  his  merit  in  the  sight  of  God." 
Laity's  Directory,  1829,  p.  74.  Cramp,  115.  There  is  a  striking  similarity,  or 
rather  identity  between  the  doctrines  of  the  Oxford  Puseyites  and  the  Romanists 
on  the  article  of  Justification.  For  proof  of  this,  and  extracts  from  Puseyite 
writings,  see  M'llvaine  on  the  Oxford  Divinity — passim. 

||  Milner's  Church  history,  vol.  iv.,  p.  615.  Scott's  Continuation  of  Milner,  vol. 
i.,  p.  527.     Cramp  112. 


ohap.  in.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A  D.  1545-1563.  503 


Luther's  noble  protestation.  His  visit  to  Rome.  The  just  shall  live  by  faith. 

princes,  powers  of  the  world,  nor  yet  by  all  the  devils  in  hell. 
This  article  shall  stand  fast  whether  they  will  or  no.  This  is  the 
true  Gospel.  Jesus  Christ  redeemed  us  from  our  sins,  and  he  only. 
This  most  firm  and  certain  truth  is  the  voice  of  Scripture,  though 
the  world  and  all  the  devils  rage  and  roar.  If  Christ  alone  take 
away  our  sins,  we  cannot  do  this  with  our  works  ;  and  as  it  is  im- 
possible to  embrace  Christ  but  by  faith,  it  is  therefore  equally  impos- 
sible to  apprehend  him  by  works.  If,  then,  faith  must  apprehend 
Christ,  before  works  can  follow,  the  conclusion  is  irrefragable,  that 
faith  alone  apprehends  him,  before  and  without  the  consideration  of 
works  ;  and  this  is  our  justification  and  deliverance  from  sin.  Then, 
and  not  till  then,  good  works  follow  faith  as  its  necessary  and 
inseparable  fruit.  This  is  the  doctrine  I  teach  ;  and  this  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  the  Church  of  the  faithful  have  delivered.  In  this  will  I 
abide.     Amen."* 

§  19. — And  it  was  no  wonder  that  Luther  loved  this  doctrine  of  jus- 
tification by  faith.     It  was  that  blessed  passage,  "  the  just  shall  live 
by  faith,"  that  first  darted  a  ray  of  gospel  peace  and  joy  into  his 
mind,  when  struggling  to  obtain  ease  for  a  wounded  conscience  by 
the  ceremonies  and  mummeries  of  Popery.     In  1510,  the  future  re- 
former was  dispatched  on  a  journey  to  Rome.     On  his  way  thither, 
the  poor  German  monk  was  entertained  at  a  wealthy  convent  of 
the  Benedictines,  situated  on  the  Po,  in  Lombardy.     This   convent 
enjoyed  a  revenue  of  thirty-six  thousand  ducats  ;  twelve  thousand 
were  spent  for  the  table,  twelve  thousand  on  the  buildings,  and 
twelve  thousand  to  supply  the  other  wants  of  the  monks.      The 
magnificence  of  the  apartments,  the  richness  of  the  dresses,  and  the 
delicacy  of  the  viands,  astonished  Luther.     Marble,  silk,  and  luxury 
of  every  kind  ;  what  a  novel  spectacle  to  the  humble  brother  of  the 
convent  of  Wittemberg  !     He  was  amazed  and  silent ;  but  Friday 
came,  and  what  was  his  surprise  !     The  table  of  the  Benedictines 
was  spread  with  abundance  of  meats.     Then  he  found  courage  to 
speak  out.     "  The  Church,"  said  he,  "  and  the  Pope  forbid  such 
things."     The  Benedictines  were  offended  at  this  rebuke  from  the 
unmannerly  German.     But  Luther,  having  repeated  his  remark,  and 
perhaps   threatened   to   report   their   irregularity,   some   of   them 
thought  it  easiest  to  get  rid  of  their  troublesome  guest.     The  porter 
of  the  convent  hinted  to  him  that  he  incurred  danger  by  his  stay. 
He  accordingly  took  his  departure  from  this  epicurean  monastery, 
and  pursued  his  journey  to  Bologna,  where  he  fell  sick.     Some  have 
seen  in  this  sickness  the  effects  of  poison.     It  is  more  probable  that 
the  change  in  his  mode  of  living,  disordered  the  frugal  monk  of 
Wittemberg,  who  had  been  used  to  subsist  for  the  most  part  on  dry 
bread  and   herrings.     This  sickness  was  not   "  unto    death,"  but 
for  the  glory  of  God.     His  constitutional  sadness  and  depression 
returned.     What  a  fate  was  before  him,  to  perish  thus  far  away 
from  Germany  under  a  scorching  sun,  in  a  foreign  land  !    The  dis- 

*  Lives  of  the  Eminent  Reformers,  p.  98  :  Dublin,  1828. 


50 1  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vo. 


Luther  climbing  Pilate's  stair-case  for  indulgence.  His  horror  and  shume  at  himself. 

tress  of  mind  lie  had  experienced  at  Erfurth  again  oppressed  him. 
A  sense  of  his  sins  disturbed  him  ;  and  the  prospect  of  the  judgment 
of  God  filled  him  with  dismay.  But  in  the  moment  when  his  terror 
was  at  its  height  that  word  of  Paul,  "  The  just  shall  live  by  Faith" 
recurred  with  power  to  his  mind,  and  beamed  upon  his  soul  like 
a  ray  from  heaven.  Raised  and  comforted,  he  rapidly  regained 
health,  and  again  set  forth  for  Rome,  expecting  to  find  there  a  very 
different  manner  of  life  from  that  of  the  Lombard  convents,  and 
eager  to  efface,  by  the  contemplation  of  Roman  sanctity,  the  sad 
impression  left  upon  his  memory  by  his  sojourn  on  the  banks  of 
the  Po. 

§  20. — On  his  arrival  at  Rome,  with  the  hope  one  day  of  obtaining 
an  indulgence  promised  by  the  Pope  to  any  one  who  should  ascend 
on  his  knees  what  is  called  Pilate's  staircase,  the  poor  Saxon  monk 
was  slowly  climbing  those  steps  which  they  told  him  had  been 
miraculously  transported  from  Jerusalem  to  Rome.  But  whilst  he 
was  going  through  this  meritorious  work,  he  thought  he  heard  a 
voice  like  thunder  speaking  from  the  depth  of  his  heart :  "  The  just 
shall  live  by  faith."  These  words,  which  already  on  two  occa- 
sions had  struck  upon  his  ear  as  the  voice  of  an  angel  of  God,  re- 
sounded instantaneously  and  powerfully  within  him.  He  started  up 
in  terror  on  the  steps  up  which  he  had  been  crawling  ;  he  was  hor- 
rified at  himself;  and,  struck  with  shame  for  the  degradation  to 
which  superstition  had  debased  him,  he  fled  from  the  scene  of  his 
folly. 

This  powerful  text  had  a  mysterious  influence  on  the  life  of  Lu- 
ther. It  was  a  creative  word  for  the  reformer  and  for  the  refor- 
mation. It  was  by  means  of  that  word  that  God  then  said  :  "  Let 
there  be  light,  and  there  was  light."  It  is  frequently  necessary  that 
a  truth  should  be  repeatedly  presented  to  our  minds,  in  order  to 
produce  its  due  effect.  Luther  had  often  studied  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  and  yet  never  had  justification  by  faith,  as  there  taught, 
appeared  so  clear  to  him.  He  now  understood  that  righteousness 
which  alone  can  stand  in  the  sight  of  God  ;  he  was  now  partaker 
of  that  perfect  obedience  of  Christ  which  God  imputes  freely  to 
the  sinner  as  soon  as  he  looks  in  humility  to  the  God-man  crucified. 
This  was  the  decisive  epoch  in  the  inward  life  of  Luther.  That 
faith  which  had  saved  him  from  the  fear  of  death  became  hencefor- 
ward the  soul  of  his  theology  ;  a  stronghold  in  every  danger,  giv- 
ing power  to  his  preaching  and  strength  to  his  charity,  constituting 
a  ground  of  peace,  a  motive  to  service,  and  a  consolation  in  life  and 
death.* 

*  Merle  D'Aubigne,  pp.  54,  55. 


505 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    SACRAMENTS     AND    THE    DOCTRINE    OF    INTENTION. BAPTISM    AND 

CONFIRMATION. 

§  21. — The  Seventh  Session. — It  was  resolved  by  the  fathers 
of  Trent  at  the  first  general  congregation,*  after  the  sixth  session 
of  the  council,  that  the  subject  of  the  next  doctrinal  decrees  should 
be  the  sacraments.  Respecting  the  number  of  the  sacraments,  the 
members  were  pretty  generally  agreed.  It  was  held  that  they 
were  seven,  viz.,  baptism,  confirmation,  the  eucharist,  penance,  ex- 
treme unction,  orders,  and  matrimony.  In  support  of  this  number, 
they  adduced  tradition  and  the  most  fanciful  analogies.  Some  of 
them  gravely  argued  that  since  seven  is  a  perfect  number,  since 
there  are  seven  days  in  the  week,  seven  excellent  virtues,  seven 
deadly  sins,  seven  planets,  &c,  therefore,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
there  must  be  seven  sacraments.  Such  was  the  boasted  wisdom 
of  the  united  talent  and  learning  of  this  infallible  popish  council ! 
Still,  it  is  not  astonishing  that  the  fathers  resorted  to  arguments 
like  these,  in  support  of  seven  sacraments,  since  it  was  impossible 
to  find  in  the  New  Testament  a  single  argument  for  more  than  two, 
viz.,  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper.f 

The  doctrinal  decree  was  ready  by  the  3d  of  March,  1547,  and 
was  promulgated  in  the  seventh  session  held  on  that  day.  A  few 
extracts  from  it  will  be  sufficient.  The  decre%  was  divided  into 
three  parts.  (1)  Of  the  sacraments  in  general,  (2)  of  baptism,  (3) 
of  confirmation.  The  following  are  extracts  from  the  first  part, 
the  sacraments  in  general. 

Ad  consummationem  salutaris  de  jus-        In  order  to  complete  the  exposition 

tificatione  doctrinee,  quae,  in  praecedenti  of  the  wholesome  doctrine  of  justifica- 

proxima  Sessione  uno  omnium  Patrum  tion,  published  in  the  last  session   by 

consensu  promulgata  fuit ;  consentaneum  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  fathers, 

visum  est  de  sanctissimis  Ecclesiae  Sa-  it  hath  been  deemed  proper  to  treat  of 

cramentis  agere,  per  quae  omnis  vera  the   holy  sacraments  of  the  church,  by 

justitia  vel  incipit,  vel  ccepta  augetur,  which  all  true  righteousness  is  at  first 

vel  amissa  reparatur.     Propterea  sacro-  imparted,    then    increased,    and   after- 

sancta  cecumenica  et  generalis  Triden-  wards   restored,    if    lost.      For   which 

tina  Synodus,  in  Spiritu  sancto  legitime  cause  the  sacred,  holy,  oecumenical  and 

congregata,  &c.  .  .  .  sanctarum  Scrip-  general  council  of  Trent,  lawfully  as- 

turarum  doctrinae,  Apostolicis  tradilioni-  sembled,  &c,  abiding  by  the  doctrine 

bus,  atque  aliorum  Conciliorum  et  Pa-  of  the  sacred  scriptures,  the  tradition 

trum    consensui    inhaerendo,   hos   pras-  of  the  apostles,  and  the  uniform  con- 

*  The  meetings  of  the  council  for  debating  the  various  subjects,  and  for  pre- 
paring the  decrees,  were  generally  called  Congregations.  When  the  decrees 
were  in  readiness,  the  Session  was  held  at  which  they  were  authoritatively  pro- 
mulgated and  enacted. 

f  See  Father  Paul's  History  of  the  council  of  Trent,  lib.  ii.,  s.  85. 


506 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  vn. 


( \irions  and  curses  of  the  council  on  the  Sacraments  and  Intention. 


sentes  canones  statuendos,  et  decernen- 
dos  censuit,  &c. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  Sacramenta  novae 
legis  non  fuisse  omnia  a  Jesu  Christo, 
Domino  nostra,  instituta ;  aut  esse  plura 
vel  pauciora  quam  septem,  videlicet, 
Baptismum,  Confirmationem,  Eucharis- 
tiam,  Poenitentiam,  Extremam  Unctio- 
nem,  Ordinem,  et  Matrimonium  ;  aut 
etiam  aliquod  horum  septem  non  esse 
vere  et  proprie  Sacramentum ;  AN- 
ATHEMA SIT. 

Si  quis  dixerit  Sacramenta  novae  legis 
non  esse  ad  salutem  necessaria,  sed 
superflua ;  et  sine  eis,  aut  eorum  voto 
per  solam  fidem  homines  a  Deo  gratiam 
justificationis  adipisci  ;  licet  omnia  sin- 
gulis necessaria  non  sint ;  ANATHE- 
MA SIT. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  Sacramenta  novae  legis 
non  continere  gratiam,  quam  significant, 
aut  gratiam  ipsam  non  ponentibus,  obi- 
cem  non  conferre,  quasi  signa  tantum 
externa  sint  acceptae  per  fidem  gratiae 
vel  justitiae,  et  notas  quaedam  Christiana? 
professionis,  quibus  apud  homines  dis- 
cernuntur  fideles  ab  intidelibus  ;  AN- 
ATHEMA SIT. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  per  ipsa  novas  legis 
Sacramenta  ex  oper»  operato  non  con- 
ferri  gratiam,  sed  solam  fidem  divinae 
promissionis  ad  gratiam  consequendam 
eufficere;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 


Si  quis  dixerit,  in  ministris,  dum  Sa- 
cramenta conficiunt,  et  conferunt,  non 
requiri  intentionem  saltern  faciendi 
quod  facit  Ecclesia ;  ANATHEMA 
SIT. 


sent  of  other  councils,  and  of  the 
fathers,  hath  resolved  to  frame  and  de- 
cree these  following  canons,  &c. 

Whoever  shall  affirm  that  the  sacra- 
ments of  the  new  law  were  not  all  in- 
stituted by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  or 
that  they  are  more  or  fewer  than  seven, 
namely  baptism,  confirmation,  the  eu- 
charist,  penance,  extreme  unction,  or- 
ders, and  matrimony,  or  that  any  of 
these  seven  is  not  truly  and  properly  a 
sacrament :  LET  HIM-  BE  ACCURS- 
ED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm  that  the  sacra- 
ments of  the  new  law  are  not  necessary 
to  salvation,  but  superfluous ;  or  that 
men  may  obtain  the  grace  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith  only,  without  these  sacra- 
ments, although  it  is  granted  that  they 
are  not  all  necessary  to  every  indivi- 
dual :*  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm  that  the  sacra- 
ments of  the  new  law  do  not  contain  the 
grace  which  they  signify ;  or  that  they 
do  not  confer  that  grace  on  those  who 
place  no  obstacle  in  its  way  ;  as  if  they 
were  only  the  external  signs  of  grace 
or  righteousness  received  by  faith,  and 
marks  of  Christian  profession,  whereby 
the  faithful  are  distinguished  from  un- 
believers :  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm  that  grace  is 
not  conferred  by  these  sacraments  of  the 
new  law,  by  tlieir  own  power  [ex  opere 
operato]  ;  but  that  faith  in  the  divine 
promise  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  ob- 
tain grace  :  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURS- 
ED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm  that  when 
ministers  perform  and  confer  a  sacra- 
ment, it  is  not  necessary  that  they 
should  at  least  have  the  intention  to  do 
what  the  church  does  :  LET  HIM  BE 
ACCURSED. 


§  22. — This  last  canon  and  curse  with  respect  to  the  doctrine  of 
intention,  demands  a  few  words  of  explanation.  The  doctrine  of 
Popery  is  that  the  validity  of  a  sacrament  depends  upon  the  intention 
of  the  officiating  priest ;  so  that  no  man  can  be  sure  that  he  has 
been  duly  baptized,  unless  he  can  be  sure  that  the  priest  not  only 
pronounced  the  formula  of  the  words,  but  also  had  the  intention  in 
his  mind  to  baptize  him.  So  in  like  manner,  no  one  can  be  sure  that 
he  has  received  absolution  from  the  priest,  or  that  he  has  duly  re- 
ceived the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist,  unless  he   can  look  into  the 


*  This  exception  refers,  doubtless,  to  orders  and  matrimony.     The  former  pe- 
culiar to  the  priesthood,  the  latter  forbidden  to  them. 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  507 

Absurdity  of  the  Romish  doctrine  of  Intention. 

heart  of  the  minister  and  be  sure  that  he  had  the  intention  duly  to 
administer  these  rites.  Now,  as  Romanism  teaches  that  these  are 
absolutely  necessary  to  salvation,  and  the  validity  of  all  depends 
upon  the  state  of  the  priest's  mind,  unknown  to  any  but  the  omni- 
scient God ;  in  what  a  distressing  state  of  doubt  and  anxiety  must 
those  be  who  seriously  believe  these  doctrines  and  attentively  re- 
flect upon  them  !  How  different,  all  this,  from  the  gospel  plan  of 
immediate  access  to  the  mercy  seat ;  not  through  the  medium  of  a 
fallible  and  often  corrupt  and  depraved  mortal,  but  through  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself,  the  great  Apostle  and  High  Priest  of  our 
profession.  Popery  says,  "  come  to  the  priest;  if  he  baptize  you,  if 
he  absolve  you,  then  you  may  be  saved ;  but  if  he  refuse  to  do  it, 
then  you  shall  be  damned.  Or  if  he  do  it,  but  without  the  due  in- 
tention of  mind  (of  which  you  can  never  be  absolutely  sure),  then 
he  may  utter  the  formula  of  baptism,  he  may  pronounce  the  words 
of  absolution,  but  still  you  shall  be  damned !  for  in  the  words  of  the 
decree,  the  '  intention'  of  the  priest  is  essential  to  the  validity  of  the 
act,  and  the  act  validly  performed  is  necessary  to  salvation."  On 
the  other  hand  the  Scriptures  say — and  Protestantism  re-echoes  the 
blessed  invitation — "  Come  to  Christ ;  for  '  he  is  able  to  save  unto 
the  uttermost,  all  that  come  unto  God  by  him  !'  '  Believe  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved' — and  '  him  that  cometh 
unto  me  I  will  in  nowise  cast  out.'  "  In  the  one  system,  all  is  made 
to  depend  on  the  priest,  and  the  sinner  is  thus  held  in  the  chains  of 
mental  bondage  to  a  miserable  mortal ;  in  the  other  all  is  shown  to 
depend  on  Christ,  and  the  ransomed  believer  is  enabled  to  say,  "  I 
know  in  whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able 
to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  to  him,  until  that  day."  Such 
is  the  slavery  of  Popery.     Such  is  the  freedom  of  the  gospel  ! 

§  23. — The  doctrine  of  intention  also  has  an  important  bearing 
upon  the  change  of  the  wafer  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and 
upon  what  is  called  the  "  sacrifice  of  the  mass."  For  if  the  priest 
have  not  the  intention  to  effect  this  change,  and  thus  to  "  create  his 
creator,  then  it  is  maintained  by  Romanists  that  no  change  takes 
place,  the  wafer  does  not  become  God,  and  the  people  who  worship 
it  are  consequently  guilty  of  idolatry.  So  that  no  man  who  wor- 
ships the  host,  can  possibly  be  sure  at  the  time  that  he  is  not  guilty 
of  idolatry.  The  following  extract  from  the  Romish  Mass  Book  or 
Missal  (p.  53),  will  sufficiently  explain  this  remark.  The  portion  of 
the  book  from  which  it  is  taken  is  entitled — '  De  defectibus  in  cele- 
bratione  missarum  occurrentibus ;'  that  is,  respecting  defects  oc- 
curring in  the  mass. 

De  defectibus  Vini. — Of  the  defects  of  the  Wine. 

Si  vinum  sit  factum  penitus  acetum,  If  the  wine  be  quite  sour,  or  putrid,  or 

vel  penitus  putridum,  vel  de  uvis  acerbis  be  made  of  bitter  or  unripe  grapes  :  or 

seu  non  maturis  expressum,  vel  ei  ad-  if  so  much  water  be  mixed  with  it,  as 

mixtum  tantum  aquae,  ut  vinum  sit  cor-  spoils  the  wine,  no  sacrament  is  made, 
ruptum,  non  conficitur  sacramentum. 


508 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  VII. 


Curious  extracts  from  tin-  Romish  Missal  on  defects  in  the  Mass. 


Si  post  consecrationem  corporis,  ant 
etiam  viiii,  deprehenditur  defectus  alte- 
riusspeciei,  altera  jam  consecrata  ;  tunc 
si  nullo  modo  materia  quae  esset  appo- 
neuda  haberi  possit,  ad  evitandum  scan- 
dalum  procedendum  erit. 


If  after  the  consecration  of  the  body, 
or  even  of  the  wine,  the  defect  of  either 
kind  be  discovered,  one  being  consecrat- 
ed ;  then,  if  the  matter  which  should 
be  placed  cannot  be  had,  to  avoid  scan- 
dal, he  must  proceed. 


De  defectibus  Forma. — The  defects  in  the  Form. 


Si  quis  aliquid  diminuerit  vol  immuta- 
ret  de  forma  consecrationis  corporis  et 
sanguinis,  et  in  ipsa  verborum  immuta- 
tione,  verba  idem  non  significarent,  non 
conficeret  sacramentum. 


If  any  one  shall  leave  out  or  change 
any  part  of  the  form  of  the  consecration 
of  the  body  and  blood,  and  in  the  change 
of  the  words,  such  words  do  not  signify 
the  same  thing,  there  is  no  consecra- 
tion. 


De  defectibus  Ministri. — The  defects  of  the  Minister. 


Defectus  ex  parte  ..ministri  possunt 
contingere  quoad  ea,  qua?  in  ipso  requi- 
runtur,  base  autem  sunt,  imprimis  inten- 
tio,  deinde  dispositio  animae,  dispositio 
corporis,  dispositio  vestimentorum,  dis- 
positio in  ministerio  ipso,  quoad  ea,  quae 
in  ipso  possunt  occurrere. 

Si  quis  non  intendit  conficere,  sed 
delusarie  aliquid  agere.  Item  si  aliquae 
hostiae  ex  oblivione  remaneant  in  altari, 
vel  aliqua  pars  vini,vel  aliqua  hostia  la- 
teat,  cum  non  intendat  consecrare,  nisi 
quas  videt ;  item  si  quis  habeat  coram  se 
undecim  hostias,  et  intendat  consecrare 
solum  decern,  non  determinans  quas  de- 
cern intendit,  in  his  casibus  non  conse- 
crat,  quia  requiritur  intentio,  &c,  &c. 


The  defects  on  the  part  of  the  minis- 
ter, may  occur  in  these  things  required 
in  him,  these  are  first  and  especially  in- 
tention, after  that,  disposition  of  soul, 
of  body,  of  vestments,  and  disposition  in 
the  service  itself,  as  to  those  matters 
which  can  occur  in  it. 

If  any  one  intend  not  to  consecrate, 
but  to  counterfeit ;  also,  if  any  wafers 
remain  forgotten  on  the  altar,  or  if 
any  part  of  the  wine,  or  any  wafer  lie 
hidden,  when  he  did  not  intend  to  con- 
secrate but  what  he  saw ;  also,  if  he 
shall  have  before  him  eleven  wafers  and 
intended  to  consecrate  but  ten  only,  not 
determining  what  ten  he  meant,  in  all 
these  cases  there  is  no  consecration, 
because  intention  is  required  ! 


In  addition  to  the  above  extracts  from  the  Missal,  the  following 
upon  various  other  defects  besides  the  intention  of  the  minister,  are 
curious,  and  worth  recording : — 


Si  post  consecrationem  ceciderit  mus- 
ca  vel  arnea,  vel  aliquid  ejusmodi  in  ca- 
licem  et  fiat  nausea  sacerdoti,  extrahat 
earn  et  lavet  cum  vino,  finita  missa,  com- 
burat  et  combustio  ac  lotio  hujusmodi  in 
sacrarium  projiciatur.  Si  autem  non 
fuerit  el  nausea,  nee  ullum  periculum 
timeat,  sumat  cum  sanguine. 

Si  in  hieme  sanguis  congeletur  in  ca- 
Iice,  involvatur  calix  in  pannis  calefactis, 
si  id  non  proficerit,  ponatur  in  fervente 
aqua  prope  altare,  dummodo  in  calicem 
non  intret  donee  liquefiat. 

Si  per  negligentiam,  aliquid  de  san- 
guine Christi  ceciderit,  sen  quidem  su- 
per terram,  seu  super  tabulam  lingua 
lambatur,  et  locus  ipse  radatur  quantum 


If  after  consecration,  a  gnat,  a  spider, 
or  any  such  thing  fall  into  the  chalice, 
let  the  priest  swallow  it  with  the  blood, 
if  he  can  ;  but  if  he  fear  danger  and 
have  a  loathing,  let  him  take  it  out,  and 
wash  it  with  wine,  and  when  mass  is 
ended,  burn  it,  and  cast  it  and  the  wash- 
ing into  holy  ground. 

If  in  winter  the  blood  be  frozen  in  the 
cup,  put  warm  clothes  about  the  cup  ;  if 
that  will  not  do,  let  it  be  put  into  boiling 
water  near  the  altar,  till  it  be  melted, 
taking  care  it  does  not  get  into  the  cup. 

If  any  of  the  blood  of  Christ  fall  on 
the  ground  by  negligence,  it  must  be 
licked  up  with  the  tongue,  the  place  be 
sufficiently  scraped,  and  the  scrapings 


chaf.  iv.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  509 


The  priest  must  piously  swallow  his  vomit.  Priests  ridiculing  their  own  mummeries. 

satis  est,  et  abrasio  comburatur  :  cinis  burned  ;  but  the  ashes  must  be  buried  in 

vero  in  sacrarium  recondatur.  holy  ground. 

Si  sacerdos  evomet  eucharistiam,  si  If  the  priest  vomit  the  eucharist,  and 

species  integrae  appareant  reverenter  su-  the  species  appear  entire,  he  must  pi- 

mantur,   nisi   nausea   fiat;    tunc   enim  ously  swalloio  it  again ;  but  if  a  nausea 

species  consecratae  caute  separentur,  et  prevent  him,  then  let  the  consecrated 

in  aliquo  loco  sacro  reponantur  donee  species  be  cautiously  separated,  and  put 

corrumpantur,  et   postea   in   sacrarium  by  in  some  holy  place  till  they  be  cor- 

projiciantur;  quod  si  species  non  appa-  rupted,  and  after,  let  them  be  cast  into 

reant  comburatur  vomitus,  et  cineres  in  holy  ground ;  but  if  the  species  do  not 

sacrarium  mittantur.  appear,  the  vomit  must  be  burned  and 

the  ashes  thrown  into  holy  ground. 

How  miserably  debased  must  be  the  soul  and  intellect  of  a  ra- 
tional being,  before  he  can  submit  to  a  religion  which  enjoins  such 
rules  as  the  above  !  The  votaries  of  Jupiter,  Diana  or  Juggernaut, 
would  be  ashamed  of  them  !  Is  it  possible  for  the  priests  to  believe 
these  disgusting  absurdities  1     Credat  Judceus  Apella. 

§  24. — Now  the  question  naturally  arises,  when  these  priests  pro- 
nounce the  words  of  consecration,  do  they  always  intend  to  conse- 
crate, or  to  transmute  the  wafer  into  "  the  body,  blood,  soul,  and  di- 
vinity of  Christ  ?"  Let  the  following  incident  in  the  life  of  Luther  suf- 
fice lor  a  reply.  One  day,  during  the  visit  of  the  future  reformer  at 
Rome,  Luther  was  at  table  with  several  distinguished  ecclesiastics, 
to  whose  society  he  was  introduced  in  consequence  of  his  charac- 
ter of  envoy  from  the  Augustins  of  Germany.  These  priests  ex- 
hibited openly  their  buffoonery  in  manners  and  impious  conversa- 
tion ;  and  did  not  scruple  to  give  utterance  before  him  to  many  in- 
decent jokes,  doubtless  thinking  him  one  like  themselves.  They 
related,  amongst  other  things,  laughing,  and  priding  themselves 
upon  it,  how  when  saying  mass  at  the  altar,  instead  of  the  sacra- 
mental words  which  were  to  transform  the  elements  into  the  bodv 
and  blood  of  the  Saviour,  they  pronounced  over  the  bread  and 
wine  these  sarcastic  words  :  "  Bread  thou  art,  and  bread  thou  slialt 
remain  ;  wine  thou  art,  and  wine  thou  sha.lt  remain — Panis  es  et 
panis  manebis  ;  vinum  es  et  vinum  manebis."  "  Then,"  continued 
they,  "  we  elevate  the  pyx,  and  all  the  people  worship."  Luther 
could  scarcely  believe  his  ears.  His  mind,  gifted  with  much  viva- 
city, and  even  gaiety,  in  the  society  of  his  friends,  was  remarkable 
for  gravity  when  treating  of  serious  things.  These  Romish  mock- 
eries shocked  him.  "  I,"  says  he,  "  was  a  serious  and  pious  young 
monk  ;  such  language  deeply  grieved  me.  If  at  Rome  they  speak 
thus  openly  at  table,  thought  I,  what,  if  their  actions  should  cor- 
respond with  their  words,  and  popes,  cardinals,  and  courtiers  should 
thus  say  mass.  And  I,  who  have  so  often  heard  them  recite  it  so 
devoutly,  how,  in  that  case,  must  I  have  been  deceived  !"* 

*  Merle  D'Aubigne,  p.  53.  That  the  priests  of  the  nineteenth  century  in  the 
city  of  Rome  are  no  better  than  those  of  the  sixteenth  above  mentioned,  is  mani- 
fest from  the  following  words  of  one  who  was  but  lately  one  of  their  number. 
"  What  was  my  surprise,"  says  Dr.  Giustiniani  (after  becoming  sceptical  upon 
some  of  the  doctrines  of  Popery),  "  when  I  made  known  my  thoughts  to  some 
priests  my  intimate  friends,  to  find  that  they  were  rank  infidels  I    With  the  Scrip- 


510 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[BOOK  vn. 


Canons  and  curses  on  Baptism  and  Confirmation. 


Baptism  declared  necessary  to  salvation. 


§  24. — The  second  and  third  divisions  of  the  decree  were  upon 
the  subjects  of  Baptism  and  Confirmation.  From  these  it  will  be 
sufficient  to  cite,  without  remark,  the  following  extracts. 


Si  quis  dixerit,  Baptismum  liberum 
esse,  hoc  est,  non  necessarium  ad  salu- 
tem ;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  parvulos,  eo  quod  ac- 
tum credendi  non  habent,  suscepto  Bap- 
tismo  inter  fideles  computandos  non 
esse,  ac  propterea,  cum  ad  annos  dis- 
cretions pervenirent,  esse  rebaptizan- 
dos  ;  aut  prastare  omitti  eorum  Bap- 
tisma,  quam  eos  non  actu  proprio  cre- 
dentes  baptizari  in  sola  fide  Ecclesiae ; 
ANATHEMA  SIT. 


Si  quis  dixerit,  Confirmationem  bap- 
tizatorum  otiosam  csremoniam  esse,  et 
non  potius  verum  et  proprium  Sacra- 
mentum ;  aut  olim  nihil  aliud  fuisse, 
quam  catechesim  quamdam,  qua  adoles- 
centiffi  proximi  fidei  sueb  rationem  co- 
ram Ecclesia  exDonebant;  ANATHE- 
MA SIT. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  injurios  esse  Spiritui 
sancta  eos  qui  sacro  Confirmationis 
chrismati  virtutem  aliquam  tribuunt ; 
ANATHEMA  SIT 


Whoever  shall  affirm  that  baptism  is 
indifferent,  that  is,  not  necessary  to  sal- 
vation; LET  HIM   BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm  that  children 
are  not  to  be  reckoned  among  the  faith- 
ful by  the  reception  of  baptism,  because 
they  do  not  actually  believe ;  and  there- 
fore that  they  are  to  be  re-baptized  when 
they  come  to  years  of  discretion  ;  or  that, 
since  they  cannot  personally  believe,  it 
is  better  to  omit  their  baptism,  than  that 
they  should  be  baptized  only  in  the  faith 
of  the  church:  LET  HIM  BE  AC- 
CURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm  that  the  con- 
firmation of  the  baptized  is  a  trifling 
ceremony,  and  not  a  true  and  proper 
sacrament ;  or  that  formerly  it  was 
nothing  more  than  a  kind  of  catechiz- 
ing ;  in  which  young  persons  explained 
the  reasons  of  their  faith  before  the 
church  :  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm  that  they  offend 
the  Holy  Spirit,  who  attribute  any  vir- 
tue to  the  said  chrism  of  confirmation  : 
LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 


By  the  first  of  these  canons,  we  perceive  that  Rome  regards 
baptism  as  necessary  to  salvation,  and  pronounces  her  curse  upon 
all  who  believe  otherwise.  By  the  second,  she  consigns  in  a  body 
to  damnation  (that  is,  so  far  as  her  good  wishes  can  operate),  at 
least  one  of  the  largest  denominations  of  the  great  protestant  family  : 
and  by  the  third  and  fourth,  that  and  all  the  other  denominations 
of  Christians  belonging  to  that  great  family,  who  are  unwilling  to 
believe  that  "  confirmation  "  is  "  a  true  and  proper  sacrament." 

tures  they  were  unacquainted ;  the  doctrines  of  the  church  they  considered  as 
human  fabrications  ;  mocked  at  and  ridiculed  things  most  sacred  in  the  eye  of  a 
devoted  papist,  and  laughed  at  the  ignorance  of  the  poor  deluded  people."  (Papal 
Rome  as  it  is,  p.  42,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Giustiniani,  formerly  a  Romish  priest  in  the  city 
of  Rome,  now  a  minister  of  the  Lutheran  church  in  America.) 


511 


CHAPTER  V. 

SUSPENSION    OF    THE    COUNCIL    IN    1549,   AND    RESUMPTION    UNDER    POPE 
JULIUS  III.  IN   1551. DECREE  ON    TRANSUBSTANTIATIO V. 

§  25. — Soon  after  the  session  in  which  the  canons  just  cited  were 
passed,  a  proposal  was  made  under  the  pretext  of  a  fever  having 
broken  out  at  Trent  to  transfer  the  council  to  some  other  place  ;  and 
through  the  influence  of  the  legate,  De  Monte,  and  others  of  the 
ultra-papal  party,  a  vote  of  the  majority  was  obtained,  and  a  de- 
cree passed  at  the  eighth  session,  March  1 1th,  1547,  though  not  with- 
out strong  opposition,  to  remove  to  Bologna,  a  city  belonging  to  the 
Pope,  and  where  the  future  sessions  would  be  still  more  exclusivelv 
under  his  influence,  than  those  already  past.  This  step  was  very 
offensive  to  the  emperor  Charles,  who  employed  all  his  influence  in 
persuading,  as  many  as  possible  of  the  divines  still  to  continue  at 
Trent. 

Those  who  assembled  at  Bologna  were  all  Italian  prelates,  and 
entirely  under  the  direction  of  the  Pope.  Being  so  few  in  number, 
and  exclusively  of  one  nation,  they  could  hardly  presume  to  act  as 
a  general  council.  On  April  21st,  they  met  in  what  was  called 
the  ninth  session,  only  to  adjourn  to  June  2d.  On  the  latter  day 
they  met  again,  and  adjourned  to  September  14th,  when  they  as- 
sembled only  to  prorogue  the  council  for  an  indefinite  period  ;  and 
after  the  lapse  of  more  than  two  years,  the  few  prelates  still  re- 
maining at  Bologna  were  informed  by  the  Pope  on  the  17th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1549,  that  their  services  were  no  longer  needed,  and  conse- 
quently they  dispersed  to  their  homes. 

§  26. — In  less  than  two  months  after  the  suspension  of  the  coun- 
cil, pope  Paul  III.  died,  on  the  10th  of  November,  1549.  When  the 
cardinals  entered  into  the  conclave  to  choose  a  successor,  thev  pre- 
pared and  signed  a  series  of  resolutions,  which  they  severally  bound 
themselves  by  solemn  oath  to  observe  in  the  event  of  being  elected 
to  the  Apostolic  chair.  The  resumption  of  the  council,  the  esta- 
blishment of  such  reforms  as  it  might  enact,  and  the  reformation  of 
the  court  of  Rome,  were  included.*  It  was  long  before  thev  could 
agree,  so  powerful  was  the  influence  of  party  feelings  and  conflict- 
ing interests,  producing  complicated  intrigue,  and  thereby  extend- 
ing their  deliberations  to  a  most  inconvenient  and  wearisome  length. 
At  last  the  choice  fell  on  De  Monte,  the  former  legate  at  Trent,  who 
was  publicly  installed  into  his  high  office,  February  23d,  1550,  and 
assumed  the  name  of  Julius  III. 

It  affords  a  striking  comment  upon  the  pretended  efforts  of  the 
ecclesiastics  at  the  council  of  Trent,  to  effect  a  reform  in  the  dis- 
cipline and  morals  of  the  priesthood,  that  a  notoriously  immoral 
man  like  De  Monte  should  have  been  elevated  to  the  papacy.  In 
addition  to  his  other  vices,  he  was  a  notorious  sodomite,  and  bestow- 

*  Le  Plat,  vol.  iv.,  p.  156-159. 


512  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vn. 


A  hard  question  to  answer.  The  arrogant  bull  of  pope  Julius  for  the  re-assembling  of  the  council. 

ed  a  cardinal's  hat  on  a  young  man  named  Innocent,  the  keeper  of 
his  monkey,  of*  whom  he  was  suspected  to  be  too  fond.  When  the 
cardinals  remonstrated  with  him  on  occasion  of  this  promotion,  he 
cooly  replied,  "  And  what  merit  did  you  discover  in  me,  that  you 
raised  me  to  the  Popedom  ?"  They  could  not  easily  answer  such  a 
question,*  nor  could  they  any  more  easily  remove  the  unworthy  pope 
from  his  ill-deserved  elevation. 

§  27. — The  Emperor,  who  was  now  anxious  to  unite  all  the  Ger- 
man princes  in  some  plan  of  religious  union,  pressed  the  resumption 
of  the  council  of  Trent  upon  the  new  pope,  and  endeavored  to  pre- 
vail upon  him,  in  his  bull  for  the  re-assembling  of  the  council,  to 
use  such  language  as  might  not  disgust  the  Protestants,  and  prevent 
them  from  coming  to  Trent.  It  soon  became  evident,  however,  that 
Julius  wished  to  hinder  the  Protestants  from  attending  the  council, 
and  was  determined  by  this  means  to  prevent  the  discussions  which 
would  result  from  their  appearance  there.  Instead  of  showing  any 
moderation  in  the  style  and  temper  of  the  document,  he  used  ex- 
pressions that  could  not  but  be  obnoxious  and  offensive,  even  to 
many  Roman  Catholics.  The  pontiff  asserted  that  he  possessed 
the  sole  power  of  convening  and  directing  general  councils  ;  com- 
manded, "  in  the  plentitude  of  apostolic  authority,"  the  prelates  of 
Europe  to  repair  forthwith  to  Trent  ;  promised,  unless  prevented 
by  his  age  and  infirmities,  or  the  pressure  of  public  affairs,  to  pre- 
side in  person  ;  and  denounced  the  vengeance  of  Almighty  God, 
and  of  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  on  any  who  should  resist  or 
disobey  the  decree. f  When  the  bull  was  presented  to  the  Protes- 
tants, it  produced  exactly  the  effects  that  were  anticipated.  They 
declared  that  such  arrogant  pretensions  precluded  the  hope  of  con- 
ciliation, and  that  they  must  retract  any  promise  they  had  given  to 
submit  to  the  council,  since  it  could  not  be  done  without  wounding 
their  consciences  and  offending  God. 

•  §  28. — At  length  the  council  was  re-opened.  The  eleventh  session 
was  held  on  the  1st  of  May,  1551,  and  the  twelfth  on  the  1st  of 
September  following,  but  no  doctrinal  decrees  were  passed  at  either. 

The  thirteenth  session  was  held  on  the  11th  of  October,  and  a 
long  decree  was  issued  on  the  subject  of  Transubstantiation,  con- 
sisting of  eight  chapters  and  eleven  canons  and  curses.  It  will  be 
sufficient  to  quote  the  following  five  of  the  canons  and  curses. 

Si    quis    negaverit,   in    sanctissimas  Whoever  shall  deny,  that  in  the  most 

Eucharistiae  Sacramento  contineri  vere,  holy  sacrament  of  the   eucharist  there 

realiter  et  substantialiter  corpus  et  san-  are  truly,  really,  and  substantially  con- 

guinem  una  cum   anima  et  divinitate  tained  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord 

Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi,  ac   proinde  Jesus  Christ,  together  with  his  soul  and 

totum  Christum  :    sed   dixerit  tantum-  divinity,  and  consequently  Christ  entire  : 

*  Thuan.  Hist,  des  Conclaves,  Tom.  i.,  p.  101. 

f  Wolf.  Lect.  Memorab.,  torn,  ii.,  p.  640-644.  Wolfius  says  that  a  new  coinage 
wa?  issued  by  Julius  III.,  with  this  motto — "  Gens  et  regnum,  quod  mihi  non  parue- 
rit  peribit — The  nation  and  kingdom  which  will  not  obey  me,  shall  perish."  See 
also  Father  Paul's  council  of  Trent,  lib.  iii.,  sec.  33. 


CHAP.    V.] 


POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563. 


513 


Canons  and  curses  of  the  council  on  Transubstantiation. 


modo  esse  in  eo  ut  in  signo,  vel  figura, 
aut  virtute ;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  in  sacro-sancto  Eu- 
charistiae  Sacramento  remanere  sub- 
stantiam  panis  et  vini  una  cum  corpore 
et  sanguine  Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi, 
negaveritque  mirabilem  illam  et  singu- 
larem  conversionem  totius  substantias 
panis  in  corpus,  et  totius,  substantias 
vini  in  sanguinem,  manentibus  dumtax- 
at  speciebus  panis  et  vini ;  quam  qui- 
dem  conversionem  Catholica  Ecclesia 
aptissime  Transubstantiationem  appel- 
lat;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 

Si  quis  negaverit,  in  venerabili  Sacra- 
mento Eucharistiae  sub  unaquaque  spe- 
cie, et  sub  singulis  cujusque  speciei  par- 
tibus,  separatione  facta  totum  Christum 
contineri ;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  peracta  consecratione, 
in  admirabili  Eucharistiac  Sacramento 
non  esse  corpus  et  sanguinem  Domini 
nostri  Jesu  Christi,  sed  tantum  in  usu, 
dum  sumitur  non  autem  ante  vel  post, 
et  in  hostiss  sett  particulis  consecratis, 
qua?  post  communionem  reservantur, 
vel  supersunt,  non  remanere  verum  cor- 
pus Domini ;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 


Si  quis  dixerit,  in  sancto  Eucharistiae 
Sacramento  Christum  unigenitum  Dei 
Filium  non  esse  cultu  latriae,  etiam  ex- 
terno,  adorandum  ;  atque  ideo  nee  fes- 
tiva  peculiari  celebritate  venerandum, 
neque  in  processionibus,  secundum  lau- 
dabilem  et  universalem  Ecclesiae  sanctae 
ritum  et  consuetudinem,  solemniter  cir- 
cumgestandum,  vel  non  publice,  ut 
adoretur,  populo  proponendum,  et  ejus 
adoratores  esse  idoltras ;  ANATHE- 
MA SIT. 


but  shall  affirm  that  he  is  present  there- 
in only  in  a  sign  or  figure,  or  by  his 
power:  LET  HIM  BE   ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  in  the  most 
holy  sacrament  of  the  eucharist  there 
remains  the  substance  of  the  bread  and 
wine,  together  with  the  body  and  blood 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  shall 
deny  that  wonderful  and  peculiar  con- 
version of  the  whole  substance  of  the 
bread  into  his  body,  and  of  the  whole 
substance  of  the  wine  into  his  blood,  the 
species  only  of  bread  and  wine  remain- 
ing, which  conversion  the  Catholic 
church  most  fitly  terms  transubstantia- 
tion :  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  deny  that  Christ  en- 
tire is  contained  in  the  venerable  sacra- 
ment of  the  eucharist,  under  such  spe- 
cies, and  under  every  part  of  each  spe- 
cies when  they  are  separated :  LET 
HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  the  body 
and  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  are 
not  present  in  the  admirable  eucharist, 
as  soon  as  the  consecration  is  perform- 
ed, but  only  as  it  is  used  and  received, 
and  neither  before  nor  after ;  and  that 
the  true  body  of  our  Lord  does  not  re- 
main in  the  hosts  or  consecrated  mor- 
sels which  are  reserved  or  left  after 
communion ;  LET  HIM  BE  ACCUR- 
SED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  Christ  the 
only  begotten  Son  of  God,  is  not  to  he 
adored  in  the  holy  eucharist  with  the 
external  signs  of  that  worship  which  is 
due  to  God  ;  and  therefore  that  the  eu- 
charist is  not  to  be  honored  with  extra- 
ordinary festive  celebration,  nor  solemn- 
ly carried  about  in  processions  accord- 
ing to  the  laudable  and  universal  rites 
and  customs  of  holy  church,  nor  pub- 
licly presented  to  the  people  for  their 
adoration  :  and  that  those  who  worship 
the  same  are  idolators ;  LET  HIM  BE 
ACCURSED. 


Enough  has  already  been  said  in  former  portions  of  this  work, 
relative  to  the  monstrous  absurdity  of  Transubstantiation  pro- 
claimed in  the  preceding  canons.  Upon  such  an  insult  to  common 
sense  and  reason,  it  cannot  be  necessary  longer  to  enlarge.  In  this 
place,  therefore,  no  further  remark  will  be  offered  on  this  most  con- 
contradictory  and  absurd  of  all  the  doctrines  of  Rome. 


514 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ON     PENANCE,    AURICULAR     CONFESSION,     SATISFACTION,    AND    EXTREME 
UNCTION TO    THE    SECOND    SUSPENSION    IN    APRIL,     1552. 


§  29. — The  fourteenth  session  of  the  council  was  held  November 
25th,  1551,  and  issued  its  decrees  on  penance  and  extreme  unction. 
The  decree  on  penance  contained  nine  explanatory  chapters,  and 
fifteen  canons  and  curses.  Penance  is  said  to  consist  of  three  parts, 
contrition,  confession,  and  satisfaction.  The  following  extracts 
from  the  canons  will  sufficiently  explain  the  faith  of  Romanists  on 
the  subject  of  penance. 

Of  penance  in  general. 


Si  quis  dixerit,  in  Catholica  Ecclesia 
Pcenitentiam  non  esse  vere  et  proprie 
Sacramentum  pro  fidelibus,  quoties  post 
baptismum  in  peccata  labuntur  ipsi  Deo 
reconciliandis,  a  Christo  Domino  nostra 
institutum;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 

Si  quis  Sacramenta  confundens,  ip- 
sum  Baptismum,  Pcenitentiae  Sacramen- 
tum esse  dixerit,  quasi  haec  duo  Sacra- 
menta distincta  non  sint,  atque  ideo 
Pcenitentiam  non  recte  secundum  post 
naufragium  tabulam  appellari  ■  AN- 
ATHEMA SIT. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  verba  ilia  Domini  Sal- 
vatoris :  Accipite  Spiritum  sanctum : 
quorum  remiseritis  peccata,  remittuntur 
eis :  et  quorum  retinueritis,  retenta  sunt : 
non  esse  intelligenda  de  potestate  re- 
mittendi  et  retinendi  peccata  in  Sacra- 
mento Pcenitentiae,  sicut  Ecclesia.  Ca- 
tholica ab  initio  semper  intellexit ;  de- 
torserit  autem,  contra  institutionem  hu- 
jus  Sacramenti,  ad  auctoritatem  praedi- 
candi  Evangelium  ;  ANATHEMA 
SIT. 


Si  quis  negaverit,  ad  integram  et  per- 
fectam  peccatorum  remissionem  requiri 
tres  actus  in  poenitente,  quasi  materiam 
Sacramenti  Pcenitentiae,  videlicit,  Con- 
tritionem,  Confessionem,  et  Satisfac- 
tionem,  quae  tres  Pcenitentiae  partes  di- 
cuntur;  aut  dixerit,  duas  tantuni  es.~e 
Pcenitentiae  partes,  terrores  scilicit  in- 
(Jussos  conscientiae,  agnito  peccato,  et 
fidem  conceptam  ex  Evangelio,  vel  ab- 


Whoever  shall  affirm  that  penance, 
as  used  in  the  Catholic  church  is  not 
truly  and  properly  a  sacrament,  insti- 
tuted by  Christ  our  Lord,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  faithful,  to  reconcile  them  to  God, 
as  often  as  they  shall  fall  into  sin  after 
baptism  :  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever,  confounding  the  sacraments, 
shall  affirm  that  baptism  itself  is  a  pen- 
ance, as  if  those  two  sacraments  were 
not  distinct,  and  penance  were  not 
rightly  called  a  "  second  plank  after  ship- 
u-reck:"  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm  that  the  words 
of  the  Lord  our  Saviour,  "  Receive  ye 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  whose  sins  you  shall 
forgive  they  are  forgiven  them,  and 
whose  sins  you  shall  retain,  they  are 
retained  ;"  are  not  to  be  understood  of 
the  power  of  forgiving  and  retaining 
sins  in  the  sacrament  of  penance,  as 
the  Catholic  church  has  always  from 
the  very  first  understood  them ;  but 
shall  restrict  them  to  the  authority  of 
preaching  the  gospel,  in  opposition  to 
the  institution  of  this  sacrament :  LET 
HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  deny,  that  in  order  to 
the  full  and  perfect  forgiveness  of  sins, 
three  acts  are  required  of  the  penitent, 
constituting  as  it  were  the  matter  of  the 
sacrament  of  penance,  namely,  contri- 
tion, confession,  and  satisfaction,  which 
are  called  the  three  parts  of  penance ; 
or  shall  affirm  that  there  are  only  two 
parts  of  penance,  namely,  terrors  where- 
with the  conscience  is  smitten  by  the 


CHAP.  VI.] 


POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563. 


515 


Canons  and  curses  upon  Auricular  Confession. 


solutione,  qua  credit  quis  sibi  per  Chris- 
tum remissa  peccata :  ANATHEMA 
SIT. 


sense  of  sin,  and  faith,  produced  by  the 
gospel,  or  by  absolution,  whereby  the 
person  believes  that  his  sins  are  forgiven 
him  through  Christ:  LET  HIM  BE 
ACCURSED. 


Of  secret  or  auricular  confession  to  the  priest. 


Si  quis  negaverit,  Confessionem  Sa- 
cramentalem  vel  institutam,  vel  ad  sa- 
lutem  necessariam  esse  jure  divino,  aut 
dixerit,  modum  secrete  confitendi  soli 
sacerdoti,  quern  Ecclesia  Catholica  ab 
initio  semper  observavit  et  observat, 
alienum  esse  ab  institutione  et  mandato 
Christi,  et  inventum  esse  humanum ; 
ANATHEMA  SIT. 


Si  quis  dixerit,  in  Sacramento  Pami- 
tentiae  ad  remissionem  peccatorum  ne- 
cessarium  non  esse  jure  divino,  confiteri 
omnia  et  singula  peccata  mortalia,  quo- 
rum memoria  cum  debita  et  diligenti 
pnemeditatione  habeatur,  etiam  occul- 
ta, &c. ;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  Confessionem  omnium 
peccatorum  qualem  Ecclesia  servat, 
esse  impossibilem,  et  traditionem  hu- 
manam,  a  piis  abolendam  ;  aut  ad  earn 
non  teneri  omnes  et  singulos  utriusque 
sexiis  Christi  fideles,  juxta  magni  Con- 
cilii  Lateranensis  constitutionem,  semel 
in  anno,  et  ob  id  suadendum  esse  Chris- 
ti lidelibus,  et  non  confiteanttir  tempore 
Quadragesima  ;  ANATHEMA  SIT. 


Si  quis  dixerit  Absolutionem  sacra- 
mentalem  sacerdotes  non  esse  actum 
judicialem,  sed  nudum  ministerium 
pronuntiandi  et  declarandi  remissa  esse 
peccata  confitenti  ;  modo  tantum  credat 
se  esse  absolutum ;  aut  sacerdos  non 
serio,  sed  joco  absolvat ;  aut  dixerit  non 
requiri  Confessionem  pcenitentis,  ut 
sacerdos  eum  absolvere  possit ;  AN- 
ATHEMA SIT. 


Whoever  shall  deny  that  sacramental 
confession  was  instituted  by  divine  com- 
mand, or  that  it  is  necessary  to  salvation ; 
or  shall  affirm  that  the  practice  of  se- 
cretly confessing  to  the  priest  alone,  as  it 
has  been  ever  observed  from  the  begin- 
ning by  the  Catholic  church,  and  is 
still  observed,  is  foreign  to  the  institu- 
tion and  command  of  Christ,  and  is  a 
human  invention :  LET  HIM  BE  AC- 
CURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  in  order  to 
obtain  forgiveness  of  sins  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  penance,  it  is  not  by  divine 
command  necessary  to  confess  all  and 
every  mortal  sin  which  occurs  to  the 
memory  after  due  and  diligent  premedi- 
tation— including  secret  offences,  &c. : 
LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm  that  the  con- 
fession of  every  sin,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  church,  is  impossible, 
and  merely  a  human  tradition,  which 
the  pious  should  reject ;  or  that  all 
Christians,  of  both  sexes,  are  not  bound 
to  observe  the  same  once  a  year,  accord- 
ing to  the  constitution  of  the  great 
Council  of  Lateran  ;  and  therefore,  that 
the  faithful  in  Christ  are  to  be  persuad- 
ed not  to  confess  in  Lent :  LET  HIM 
BE  ACCURSED. 

Whoever  shall  affirm  that  the  priest's 
sacramental  absolution  is  not  a  judicial 
act,  but  only  a  ministry,  to  pronounce 
and  declare  that  the  sins  of  the  party 
confessing  are  forgiven,  so  that  he  be- 
lieves himself  to  be  absolved,  even 
though  the  priest  should  not  absolve 
seriously,  but  in  jest ;  or  shall  affirm 
that  the  confession  of  the  penitent  is 
not  necessary  in  order  to  obtain  absolu- 
tion from  the  priest:  LET  HIM  BE 
ACCURSED. 


§  30. — Before  quoting  from  the  canons  of  satisfaction  in  the  same 
decree,  it  is  necessary  to  pause  here,  for  the  purpose  of  briefly 
showing  the  indecency,  the  bigotry,  and  tyranny  of  the  above  laws 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  church  relative  to  auricular  confession. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  this  decree  enjoins  upon  all  of  "  both 
sexes,"  the  females  as  well  as  males,  to  confess  in  the  ear  of  the 
31 


51G 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vn. 


Indecency  of  females  secretly  confessing  to  a  priest. 


priest  alone,  closeted  with  him  in  the  closest  secresy,  not  only  every 
sinful  or  unholy  act,  but  every  impure  thought  that  has  passed 
through  the  heart ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  priest  to  question 
and  to  cross- question  their  penitents  in  every  variety  of  form,  rela- 
tive to  their  violations  in  thought,  word,  or  deed,  of  each  of  the 
commandments  of  the  decalogue.  The  reason  for  this  particularity 
in  confession,  is  given  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  the  decree  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  : — "  For  it  is  plain  that  the  priests  cannot  sustain  the 
office 'of  judge,  if  the  cause  be  unknown  to  them,  nor  inflict  equita- 
ble punishments,  if  sins  are  only  confessed  in  general,  and  not  mi- 
nutely and  individually  described.  For  this  reason  it  follows  that 
penitents  are  bound  to  rehearse  in  confession  all  mortal  sins,  of 
which,  after  diligent  examination  of  themselves,  they  are  conscious, 
even  though  they  be  of  the  most  secret  kind,"  &c. 

In  the  various  Romish  books  of  devotion,  such  as  the  "  Path  to  Para- 
dise," "  Garden  of  the  Soul,"  &c.,  there  are  directions  to  penitents 
how  to  prepare  themselves  before  going  to  confession  for  this  scru- 
tinizing examination.  The  following  few  questions,  from  the  direc- 
tion for  the  examination  of  conscience,  in  the  "  Garden  of  the  Soul," 
are  cited  at  random,  as  characteristic  specimens  of  the  confessional 
enquiries  on  the  subjects  to  which  they  refer. 

"  Have  you  by  word  or  deed  denied  your  religion,  or  gone  to  the 
churches  or  meetings  of  heretics,  so  as  to  join  in  any  way,  with  them 
in  their  worship  1  or  to  give  scandal  ?  How  often  1  Have  you 
blasphemed  God  or  his  saints  ?  How  often  ?  Have  you  broke  the 
days  of  abstinence  commanded  by  the  church,  or  eaten  more  than 
one  meal  on  fasting  days  ?  or  been  accessary  to  others  so  doing  ? 
How  often?  Have  you  neglected  to  confess  your  sins  once  a 
year  ;  or  to  receive  the  blessed  sacraments  at  Easter  ?  Have  you 
presumed  to  receive  the  blessed  sacrament  after  having  broken 
your  fast  1  Have  you  committed  anything  that  you  judged  or 
doubted  to  be  a  mortal  sin,  though  perhaps  it  was  not  so  ?  How 
often  ?  Or  have  you  exposed  yourself  to  the  evident  danger  of 
mortal  sin  ?  How  often  ?  And  of  what  sin  ?  Have  you  enter- 
tained with  pleasure  the  thoughts  of  saying  or  doing  anything 
which  it  would  be  a  sin  to  say  or  do  ?  How  often  ?  Have  you  had 
the  desire  or  design  of  committing  any  sin  1  Of  what  sin  ?  How 
often  P 

§  31. — The  disgusting  indecency  of  auricular  confession,  and  its  ne- 
cessarily corrupting  influence,  both  to  priest  and  penitent,  must  be 
evident  to  all.  when  the  nature  of  the  subjects  is  considered  upon 
which  the  priests  are  bound  to  examine  their  female  penitents  rela- 
tive to  violations  of  the  laws  of  chastity.  I  have  now  lying  before 
me  the  edition  of  the  "Garden  of  the  Soul,"  printed  in  1844,  at 
New  York,  and  as  we  are  informed  on  the  title  page,  "  with  the 
approbation  of  the  Right  Reverend  Dr.  Hughes,  Bishop  of  New 
York."  On  pages  213  and  214  of  that  popular  Roman  Catholic- 
book  of  devotion,  I  find  the  following  questions  in  English,  for  the 


chap,  vi]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  517 

Questions  ou  the  seventh  commandment  from  the  "  Garden  of  the  Soul,"  approved  by  Bishop  Hughes 

examination  of  conscience  on  the  sixth*  commandment.  They 
are  transcribed  verbatim  et  literatim,  with  the  omission  of  por- 
tions of  two  of  the  queries,  which  are  calculated  to  suggest 
modes  of  pollution  and  crime,  that  a  pure  minded  person  would 
never  think  of.  1  had  thought  at  first,  of  translating  these  questions 
into  Latin,  and  throwing  them  into  a  note  ;  but  they  are  printed  in 
plain  English,  in  a  popular  book  of  devotion,  issued  under  the 
auspices  of  the  most  celebrated  Romish  Bishop  in  America,  and  to 
be  found  in  the  hands  of  almost  every  Roman  Catholic  ;  and  it  is 
nothing  but  right  that  Protestants,  and  especially  those  who  send 
their  daughters  to  Roman  Catholic  seminaries,  should  know  the  kind 
of  queries  that  will  be  proposed  by  the  priests,  in  the  secret  con- 
fessional, to  their  wives  and  their  daughters,  in  case  they  should  be 
induced  to  embrace  the  religion  of  Rome.  I  must  be  excused  for 
omitting  the  most  indecent  portions  of  the  two  vilest  questions  in 
the  filthy  list.  1  dared  not  pollute  my  page  with  them.  The  work 
in  which  they  are  found,  can  be  procured  at  any  Roman  Catholic 
book-store.     The  following  are  the  questions  : 

"  Have  you  been  guilty  of  fornication,  or  adultery,  or  incest,  or 
any  sin  against  nature,  either  with  a  person  of  the  same  sex,  or  with 
any  other  creature  ?  How  often  ?  Or  have  you  designed  or  at- 
tempted any  such  sin,  or  sought  to  induce  others  to  it  ?  How 
often  ?  Have  you  been  guilty  of  self-pollution  ?  Or  of  immodest 
touches  of  yourself?  How  often  ?  Have  you  touched  others  or 
permitted  yourself  to  be  touched  by  others  immodestly  ?  Or  given 
or  taken  wanton  kisses  or  embraces,  or  any  such  liberties  ?  How 
often  1  Have  you  looked  at  immodest  objects  with  pleasure  or 
danger  ?  Read  immodest  books  or  songs  to  yourselves  or  others  ? 
Kept  indecent  pictures  ?  Willingly  given  ear  to,  or  taken  pleasure 
in  hearing  loose  discourse,  &c.  ?  Or  sought  to  see  or  hear  anything 
that  was  immodest  ?  How  often  ?  Have  you  exposed  yourself  to 
wanton  company  ?  Or  played  at  any  indecent  play  ?  Or  frequent- 
ed masquerades,  balls,  comedies,  &c,  with  danger  to  your  chastity  ? 
How  often  ?  Have  you  been  guilty  of  any  immodest  discourses, 
wanton  stories,  jests,  or  songs,  or  words  of  double  meaning  ?  How 
often  ?  And  before  how  many  ?  And  were  the  persons  before 
whom  you  spoke  or  sung  married  or  single  ?  For  all  this  you  are 
obliged  to  confess  by  reason  of  the  evil  thoughts  these  things  are 
apt  to  create  in  the  hearers.  Have  you  abused  the  marriage  bed 
by  #**###  *  *  *  *  *.  Or  by  any  pollutions  ? 
Or  been  guilty  of  any  irregularity,  in  order  ******* 
#  #  #  #_  How  often  ?  Have  you  without  a  just  cause  refused 
the  marriage  debt  ?  And  what  sin  may  have  followed  from  it  1 
How  often  ?  Have  you  debauched  any  person  that  was  innocent 
before  ?     Have  you  forced  any  person,  or  deluded  any  one  by  de- 

*  This  is  properly  the  seventh  commandment, — "  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adul- 
tery." It  is  called  the  sixth  in  the  Garden  of  the  Soul  and  other  popish  books,  on 
account  of  their  omission  of  the  second,  which  forbids  the  worship  of  images  or 
idols.     They  make  up  the  number  ten,  by  dividing  the  tenth  into  two. 


518  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  to. 

Auric^laV  confession  at  Rome  in  the  words  of  an  eye-witness.  Instance  of  assault  to  a  young  lady. 

ceitftil  promises,  &c.  ?  Or  designed  or  desired  so  to  do  ?  How 
often  ?  You  are  obliged  to  make  satisfaction  for  the  injury  you 
have  done.  Have  you  taught  any  one  evil  which  he  knew  not  be- 
fore ?     Or  carried  any  one  to  lewd  houses,  &c.  ?     How  often  ?" 

§  32. — It  will  be  a  sufficient  commentary  on  the  above  questions  to 
cite  two  brief  extracts  from  the  work  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Giustiniani, 
who  was  recently  himself  a  Romish  priest  in  the  city  of  Rome 
itself— the  very  "  seat  of  the  Beast" — and  who  is  therefore  perfectly 
acquainted  with  the  practical  operation  of  secret  auricular  con- 
fession. The  first  is  in  reference  to  a  young  lady  of  about  seven- 
teen years  old,  in  the  family  where  the  Doctor  was  boarding. 
"  One  day  the  mother  told  her  daughter  to  prepare  to  go  with  her 
to-morrow  to  confess  and  to  commune.  The  mother  unfortunately, 
feeling  unwell  the  next  morning,  the  young  lady  had  to  go  by  her- 
self; when  she  returned,  her  eyes  showed  that  she  had  wept,  and 
her  countenance  indicated  that  something,  unusual  had  happened. 
The  mother,  as  a  matter  of  course,  inquired  the  cause,  but  she  wept 
bitterly,  and  said  she  was  ashamed  to  tell  it.  Then  the  mother 
insisted  ;  so  the  daughter  told  her  that  the  parish  priest  to  whom 
she  constantly  confessed,  asked  her  questions  this  time  which  she 
could  not  repeat  without  a  blush.  She,  however,  repeated  some  of 
them,  which  were  of  the  most  licentious  and  corrupting  tendency, 
which  were  better  suited  to  the  lowest  sink  of  debauchery  than  the 
confessional.  Then  he  gave  her  some  instructions,  which  decency 
forbids  me  to  repeat ;  gave  her  absolution,  and  told  her  before  she 
communed,  she  must  come  into  his  house,  which  was  contiguous  to 
the  church ;  the  unsuspecting  young  creature  did  as  the  father  con- 
fessor told  her.  The  rest,  the  reader  can  imagine.  The  parents 
furious,  would  immediately  have  gone  to  the  archbishop,  and  laid 
before  him  the  complaint ;  but  I  advised  them  to  let  it  be  as  it  was, 
because  they  would  injure  the  character  of  their  daughter  more 
than  the  priest.  All  the  punishment  he  would  have  received,  is  a 
suspension  for  a  month  or  two,  and  then  be  placed  in  another  parish, 
or  even  remain  where  he  is.  With  such  brutal  acts,  the  history  of 
the  confessional  is  full."    {Papal  Rome  as  it  is,  pp.  83,  84.) 

§  33. — The  other  extract  from  the  work  of  Dr.  Giustiniani  (p.  188), 
refers  to  the  manner  of  confessing  sick  penitents  in  their  bed-cham- 
bers, in  the  city  of  Rome,  where  he  long  resided.  In  that  city,  he 
says,  "  you  will  see  the  indisposed  fair  penitent  remain  in  her  bed, 
and  the  Franciscan  friar  leaving  his  sandals  before  the  door  of  her 
bed-chamber,  as  an  indication  that  he  is  performing  some  ecclesias- 
tical act,  then  none,  not  even  the  husband  can  enter  the  chamber  of 
his  wife,  until  the  Franciscan  friar  has  finished  his  business  and 
leaves  the  chamber ;  then  the  husband  with  reverence  ready  wait- 
ing at  the  door,  kisses  the  hand  of  the  father  Franciscan  for  his 
kindness  for  having  administered  spiritual  comfort  to  his  wife,  and 
very  often  he  gives  him  a  dollar  to  say  a  mass  for  his  indisposed 
spouse."  (See  Engraving.) 
"  But  why,"  continues  the  doctor,  "  shall  I  speak  of  the  moral  cor- 


^:::,Mfa%kmkmM^ 


Auricular  Confession  in  ■>  Church. 


Sick  Lady  Confessing  to  a  Priest. 


chap,  vi.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  521 

The  bigotry  and  tyranny  of  the  popish  laws  on  confession.     Consequences  of  neglecting  them  at  Rome. 

ruption  of  Popery  in  Rome  ?  it  is  everywhere  the  same  ;  it  appears 
differently,  but  never  changes  its  character.  In  America,  where 
female  virtue  is  the  characteristic  of  the  nation,  it  is  under  the 
control  of  the  papal  priest.  If  a  Roman  Catholic  lady,  the  wife  of 
a  free  American,  should  choose  to  have  the  priest  in  her  bed-room, 
she  has  only  to  pretend  to  be  indisposed  and  asking  for  the  spiritual 
father,  the  confessor,  no  other  person,  not  even  the  husband,  dare 
enter.  In  Rome  it  would  be  at  the  risk  of  his  life  ;  in  America  at 
the  risk  of  being  excommunicated,  and  deprived  of  all  spiritual  pri- 
vileges of  the  church,  and  even  excluded  from  heaven." 

§34. — The  bigotry  and  tyranny  of  the  popish  canons  of  Trent  rela- 
tive to  confession  are  no  less  evident  than  their  indecency.  In  one  of 
the  canons  above  cited,  this  sacramental  confession  to  a  priest  is 
declared  to  be  necessary  to  salvation,  and  a  bitter  curse  is  pro- 
nounced not  only  on  him  who  neglects  to  confess,  but  on  all  who 
deny  that  this  auricular  confession  is  necessary  to  salvation. 

In  protestant  lands  we  can  smile  at  the  anathemas  of  an  apostate 
church.  We  feel  that  they  are  but  a  breath  of  empty  air,  and  we 
treat  them  with  that  contempt  they  deserve.  Let  those  lands  but  once 
become  popish,  and  be  reduced  to  the  situation  of  oppressed  and 
priest-ridden  Italy  or  Spain,  and  the  people  must  obey  these  decrees, 
and  treat  them  with  the  respect  they  challenge,  or  endure  the  conse- 
quences. What  those  consequences  are  at  "  Rome  in  the  nineteenth 
century,"  we  learn  from  a  forcible  and  accurate  writer.  "  If  every 
true-born  Italian,  man,  woman  and  child,  within  the  Pope's  domin- 
ions, does  not  confess  and  receive  the  communion  at  least  once  a 
year,  before  Easter,  his  name  is  posted  up  in  the  parish  church ;  if 
he  still  refrain,  he  is  exhorted,  entreated,  and  otherwise  tormented ; 
and  if  he  persist  in  his  contumacy,  he  is  excommunicated,  which  is 
a  very  good  joke  to  us,  but  none  at  all  to  an  Italian,  since  it  involves 
the  loss  of  civil  rights,  and  perhaps  of  liberty  and  property.  Every 
Italian  must  at  this  time  confess  and  receive  the  communion." — "  A 
friend  of  ours,  who  has  lived  a  great  deal  in  foreign  countries,  and 
there  imbibed  very  heterodox  notions,  and  who  has  never  to  us 
made  any  secret  of  his  confirmed  unbelief  of  Catholicism,  went 
to-day  to  confession  with  the  strongest  repugnance.  '  What  can  I 
do  V  he  said.  '  If  I  neglect  it,  I  am  reprimanded  by  the  parish 
priest ;  if  I  delay  it,  my  name  is  posted  up  in  the  parish  church  ;  if 
I  persist  in  my  contumacy,  the  arm  of  the  church  will  overtake  me, 
and  my  rank  and  fortune  only  serve  to  make  me  more  obnoxious  to 
its  power.  If  I  choose  to  make  myself  a  martyr  to  infidelity,  as  the 
saints  of  old  did  to  religion,  and  to  suffer  the  extremity  of  punish- 
ment in  the  loss  of  property  and  personal  rights,  what  is  to  become 
of  my  wife  and  family  ?  The  same  ruin  would  overtake  them, 
though  they  are  Catholics  ;  for  I  am  obliged  not  only  to  conceal  my 
true  belief,  and  profess  what  I  despise,  but  I  must  bring  up  my  chil- 
dren in  their  abominable  idolatries  and  superstition ;  or,  if  I  teach 
them  the  truth,  make  them  either  hypocrites  or  beggars.'  "* 

*  Rome  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  vol.  ii.,  p.  262;  vol.  iii.,  160. 


522 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vii. 


Canons  and  curses  on  satisfaction.     Men  "  redeeming  themselves"  from  sin.    Corrupting  the  Scriptures. 

§  35. Of  Satisfaction. — On  this  third  part  of  penance,  it  will  be 

sufficient  to  quote  the  three  following  canons  : — 

Si  quis  dixerit,  totam  poenam  simul  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  the  entire 
cum  culpa  remitti  semper  a  Deo,  satis-  punishment  is  always  remitted  by  God, 
factionemque  pcenitentium  non  esse  ali-  together  with  the  fault,  and  therefore 
am  quam  fidem,  qua  apprehendunt  Chris-  that  penitents  need  no  other  satisfaction 
turn  pro  eis  satisfecisse  ;  ANATHEMA  than  faith,  whereby  they  apprehend 
glT  Christ,  who  has  made  satisfaction  for 

them  :  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 
Si  quis  dixerit,  pro  peccatis,  quoad  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  we  can  by 
poenam  temporalem,  minime  Deo  per  no  means  make  satisfaction  to  God  for 
Christi  merita  satisfieri  pcenis  ab  eo  in-  our  sins,  through  the  merits  of  Christ, 
flictis,  et  patienter  toleratis,  vel  a  sacer-  as  far  as  the  temporal  penalty  is  con- 
dote  injunctis,  sed  neque  sponte  suscep-  cerned,  either  by  punishments  inflicted 
tis,  ut  jejuniis,  orationibus,  eleemosynis,  on  us  by  him,  and  patiently  borne,  or 
vel  aliis  etiam  pietatis  operibus,  atque  enjoined  by  the  priest,  though  not  un- 
ideo  optimam  pcenitentiam  esse  tantum  dertaken  of  our  own  accord,  such  as 
novam  vitam ;  ANATHEMA  SIT.  fastings,  prayers,  alms,  or  other  works 

of  piety ;    and  therefore  that  the   best 

penance  is  nothing  more  than  a  new 

life  :  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  satisfactiones,  quibus         Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  the  satis- 

pcenitentes  per  Christum  Jesum  peccata     factions  by  which  penitents  redeem  them- 

redimunt,  non  esse  cultus  Dei,  sed  tra-     selves  from  sin  through  Christ  Jesus,  are 

ditiones  hominum,  doctrinam  de  gratia,     no  part  of  the  service  of  God,  but,  on 

et  verum  Dei  cultum,  atque  ipsum  ben-     the   contrary,  human  traditions,  which 

eficium  mortis  Christi  obscurantes  ;  AN-     obscure  the  doctrine  of  grace,  and  the 

ATHEMA  SIT.  true  worship  of  God,  and  the  benefits  of 

the  death  of  Christ ;    LET   HIM   BE 
ACCURSED 

Thus  is  it  that  the  Romish  anti-Christ  fights  against  "  the  glorious 
gospel  of  the  blessed  God,"  and  pronounces  a  curse  upon  all  who 
trust  entirely  for  salvation  to  Christ,  and  believe  and  rejoice  in  the 
most  precious  assurance  of  the  word  of  God — "  The  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ  his  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sins." 

§  36. — The  reader,  acquainted  chiefly  with  his  bible,  who  has 
never  become  familiar  with  the  pious  frauds  and  crafty  devices  of 
Popery,  upon  reading  the  foregoing  decree  upon  penance,  satisfac- 
tion, &c,  naturally  inquires,  "  How  do  they  reconcile  these  unscrip- 
tural  notions  with  the  word  of  God  1  I  have  read  my  bible  from 
beginning  to  end,  and  have  found  nothing  from  Genesis  to  Revela- 
tions about  doing  penance — where  do  they  get  this  doctrine  ?" 

In  reply  to  this  natural  inquiry  I  answer — "  They  do  it  by  falsify- 
ing and  corrupting  God's  word,  by  substituting  in  their  Rhemish  or 
Douay  version,  the  words,  "  do  penance"  for  "  repent"  in  those  pas- 
sages where  the  original  uses  lueravoea,  a  word  which  every  Greek 
scholar  knows  refers  to  an  operation  of  the  mind  (*ovc)  from  which 
the  word  is  derived,  with  the  preposition  i""«  denoting  change. 
Two  or  three  instances  of  this  fraudulent  translation  will  be  sub- 
joined. Thus,  Matt,  in.,  2  :  "  Do  penance,  for  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven is  at  hand."  Luke  xvii.  3  :  "  If  thy  brother  sin  against  thee, 
rebuke  him ;  and  if  he  do  penance,  forgive  him."     Acts  viii.,  22. 


chap,  vi  ]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A  D.  1545-1563.  523 


Doing  penance.  Flagrant  falsification  of  God's  Word,  in  the  popish  Bordeaux  testament — [note.) 

Peter  to  Simon  Magus :  "  Do  penance  therefore,  from  this  thy  wick- 
edness." 

In  every  one  of  these  instances,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say 
the  Protestant  version  renders  the  term  repent,  as  the  meaning  of 
the  Greek  word  undoubtedly  requires.  They  even  carry  this  mis- 
translation into  the  Old  Testament,  for  instance,  Job  xiii.,  G.  "  There- 
fore I  reprehend  myself  and  do  penance  in  dust  and  ashes."  Pro- 
testant :  "  Wherefore  I  abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes." 

Ezek.  xviii.,  21  :  "If  the  wicked  do  penance  for  all  the  sins  which 
he  hath  committed,"  &c.  Protestant:  '"But  if  the  wicked  will 
turn,"  &c.* 

*  The  Bordeaux  Testament. — The  falsification  of  God's  Holy  Word,  by  substi- 
tuting "  do  penance"  for  "  repent"  is  not  the  most  flagrant  instance  of  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  of  which  the  votaries  and  advocates  of  Popery 
have  been  guilty.  Soon  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Huguenots  from  France  in 
1685,  in  consequence  of  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  the  papists,  per- 
ceiving that  they  could  not  prevent  the  scriptures  from  being  read,  resolved  to 
force  the  sacred  volume  itself  into  their  service,  by  the  most  audacious  corruptions 
and  interpolations.  An  edition  of  the  New  Testament  was  published,  so  trans- 
lated, that  a  Roman  Catholic  might  find  in  it  explicit  statements  of  the  peculiar 
dogmas  of  his  church.  The  book  was  printed  at  Bordeaux,  in  1686.  It  was 
entitled,  "  The  New  Testament  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  Translated  from 
Latin  into  French,  by  the  divines  of  Louvain  :"  and  the  attestation  of  the  popish 
archbishop  of  Bordeaux  was  prefixed  to  it,  assuring  the  reader  that  it  was  "  care- 
fully revised  and  corrected."  Two  doctors  in  divinity  of  the  university  of  the 
same  place  also  recommended  it  as  useful  to  all  those,  who,  with  permission  of 
their  superiors,  might  read  it.  A  few  quotations  will  show  the  manner  in  which 
the  work  was  executed,  and  the  object  which  the  translators  had  in  view. 

In  the  summary  of  the  "  contents"  of  Matthew  xxvi,,  Mark  xiv.,  and  Luke  xxii., 
it  is  said  that  those  chapters  contain  the  account  of  the  "  institution  of  the  mass  !" 
Acts  xiii.,  2,  ("  as  they  ministered  to  the  Lord  and  fasted")  is  thus  rendered — "  as 
they  offered  to  the  Lord  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  and  fasted,"  &c.  In  Acts  xi.,  30, 
and  other  places,  where  our  English  version  has  the  word  "  elders,"  this  edition 
has  "priests." 

A  practice  that  has  proved  very  productive  of  gain  to  the  priesthood,  is  made 
scriptural  in  the  following  manner :  "  And  his  father  and  mother  went  every  year 
in  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,"  Luke  ii.,  41.  "Beloved,  thou  actest  as  a  true 
believer  in  all  that  thou  doest  towards  the  brethren,  and  towards  the  pilgrims." 
3  John,  5. 

Tradition  is  thus  introduced : — "  Ye  keep  my  commandments,  as  I  left  them 
with  you  by  tradition,"  1  Cor.  xi.,  2.  "  The  faith  which  has  been  once  given  to 
the  saints  by  tradition."     Jude  5. 

That  the  Roman  Catholic  might  be  able  to  prove  that  marriage  is  a  sacrament, 
he  was  furnished  with  these  renderings : — "  To  those  who  are  joined  together  in 
the  sacrament  of  marriage,  I  command,"  &c.  1  Cor.  vii.,  10.  "  Do  not  join  your- 
selves in  the  sacrament  of  marriage  with  unbelievers."     2  Cor.  vi.,  14. 

1  Cor.  ix.,  5,  is  so  directly  opposed  to  the  constrained  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  that 
we  can  scarcely  wonder  at  finding  an  addition  to  the  text ;  it  stands  thus — "  Have 
we  not  power  to  lead  about  a  sister,  a  woman  to  serve  us  in  the  gospel,  and  to 
remember  us  with  her  goods,  as  the  other  apostles,"  &c. 

In  support  of  human  merit,  the  translation  of  Heb.  xiii.,  16,  may  be  quoted — 
"  We  obtain  merit  toward  God  by  such  sacrifices." 

Purgatory  could  not  be  introduced  but  by  a  direct  interpolation  :  "  He  himself 
shall  be  saved,  yet  in  all  cases  as  by  the  fire  of  purgatory."     1  Cor.  iii.,  15. 

Many  other  passages  might  be  noticed.  "  Him  only  shalt  thou  serve  with 
latria,"  i.  e.,  with  the  worship  specially  and  solely  due  to  God:  this  addition  was 


52 1  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vii. 

A  Bpaniard'l  idea  of  doing  penunce.  Form  of  administering  Extreme  Unction. 

The  idea  which  the  common  people  among  Papists  entertain  of 
lining  i a  nance,  is  well  illustrated  by  a  reply  once  made  by  an  intel- 
ligent Spaniard  to  a  friend  of  mine,  a  clergyman  of  New  York. 
'•  It  means,"  said  he,  "to  cat  no  breakfast — very  little  dinner — no 
tea ;  not  to  lie  in  bed,  but  on  the  floor,  and  (suiting  the  action  to  the 
word)  whip  yourself!  whip  yourself!  !  whip  yourself!  !  !"* 

Of  Extreme  Unction. 

§  37. — This  also  is  regarded  as  a  sacrament  by  the  Romish  church. 
It  consists  in  the  anointing,  by  the  priest,  of  a  person  supposed  to 
be  at  the  point  of  death  with  the  sacred  oil  upon  the  eyes,  the  ears, 
the  nostrils,  the  mouth,  and  the  hands.  The  unction  is  applied  to 
all  the  parts  above  mentioned.  At  each  anointing  the  priest  says, 
"  By  this  holy  unction,  and  through  his  great  mercy,  may  God  in- 
dulge thee  whatever  sins  thou  hast  committed  by  sight" — "  s??iell" — 
"  touch,"  &c.  This  is  called  the  "  form "  of  the  sacrament.  At 
this  time  the  priest  has  the  power  of  absolving  the  dying  person 
from  all  sins,  even  from  those  which  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  the 
decree  on  penance  are  reserved  to  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 

evidently  made  to  prevent  the  text  being  urged  against  the  invocation  of  the 
saints;  Luke  iv.,  8.  "Many  of  those  who  believed,  came  to  confess  and  declare 
their  sins."  Acts  xix.,  18.  "  After  a  procession  of  seven  days  round  it."  Heb. 
xi.,  30.  "Beware,  lest  being  led  away  with  others,  by  the  error  of  the  wicked  here- 
tics,'" &c.  2  Pet.  iii.,  17.  "  There  is  some  sin  which  is  not  mortal,  but  venial™ 
1  John  v.,  17.  "  And  round  about  the  throne  there  were  twenty-four  thrones,  and 
on  the  thrones  twenty-four  priests  seated,  all  clothed  with  albs."  Rev.  iv..  4. 
The  alb,  it  will  be  recollected,  is  part  of  the  official  attire  of  a  Roman  Catholic 
priest. 

But  the  most  flagrant  interpolation  occurs  in  1  Tim.  iv.  1 — 3.  "  Now  the  Spirit 
speaketh  expressly,  that  in  the  latter  times  some  will  separate  themselves  from  the 
Roman  faith,  giving  themselves  up  to  spirits  of  error,  and  to  doctrines  taught  by 
de\  Us.  Speaking  false  things  through  hypocrisy,  having  also  the  conscience  cau- 
terised. Condemning  the  sacrament  of  marriage,  the  abstinence  from  meats,  which 
God  hath  created  for  the  faithful,  and  for  those  who  have  known  the  truth,  to 
receive  them  with  thanksgiving." 

"  Such,"  says  Rev.  J.  M.  Cramp,  now  president  of  the  Baptist  college  in  Mon- 
treal, to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  this  important  fact — "  such  was  the  Bordeaux 
New  Testament.  Whether  it  was  actually  translated  by  the  divines  of  Louvain 
is  doubtful.  This  is  certain,  however,  that  it  was  printed  by  the  royal  and  univer- 
sity printer,  and  sanctioned  by  dignitaries  of  the  Romish  church.  It  is  proper  to 
add,  that  the  Roman  Catholics  were  soon  convinced  of  the  follv  of  their  conduct, 
in  tints  tampering  witli  the  inspired  volume.  To  avoid  the  just  odium  brouo-ht  on 
their  cause  by  this  wicked  measure,  they  have  endeavored  to  destroy  the  whole 
edition.     In  consequence,  the  book  is  now  excessively  scarce." 

I  am  not  aware  that  a  single  copy  of  the  Bordeaux  Testament  is  to  be  found  in 
the  United  States.  Four  copies,  however,  are  known  to  be  in  existence  in  Great 
Britain.     One  is  in  the  library  of  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Durham;  another  is 

Eossessed  by  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  ;  a  third  is  in  the  archiepiscopal  library  at 
.ambeth  ;  and  the  fourth  was  a  few  years  ago  in  the  possession  of  the  late  Duke 
of  Sussex,  by  whom  President  Cramp  was  permitted  to  visit  his  valuable  library, 
and  to  make  the  extracts  from  the  Bordeaux  Testament,  cited  in  the  above  note. 
(See  Cramp's  Jfistori/  qf  the  Council  of  Trent,  page  67,  &c.) 

*  See  Defence  of  Protestant  Scriptures, by  the  present  author,  page  52. 


chap,  yi  ]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  525 

Popery  pats  the  priest  in  the  place  of  Christ.  Canons  and  curses  on  Extreme  Unction. 

Pontiff.  However  the  man  may  have  lived  during  life,  let  him  on 
his  dying  bed  confess  to  a  priest,  receive  absolution  and  extreme 
unction,  and  he  is  sure  of  his  passport  to  Heaven.  Awful  delu- 
sion !  thus  to  put  the  priest  in  the  stead  of  Christ,  and  teach  the 
poor  dying  sinner  to  trust  in  a  few  drops  of  oil  from  the  fingers, 
and  a  few  words  of  absolution  from  the  lips  of  a  miserable  mortal, 
instead  of  directing  him  to  Christ  that  "rock  of  ages,"  who  is  the 
only  "  sure  foundation "  of  a  sinner's  hope,  and  bidding  him  trust 
alone  in  that  Almighty  Saviour,  who  is  "  able  to  save  unto  the  ut- 
termost all  that  come  unto  God  by  him."  "  All  will  confess,"  says 
Mr.  Cramp,  "the  vast  importance  of  right  views  and  feelings  "in 
the  prospect  of  death.  Perilous  as  is  deception  or  delusion  in 
things  spiritual  at  any  time,  the  danger  is  immeasurably  increased 
when  the  last  change  is  fast  approaching,  and  the  final  destiny  is 
about  to  be  sealed  for  ever.  It  is  then  that  the  church  of  Rome 
"  lays  the  flattering  unction  to  the  soul."  The  dying  man  sends  for 
the  priest,  and  makes  confession  ;  absolution  is  promptly  bestowed  : 
the  eucharist  is  administered ;  and  lastly,  the  sacred  chrism  is  ap- 
plied. These  are  the  credentials  of  pardon,  the  passports  to  hea- 
ven. No  attempt  is  made  to  investigate  the  state  of  the  heart,  de- 
tect false  hopes,  bring  the  character  to  the  infallible  standard  : 
nothing  is  said  of  the  atonement  of  Christ  and  the  sanctifying  in- 
fluences of  the  Spirit.  Without  repentance,  without  faith,  without 
holiness,  the  departing  soul  feels  happy  and  secure,  and  is  not  un- 
deceived till  eternity  discloses  its  dreadful  realities — and  then  it  is 
too  late.  It  is  not  affirmed,  indeed,  that  the  description  is  univer- 
sally applicable  ;  but  that,  writh  regard  to  a  large  majority  of  in- 
stances, it  is  a  fair  statement  of  facts,  cannot,  alas,  be  questioned."* 
It  will  be  sufficient  to  quote  the  following  two  canons  with  the 
curses  upon  all  who  cannot  believe  that  these  drops  of  oil  "  confer 
grace"  or  "  forgive  sin,"  and  who  prefer,  therefore,  to  trust  for  sal- 
vation solely  to  the  infinite  merits,  the  perfect  righteousness,  and 
the  one-atoning  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  Extremam  Unctionem  Whoever  shall   affirm   that  extreme 

non  esse  vere  et  proprie  Sacramentum  unction    is    not   truly  and   properly   a 

a  Christo  Domino  nostro  institutum,  et  sacrament,    instituted    by    Christ    our 

a  beato  Jacobo  Apostolo  promulgatum :  Lord,   and    published    by    the    blessed 

sed  ritum  tantum  acceptum  a  Patribus,  Apostle  James,  but  only  a  ceremony  re- 

aut  figmentum  humanum :  ANATHE-  ceived  from  the  fathers,  or  a  human  in- 

MA  SIT.  vention  :  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Si   quis  dixerit,   sacram   infirmorum  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  the  sacred 

Unctionem  non  conferre  gratiam  ;  nee  unction  of  the  sick  does  not  confer  grace, 

remittere  peccata,   nee   alleviare  infir-  nor  forgive   sin,  nor  relieve  the  sick  : 

mos :  sed  jam  cessasse,  quasi  olim  tan-  but  that  its  power  has  ceased,  as  if  the 

turn    fuerit    gratia   curationum  •,    AN-  gift   of   healing   existed  only   in    past 

ATHEMA  SIT.  ages :  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

§  38. — No  doctrinal  decrees  were  passed  at  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth sessions,  the  latter  of  which  was  held  on  the  28th  of  April, 

*  Cramp's  council  of  Trent,  p.  214. 


526  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vn. 

.<.■!-, mil  suspension  of  the  council  in  1552.  Re-opens,  after  a  ten  years  interval,  in  1562. 

1552.  ( >n  that  day  a  hasty  decree  was  passed,  adjourning  the  council 
for  two  years,  in  consequence  of  the  alarm  excited  by  the  successes 
of  the  protestant  prince,  duke  Maurice  of  Saxony,  who  was  at  war 
with  tin-  emperor  Charles,  and  moving  with  his  victorious  forces  in 
the  direction  of  Trent.  No  sooner  was  this  decree  passed  for  a 
second  suspension,  than  the  council-hall  was  quickly  vacated,  and 
the  fathers  hastened  to  the  asvlum  of  their  homes. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

FROM    THE    SEVENTEENTH     TO    THE     TWENTY-FIFTH    AND  CLOSING    SES- 
SION.  DENIAL      OF     THE      CUP     TO     THE      LAITY.    THE  MASS.    SACRA 

MENTS      OF     ORDERS      AND     MATRIMONY.     PURGATORY.  INDULGENCES, 
RELICS,    &C 

§  39. — Though  the  council  had  adjourned  for  but  two  years, 
nearly  ten  years  elapsed,  from  various  causes,  before  it  was  re- 
opened. During  this  interval,  after  the  death  of  pope  Julius  III., 
which  took  place  March  23d,  1555,  three  other  pontiffs  successively 
occupied  the  papal  throne,  Marcellus.  cardinal  of  Santa  Croce,  one 
of  the  former  legates  at  Trent,  who  died  after  the  very  brief  reign 
of  twenty-one  days,  Paul  IV.,  a  most  bloody  persecutor  and  pro- 
moter of  the  Inquisition,  and  Pius  IV.,  who  was  chosen  on  Christ- 
mas day,  1559. 

At  length  the  council  was  re-opened  on  Sunday,  January  18th, 
1562,  and  the  first  session  under  pope  Pius  IV.,  or  seventeenth  from 
the  commencement,  was  held.  After  mass  and  a  sermon,  the  bull 
of  convocation  was  read.  Four  other  bulls  or  briefs  were  also 
produced :  the  first  contained  the  Pope's  instructions  to  the  legates  ; 
in  the  second  and  third  he  gave  them  authority  to  grant  licenses  to  the 
prelates  and  divines  to  read  heretical  books,  and  to  receive  pri- 
vately into  communion  with  the  Romish  church  any  persons  who 
might  abjure  their  heresies ;  by  the  fourth  he  regulated  the  order 
of  precedence  among  the  fathers,  some  childish  disputes  having  al- 
ready arisen  among  them  on  that  account. 

§  40. — The  eighteenth  session  was  held  February  26,  when  the 
principal  subject  of  consideration  was  the  subject  of  prohibited 
books.  A  brief  from  pope  Pius  was  read,  authorising  the  council 
to  prepare  a  catalogue  of  prohibited  books.  This  document  ad- 
verted in  a  lugubrious  strain  to  the  wide  dissemination  of  heretical 
books,  and  the  importance  of  interfering  to  avert  this  evil.  A  com- 
mittee, or  congregation  was  subsequently  appointed  to  prepare  this 


chap,  vii.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  527 

Prohibiting  books.  The  Holy  Spirit  in  a  travelling  bag.  Proposals  for  reform  rejected. 

index  prohibitorius,*  the  result  of  whose  labors  has  already  been 
mentioned,  in  connection  with  the  doings  of  the  fourth  session  of 
the  council,  and  their  restrictions  upon  the  liberty  of  the  press. 
The  reason  of  the  Pope  sending  directions  relative  to  this  subject 
was  a  fear  lest  it  should  appear  that  the  council  was  superior  to  the 
Pope,  by  the  proposed  revision  of  an  index  prohibitorius  previ- 
ously prepared  by  pope  Paul  IV.  The  doings  of  the  council  were 
in  fact  almost  entirely  under  papal  control,  so  much  so  that  M. 
Lanssac,  the  French  ambassador,  in  a  letter  written  the  day  after 
his  arrival  to  De  Lisle,  the  French  ambassador  at  Rome,  expressed 
his  fear  that  little  advantage  would  be  derived  from  the  assembly, 
unless  the  Pope  would  suffer  the  deliberations  and  votes  of  the 
fathers  to  be  entirely  free,  and  no  more  "  send  the  Holy  Spirit  in  a 
travelling  bag  from  Rome  to  Trent  ?"] 

§  41. — The  nineteenth  session  was  held,  May  14th,  and  the  twen- 
tieth, June  4th,  but  no  doctrinal  decree  was  passed  at  either.     At 
these  sessions  the  most  determined  opposition  to  all  proposals  of  re- 
form was  made  by  the  papal  legates,  and  the  party  under  their  in- 
fluence.    A  memorial  was  presented  to  the  legates  by  the  imperial 
ambassadors,  containing  the  Emperor's  wishes  with  regard  to  re- 
formation.    It  included  among  others  the  following  demands :  that 
the  Pope  should  reform  himself  and  his  court,  that  no  more  scan- 
dalous  dispensations    should   be  given,  that  the    ancient    canons 
against  sirAony  should  be  renewed,  that  the  number  of  human  pre- 
cepts in  things   spiritual   should  be  lessened,  and  prelatical   con- 
stitutions no  longer  placed  on  a  level  with  the  divine  commands, 
that  the  breviaries  and  missals  should  be   purified,  that  prayers, 
faithfully  translated  into  the  vernacular  tongues,  should  be  inter- 
spersed in  the  services  of  the  church,  that  means  should  be  devised 
for  the  restoration  of  the  clergy  and  the  monastic  orders  to  primi- 
tive purity,  and  that  it  should  be  considered  whether  the  clergy 
might  not  be  permitted  to  marry,  and  the  cup  be  granted  to  the 
laity.     The  legates  were  alarmed,  and  exasperated  at  this  memo- 
rial ;  they  quickly  perceived  how  dangerous  it  would  be  to  suffer 
its  introduction  to  the  council,  and  persuaded  the  ambassadors  to 
wait  till  they  had  negotiated  with  the  Emperor.     Delphino  was  at 
the  imperial  court :  he  assured  Ferdinand,  that  if  he  persisted  in 
requiring  the  memorial  to  be  presented,  a  dissolution  of  the  council 
would  be  the  consequence.     The  Emperor  yielded,  and  that  im- 
portant document  was  suppressed.  J 

§  42. — Refusing  the  cup  to  the  laity. — Discussions  ensued  upon 
the  question  of  withholding  the  cup  in  the  sacrament  from  the 
laity.  The  denial  of  the  cup  had  been  predetermined  at  Rome, 
and,  of  course,  all  the  influence  of  the  legates  and  their  party,  and 
especially  of  Lainez,||  the  second  general  of  the  Jesuits,  who  was 

*  Father  Paul  Sarpi,  lib.  vi.,  c.  5.     Pallavicini,  lib.  xv.,  s.  19. 

f  Le  Plat,  vol.  v.,  p.  169.     Cramp,  250. 

\  Father  Paul,  lib.  vi.,  sect.  28;  Pallavicini,  lib.  xvii.,  cap.  1. 

II  Lainez.     This  famous  successor  of  Loyala,  the  founder  of  the  Jesuits,  was 


528  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vir. 

Canons  and  curses  on  denying  the  cup  to  the  laity.  And  on  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass. 


a  member  of  the  council,  was  employed  to  effect  this  object.  They 
alleged  that  should  this  point  be  conceded  to  the  laity  they  would 
lose  all  their  reverence  for  the  holy  sacraments,  and  that  the  dif- 
ference  between  the  laity  and  the  holy  clergy  would  be  so  nar- 
rowed down,  as  to  be  almost  destroyed.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
ambassadors  of  the  Emperor  and  of  France,  and  the  envoy  from 
Bavaria,  contended  strongly  for  conceding  the  cup  to  the  laity. 
The  imperial  ambassadors  presented  a  memorial  on  the  state  of 
Bohemia,  alleging  that  ever  since  the  council  of  Constance  the 
practice  of  communion  in  both  kinds  had  been  maintained  with 
great  tenacity  by  the  Bohemians,  and  that  a  refusal  on  the  part  of 
the  council  to  concede  this  point,  would  probably  cause  them  to 
take  refuge  with  the  Lutherans.  But  all  was  of  no  avail.  A  de- 
cree was  prepared,  and  on  the  16th  of  July,  1562,  it  was  passed 
in  the  twenty-first  session.  The  following  two  canons  embody  the 
substance  of  the  decree. 

Si   quis   dixerit,   sanctam  Ecclesiam  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  the  holy 

Catholicam  non  justis  causis  et  rationi-  Catholic   church  had  not  just  grounds 

bus  adductam  fuisse,  ut  Laicos,  atque  and  reasons  for  restricting  the  laity  and 

etiam    Clericos,  non    conficientes,  sub  non-officiating  clergy  to  communion  in 

panis  tantummodo  specie  communicaret,  the  species  of  bread  only,  or  that  she 

aut  in  eo  errasse ;  ANATHEMA  SIT.  hath   erred  therein :    LET    HIM    BE 

ACCURSED. 

Si  quis  negaverit,  totum,  et  integrum  Whoever    shall    deny    that     Christ, 

Christum  omnium  gratiarum  fontem  et  whole  and  entire,  the  fountain  and  au- 

auctorem  sub  una   panis  specie  sumi,  thor  of  every  grace,  is  received^under 

quia  ut  quidam  falso  asserunt,  non  se-  the  one  species  of  bread ;  because,  as 

cundum  ipsius  Christi  institutionem  sub  some  falsely  affirm,  he  is  not  then  re- 

utraque   specie    sumatur;    ANATHE-  ceived  according  to  his  own  institution, 

MA  SIT.  in  both  kinds:  LET  HIM  BE  AC- 
CURSED. 

§  43. — Of  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass. — The  decree  on  this  subject 
was  passed  at  the  twenty -second  session,  held  September  17th, 
1562.  It  consisted  of  eight  chapters  and  nine  canons,  and  taught 
that  in  the  eucharist,  a  true  propitiatory  sacrifice  was  offered  up 
for  sin,  in  the  same  way  as  when  Christ  offered  up  himself  as  a 
sacrifice  on  the  cross.     Five  of  the  canons  were  as  follows  : — 

Si  quis  dixerit,  in  Missa  non  offerri  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  a  true  and 

Deo  verum  et  proprium  sacrificium,  aut  proper  sacrifice  is  not  offered  to  God  in 

quod  offerri   non  sit  aliud,  quam  nobis  the  mass  ;  or  that  the  offering  is  nothing 

Christum  ad  manducandum  dari ;  AN-  else  than  giving  Christ  to  us,  to  eat: 

ATHEMA  SIT.  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  illis  verbis,  Hoc  facite  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  by  those 

in  meam  commemorationem,  Christum  words,  "  Do  this  for  a  commemoration 

non    instituisse   Apostolos   sacerdotes  ;  of  me,"  Christ  did  not  appoint  his  apos- 

a  prominent  member  of  the  council,  and  distinguished  himself  by  his  advocacy  of 
all  the  measures  calculated  to  establish  and  enlarge  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
See.  He  delivered  a  celebrated  speech  on  the  sovereign  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope, 
which  is  reported  at  some  length  by  Father  Paul,  and  copied  by  Dr.  Campbell  in 
'lis  Lectures  on  Ecclesiastical  History,  Lect.  xx. 


chap,  viii.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  529 

The  Mass  to  be  performed  in  Latin.  Awful  perversion  of  Christ's  sacrifice  in  the  Romish  Mass. 

aut  non  ordinasse,  ut  ipsi,  aliique  sacer-  ties  priests,  or  did  not  ordain  that  they 
dotes  offerrent  corpus  et  sanguinem  and  other  priests  should  offer  his  body 
suum  ;  ANATHEMA  SIT.  and  blood :   LET  HIM  BE  ACCURS- 

ED. 
Si  quis  dixerit,  Missae  sacrificium  tan-  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  the  sacri- 
tum  esse  laudis  et  gratiarum  actionis,  fice  of  the  mass  is  only  a  service  of 
aut  nudam  commemorationem  sacri-  praise  and  thanksgiving,  or  a  bare  com- 
ficii  in  Cruce  peracti  non  autem  pro-  memoration  of  the  sacrifice  made  on 
pitiatorium;  vel  soli  prodesse  sumenti ;  the  cross,  and  not  a  -propitiatory  offering; 
neque  pro  vivis  et  defunctis,  pro  pecca-  or  that  it  only  benefits  him  who  receives 
tis,  poenis,  satisfactionibus  et  aliis  ne-  it,  and  ought  not  to  be  offered  for  the 
cessitatibus  offerri  debere ;  ANATHE-  living  and  the  dead,  for  sins,  punish- 
MA  SIT.  ments,  satisfactions,  and  other  necessi- 

ties :  LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 
Si  quis  dixerit,  blasphemiam  irrogari         Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  the  most 
sanctissimo  Christi   sacrificio  in  Cruce     holy  sacrifice  of  Christ,  made  on  the 
peracto,  per  Missa?  sacrificium,  aut  illi     cross,  is  blasphemed  by  the  sacrifice  of 
per  hoc  derogari ;  ANATHEMA  SIT.     the  mass  ;  or  that  the  latter  derogates 

from  the  glory  of  the  former :  LET 
HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 
Si  quis  dixerit,  imposturam  esse,  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  to  cele- 
Missa  celebrare  in  honorem  sanctorum,  brate  masses  in  honor  of  the  saints,  and 
et  pro  illorum  intercessione  apud  Deum  in  order  to  obtain  their  intercession  with 
obtinenda,  sicnt  Ecclesia  intendit ;  AN-  God,  according  to  the  intention  of  the 
ATHEMA  SIT.  church  is    an   imposture:    LET   HIM 

BE  ACCURSED. 

§  44. — By  the  same  decree  they  enjoined  the  performance  of  the 
Mass  in  the  Lathi  language,  and  pronounced  a  curse  upon  all  who 
should  "  declare  that  it  should  be  celebrated  in  the  vernacular  lan- 
guage only."  How  contrary  all  this  to  the  declaration  of  St.  Paul, 
"  In  the  church  I  had  rather  speak  five  words  with  my  understand- 
ing, that  by  my  voice  I  might  teach  others  also,  than  ten  thousand 
words  in  an  unknown  tongue."  (1  Cor.  xiv.,  19.) 

What  an  awful  perversion  of  the  glorious  sacrifice  of  Christ 
on  the  cross  is  presented  in  these  canons  on  the  Mass  !  At  the  cost 
of  incurring  the  impotent  curse  pronounced  in  the  fourth  of  them, 
I  assert  that  by  this  doctrine  the  holy  sacrifice  of  Christ  is 
blasphemed,  and  the  cross  of  Christ  made  of  none  effect.  How 
utterly  opposed  is  this  doctrine  of  Christ  being  offered  up  as  often 
as  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  is  celebrated,  to  the  whole  tenor  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  especially  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
Doubtless  the  omniscient  and  Holy  Spirit  foresaw  this  feature  of 
the  Romish  Apostasy,  and  (as  it  would  appear  with  the  special  de- 
sign of  meeting  this  exigency),  inspired  the  apostle  Paul  to  write  as 
follows  : — "  For  Christ  is  not  entered  into  the  holy  places  made 
with  hands,  which  are  the  figures  of  the  true  ;  but  into  heaven  itself, 
now  to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us.  Nor  yet  that  he 
should  offer  HtMSELF  often,  as  the  high  priest  entereth  into  the 
holy  place  every  year  with  the  blood  of  others  ;  for  then  must  he 
often  have  suffered  since  the  foundation  of  the  world ;  but  now 
once  in  the  end  of  the  world  hath  he  appeared  to  put  away  sin  by 
the  sacrifice  of  himself.  And  as  it  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to 
die,  and  after  that  the  judgment ;  so  Christ  was  once  offered  to 


530  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vn. 


Orders  and  apostolic  succession.  Thieves  and  Robbers.  The  ministry  that  cuts— note. 

bear  the  sins  of  many For  by  one  offering  he  hath  per- 
fected for  ever  them  that  are  sanctified."  (Heb.  ix.,  24-28  ;  x.,  14.) 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  popish  priests  are  so  bitterly  envenomed 
against  the  circulation  of  God's  holy  word  without  note  or  com- 
ment, since  its  plain  and  unequivocal  declarations  are  so  diametri- 
cally opposed  to  their  doctrines  ? — "  Christ  is  not  offered  up  in  sacri- 
fice, so  often  as  the  ancient  Jewish  high  priests  offered  the  sacrifice 
under  the  ceremonial  law,  that  is,  once  every  year,"  says  the  apostle 
Paul,  writing  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  "  There 
you  are  wrong,  Paul,"  reply  the  priests  of  Rome ;  "  for  we  have 
the  power  given  unto  us  of  '  creating  our  Creator,'  and  offering 
him  up  for  the  sins  of  the  world ;  and  instead  of  not  being  offered 
up  so  often  as  once  every  year,  he  is  offered  up  hundreds  of  times 
every  month,  whenever  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  is  celebrated  ;  and 
whoever  shall  affirm  (whether  Paul  or  any  one  else)  that  Christ  is 
not  offered  up  as  often  as  this,  even  every  time  the  Mass  is  cele- 
brated, LET  HIM  BE  ACCURSED.  Thus  does  apostate  Rome, 
in  consistency  with  her  true  character,  maintain  throughout  all  her 
distinctive  doctrines  her  title  to  the  name  of  anti-Christ. 

§  45. — The  twenty-third  session  was  held  on  the  15th  of  July, 
1563,  and  the  subject  of  the  decree  passed  was  the  sacrament  of 
orders.  The  doctrine  of  Rome  on  this  subject  is  too  well 
known  to  render  it  necessary  to  transcribe  the  decree.  It  taught 
that  the  peculiar  excellence  and  glory  of  the  priesthood  was  "  the 
power  given  to  consecrate,  offer,  and  minister  Christ's  body  and 
blood,  and  also  to  remit  and  to  retain  sins  ;"  that  there  are  "  seven 
orders  of  ministers,"  viz.,  "  priests,  deacons,  sub-deacons,  acolytes, 
exorcists,  readers  and  porters ;"  that  "  orders  is  one  of  the  seven 
sacraments  of  the  holy  church ;"  that  in  ordination,  "  grace  is  con- 
ferred ;"  that  bishops  have  "  succeeded  to  the  place  of  the  apostles" 
and  "  hold  a  distinguished  rank  in  this  hierarchal  order  ;"  that  "  they 
are  placed  there  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  rule  the  church  of  God ;" 
that  they  are  "  superior  to  presbyters,"  "  ordain  the  ministers  of  the 
church,"  &c,  and  that  all  who  "  presumptuously  undertake  and 
assume  the  offices  of  the  ministry"  by  any  other  authority  than  that 
of  these  popish  bishops  "  are  not  to  be  accounted  ministers  of  the 
church,  but  thieves  and  robbers."*     The  decree  consists  of  four 

*  Thieves  and  Robbers. — It  is  well  known  that  on  this  subject  the  views  of  the 
Puseyites  are  identical  with  those  of  Rome.  All  of  them  believe,  and  some  of 
them  do  not  scruple  to  affirm  that  the  holiest  and  the  best  of  the  ministers  of  the 
various  protestant  churches — our  Doddridges,  and  Bunyans,  and  Paysons,  and 
Fullers,  and  Halls — are  nothing  more  than  thieves  and  robbers,  because  they  have 
entered  into  the  Christian  ministry  some  other  way  than  through  the  boasted  but 
pretended  lineal  apostolical  succession.  The  following  anecdote  of  a  well  known 
and  distinguished  living  member  of  this  community  of  "thieves  and  robbers,*'  con- 
veys a  decided  rebuke  of  these  arrogant  assumptions  : — 

The  ministry  that  cuts. — When  the  venerable  Lyman  Beecher  was  a  young  man. 
and  returning  on  a  certain  occasion  to  his  native  town  in  Connecticut,  he  fell  into 
conversation  by  the  road-side  with  an  old  neighbor,  a  high  churchman,  who  had 
been  mowing.     "  Mr.  Beecher,"  said  the  farmer,  "  I  should  like  to  ask  you  a  ques- 


chap,  vii.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  531 

Twenty-fourth  session  of  the  council.  Decrees  on  matrimony  with  the  canons  and  curses. 

chapters,  from  which  the  above  sentences  are  quoted,  and  closes 
with  eight  canons,  embodying  the  same  doctrine  and  pronouncing 
upon  all  who  refuse  implicitly  to  receive  the  dicta  of  Rome,  the 
usual  awful  malediction— ANATHEMA  SIT— LET  HIM  BE 
ACCURSED. 

§46. — The  twenty-fourth  session  was  held  on  the  11th  of  No- 
vember, 1563,  and  the  subject  of  the  decree  was,  the  sacrament  of 
matrimony.  After  an  allusion  to  the  "  ravings"  of  the  "  impious 
men"  of  those  times  (evidently  referring  to  Luther,  Calvin,  and 
their  associates)  the  decree  proceeds  as  follows  : — 

Therefore  this  holy  and  universal  council,  desiring  to  prevent  such  rashness, 
hath  determined  to  destroy  the  infamous  heresies  and  errors  of  the  before-named 
schismatics,  lest  many  more  should  be  affected  by  their  destructive  contagion ;  for 
which  cause  the  following  anathemas  are  decreed  against  these  heretics  and  their 
errors. 

Then  follow  twelve  canons,  with  the  usual  curses  annexed  on 
this  subject,  of  which  it  will  be  sufficient  to  transcribe  four : — 

Si  quis  dixerit,  eos  tantum  consan-  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  only  those 

guinitatis  et  affinitatis  gradus,  qui  Levi-  degrees    of    consanguinity     or    affinity 

tico  exprimuntur,  posse  impedire  matri-  which  are  mentioned  in  the  book  of  Levi- 

monium  contrahendum,  et  dirimere  con-  ticus  can  hinder  or  annul  the   marriage 

tractum ;  nee  posse  Ecclesiam  in  non-  contract ;    and   that   the  church  has  no 

nullis  illorum  dispensare,  aut  constituere  power  to  dispense  with  some  of  them,  or 

ut  plures  impediant,  et  dirimant ;  ANA-  to   constitute   additional  hindrances  or 

THEMA  SIT.  reasons  for  annulling  the  contract :  LET 

HIM  BE  ACCURSED. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  matrimonium  ratum,  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  a  marriage 

non  consummatum,  per  solemnem  reli-  solemnized  but  not  consummated  is  not 

gionis  professionem  alterius  conjugum  annulled  if  one  of  the  parties  enters  into 

nondirimi;  ANATHEMA  SIT.  a  religious  order:  LET  HIM  BE  AC- 
CURSED. 

Si  quis  dixerit,  Clericos  in  sacris  Or-  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  persons  in 

dinibus   constitutes,  vel  Regulares,  cas-  holy  orders,  or  regulars,  who  may  have 

titatem  solemniter  professos,  posse  mat-  made  a  solemn  profession  of   chastity, 

rimonium     contrahere,    contractumque  may   contract    marriage,  and   that   the 

validum  esse,  non  obstante  lege  ecclesi-  contract  is  valid,  notwithstanding  any 

astica  ;  vel  voto ;  et  oppositum  nil  aliud  ecclesiastical  law  or  vow  ;  and  that  to 

esse,  quam  damnare  matrimonium,  pos-  maintain   the  contrary  is   nothing  less 

seque  omnes  contrahere  matrimonium,  than  to  condemn  marriage  ;  and  that  all 

qui  non   sentiunt  se  castitatis,  etiam  si  persons  may  marry  who  feel  that  though 

earn   voverint,   habere   donum ;    ANA-  they  should  make  a  vow   of  chastity, 

THEMA  SIT  :  cum  Deus  id  recte  pe-  they  have   not  the   gift  thereof;  LET 

tion.  Our  clergy  say  that  you  are  not  ordained,  and  have  no  right  to  preach.  I 
should  be  glad  to  know  what  you  think  about  it."  "  Suppose,"  replied  Dr. 
Beecher,  "  you  had  in  the  neighborhood  a  blacksmith  who  said  he  could  prove  that 
he  belonged  to  a  regular  line  of  blacksmiths  which  had  come  down  all  the  way 
from  St.  Peter,  but  he  made  scythes  that  would  not  cut ;  and  you  had  another 
blacksmith,  who  said  he  could  not  see  what  descent  from  Peter  had  to  do  with 
making  scythes  that  would  cut.  Where  would  you  go  to  get  your  scythes  ?" 
"  Why  to  the  man  who  made  scythes  to  cut,  certainly,"  replied  the  farmer. 
"  Well,"  said  Dr.  Beecher,  "  that  minister  which  cuts,  is  the  minister  ivhich  Christ 
has  authorized  to  preach."  In  a  recent  conversation  on  the  same  subject,  Dr. 
Beecher  gave  his  opinions  by  relating  this  circumstance. 


532  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vii. 

News  arrives  of  pope  Pius's  sickness.      The  council  hastens  to  the  last  session.      Article  on  Purgatory. 


tentibus  non  deneget,  nee  patiatur  non  HIM  RE  ACCURSED — for  God  does 
deneget,  nee  patiatur  nos  supra  id  quod  not  deny  Iiis  gifts  to  those  who  ask 
possumus,  tentari.  aright,  neither  docs  he   suffer  us  to  be 

tempted  above  that  we  are  able. 
Si  quis  dixerit,  statum  conjugalem  Whoever  shall  affirm,  that  the  eonju- 
anteponendum  esse  statui  virginitatis,  gal  state  is  to  be  preferred  to  a  life  of 
vel  caelibatus,  et  non  esse  melius  ac  virginity  or  celibacy,  and  that  it  is  not 
beatius  manere  in  virginitate  aut  cadi-  better  and  more  conducive  to  happiness 
batu,  quam  jungi  matrimonio ;  ANA-  to  remain  in  virginity  or  celibacy  than 
THEM  A  SIT.  to   be    married,   LET  HIM    BE   AC- 

CURSED. 

By  the  first  of  these  canons,  Popery  makes  good  its  claim  to 
the  character  of  anti-Christ  by  claiming  the  power  to  abrogate  the 
laws  of  God  ;  by  the  second,  it  encourages  persons  to  break  the  most 
inviolable  of  all  obligations  and  contracts  upon  condition  (by  enter- 
ing a  monastery  or  nunnery)  of  becoming  one  of  the  slaves  of 
Rome  ;  by  the  third,  it  forbids  marriage  to  the  clergy,  and  thus 
makes  good  its  claim  to  another  mark  of  anti-Christ,  "  forbidding 
to  marry ;"  and  by  the  fourth  it  places  an  undeserved  stigma  upon 
that  state  which  God  himself  established,  which  Jesus  honored  by 
his  presence  and  a  wonderful  miracle,  and  which  St.  Paul,  under 
the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  pronounced  "  honorable  in   all." 

§  47. — The  council  had  resolved  on  the  9th  of  December  for  the 
twenty-fifth  session,  intending,  if  possible,  to  make  it  the  closing 
session.  All  parties,  legates  and  prelates,  the  ambassadors  and  the 
Pope,  were  now  anxious  to  bring  the  council  to  a  close.  The  sub- 
jects of  Purgatory,  Indulgences,  Feasts,  Saints,  Images,  and  Relics 
remained  yet  to  be  discussed,  and  it  was  resolved,  that  instead  of 
lengthy  decrees,  with  all  the  formality  of  chapters  and  canons,  brief 
statements  only  of  the  doctrine  of  the  church  should  be  published 
on  these  subjects.  While  discussing  these  matters  on  the  night  ol 
the  first  of  December,  news  arrived  that  pope  Pius  was  alarmingly 
ill,  and  that  his  life  was  considered  to  be  in  danger.  The  fathers 
were  hastily  convened,  and  a  resolution  passed  to  celebrate  the 
closing  session  of  the  council,  as  soon  as  the  necessary  documents 
could  be  prepared,  instead  of  waiting  for  the  ninth  instant,  the  day 
originally  appointed.  Accordingly,  on  December  3,  1563,  and  the 
following  day  (for  there  was  too  much  business  to  be  dispatched  at 
one  sitting)  the  twenty-fifth  and  last  session  was  held.  Purgatory, 
the  invocation  of  saints,  and  the  use  of  images  were  the  subjects  of 
the  first  day's  decision.  On  the  second  day,  indulgences,  the  choice 
of  meats  and  drinks,  and  the  observance  of  feasts  were  the  subjects 
of  consideration.  The  following  extracts  from  the  statements 
promulgated  by  the  council  on  these  subjects,  will  be  sufficient  to 
show  the  doctrine  of  Popery  on  the  topics  to  which  they  relate  : — 

On  Purgatory. — "  Since  the  Catholic  Church,  instructed  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
through  the  sacred  writing  and  the  ancient  tradition  of  the  fathers,  hath  taught  in 
holy  councils,  and  lastly  in  this  oecumenical  council,  that  there  is  a  •purgatory  and 
that  the  souls  <l  tained  there  are  assisted  by  the  suffrages  of  the  faithful,  hut  especially 
by  the  acceptable  sacrifice  of  the  mass  ;  this   holy   council  commands  all  bishops 


chap,  vii.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  533 

Doctrinal  statements  of  the  council  on  Indulgences,  Fasts,   Invocation  of  Saints,  and  Relics. 

diligently  to  endeavor  that  the  wholesome  doctrine  of  purgatory,  delivered  to  us 
by  venerable  fathers  and  holy  councils,  be  believed  and  held  by  Christ's  faithful, 

and  everywhere  taught  and  preached Let  the  bishops  take  care  that 

the  suffrages  of  the  living  faithful,  masses,  prayers,  alms,  and  other  works  of 
piety,  which  the  faithful  have  been  accustomed  to  perform  for  departed  believers, 
be  piously  and  religiously  rendered,  according  to  the  institutes  of  the  church ; 
and  whatever  services  are  due  to  the  dead,  through  the  endowments  of  deceased  per- 
sons, or  in  any  other  way,  let  them  not  be  performed  slightly,  but  diligently  and 
carefully,  by  the  priests  and  ministers  of  the  church,  and  all  others  to  whom  the 
duty  belongs." 

On  Indulgences. — "  Since  the  power  of  granting  indulgences  has  been  bestowed 
by  Christ  upon  his  church,  and  this  power,  divinely  given,  has  been  used  from  the 
earliest  antiquity,  the  holy  council  teaches  and  enjoins  that  the  use  of  indulgences,  so 
salutary  to  Christian  people,  and  approved  by  the  authority  of  venerable  councils, 
be  retained  by  the  church  ;  and  it  anathematizes  those  who  assert  that  they  are 
useless,  or  deny  that  the  church  has  the  power  of  granting  them,"  &c. 

On  choice  of  Meats  and  Drinks,  Fasts  and  Feast-days. — "  Moreover,  the  holy 
council  exhorts  all  pastors,  and  beseeches  them  by  the  most  holy  coming  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour,  that  as  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  assiduously  recom- 
mend to  all  the  faithful  the  observance  of  all  the  institutions  of  the  holy  Roman 
church,  the  mother  and  mistress  of  all  churches,  and  of  the  decrees  of  this  and 
other  oecumenical  councils  ;  and  that  they  use  all  diligence  to  promote  obedience 
to  all  their  commands,  and  especially  to  those  which  relate  to  the  mortification  of 
the  flesh,  as  the  choice  of  meats  and  fasts ;  as  also  to  those  which  tend  to  the  in- 
crease of  piety,  and  the  devout  and  religious  celebration  of  feast-days  ;  admonish- 
ing the  people  to  obey  those  who  are  set  over  them — for  they  who  hea*r  them,  shall 
hear  God,  the  rewarder — but  they  who  despise  them,  shall  feel  that  God  is  the 
avenger." 

On  the  Invocation  of  Saints. — "  The  holy  council  commands  all  bishops,  and 
others  who  have  the  care  and  charge  of  teaching,  that  according  to  the  practice 
of  the  Catholic  and  apostolic  church,  received  from  the  first  beginning  of  the 
Christian  religion,  the  consent  of  venerable  fathers,  and  the  decrees  of  holy  coun- 
cils, they  labor  with  diligent  assiduity  to  instruct  the  faithful  concerning  the  invo- 
cation and  intercession  of  the  saints,  the  honor  due  to  relics,  and  the  lawful  use  of 
images  :  teaching  them  that  the  saints,  who  reign  together  with  Christ,  offer  their 
prayers  to  God  for  men — that  it  is  a  good  and  useful  thing  suppliantly  to  invoke 
them,  and  to  flee  to  their  prayers,  help,  ami  .assistance,  because  of  the  benefits  be- 
stowed by  God  through  his  Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  who  is  our  only  Re- 
deemer and  Saviour ;  and  that  those  are  men  of  impious  sentiments  who  deny  that 
the  saints,  who  enjoy  eternal  happiness  in  heaven,  are  to  be  invoked — or  who  af- 
firm that  they  do  not  pray  for  men,  or  to  beseech  them  to  pray  for  us  is  idolatry, 
or  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  word  of  God,  and  opposed  to  the  honor  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  or  that  it  is  foolish  to  supplicate,  verbally 
or  mentally,  those  who  reign  in  heaven." 

On  the  reverence  due  to  the  Relics  of  the  Saints. — "  Let  them  teach  also,  that  the 
holy  bodies  of  the  holy  martyrs  and  others  living  with  Christ,  whose  bodies  were 
living  members  of  Christ  and  temples  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  will  be  by  him 
raised  to  eternal  life  and  glorified,  are  to  be  venerated  by  the  faithful,  since  by 
them  God  bestows  many  benefits  upon  men.  So  that  they  are  to  be  wholly  con- 
demned, as  the  church  has  long  before  condemned  them,  and  now  repeats  the  sen- 
tence, who  affirm  that  veneration  and  honor  are  not  due  to  the  relics  of  the  saints, 
or  that  it  is  a  useless  thing  that  the  faithful  should  honor  these  and  other  sacred 
monuments,  and  that  the  memorials  of  the  saints  are  in  vain  frequented,  to  obtain 
their  help  and  assistance." 
32 


53 1 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vn. 


Worship  of  images.       Pagan  and  popish  idolaters.       The  curse  upon  all  who  dare  to  think  differently. 

On  the  reverence  due  to  Images  of  Christ,  the  Virgin,  and  other  Saints. — "  More- 
over let  them  teach  that  the  images  of  Christ,  of  the  Virgin,  mother  of  God,  and 
of  other  saints,  are  to  be  had  and  retained,  especially  in  churches,  and  due  honor 
and  veneration  rendered  to  them.  Not  that  it  is  believed  that  any  divinity  or  power 
resides  in  them,  on  account  of  which  they  are  to  be  worshipped,  or  that  any  bene- 
fit is  to  be  souo-ht  from  them,  or  any  confidence  placed  in  images,  as  was  formerly 
by  the  Gentiles,  who  fixed  their  hope  in  idols.  But  the  honor  with  which  they  are 
regarded  is  referred  to  those  who  are  represented  by  them ;  so  that  we  adore 
Christ,  and  venerate  the  saints,  whose  likenesses  these  images  bear,  when  we  kiss 
them,  and  uncover  our  heads  in  their  presence,  and  prostrate  ourselves.  All 
which  has  been  sanctioned  by  the  decrees  of  councils,  against  the  impugners  of 
images,  especially  the  second  council  of  Nice." 

In  reference  to  this  last  article  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the 
worshippers  of  Brahma,  Vishnu,  Gaudama,  and  other  heathen  idola- 
tors,  make  precisely  the  same  defence  as  the  Romanists,  when  ac- 
cused of  worshipping  images,  viz  :  that  they  do  not  worship  the 
images  when  they  kiss  them  and  prostrate  themselves  before  them, 
but  the  divinities,  "  whose  likenesses  these  images  bear."  The 
divine  command  is,  "  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven 
image,  thou  shalt  not  bow  down  thyself  to  them  nor  serve  them," 
(Exod.  xx.,  4,  5),  and  the  Romanist  who  in  the  words  of  the  above 
decree,  (i  prostrates"  himself  before  an  image  (let  him  say  what  he 
will)  is  just  as  much  an  idolater  as  the  Burman  worshipper  of  Gau- 
dama, or  the  Hindoo  worshipper  of  Juggernaut.  On  this  subject  I 
have  an  interesting  letter  from  a  distinguished  missionary  from  Bur- 
mah,  which  I  shall  present  in  a  future  chapter. 

After  thus  establishing  the  doctrine  of  Rome,  on  these  gross  per- 
versions of  the  word  of  God,  the  council  proceeds  to  add,  in  its 
usual  style  of  bitter  malediction  against  all  who  shall  dare  to  think 
for  themselves, 

Si  quis  autem  his  decretis  contraria  Whoever  shall  teach  or  think  in  op- 
docuit,  aut  senserit :  ANATHEMA  position  to  these  decrees ;  LET  HIM 
SIT.  BE  ACCURSED. 


535 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CONCLUSION  OF    THE    COUNCIL. ACCLAMATIONS    OF    THE    FATHERS,    AND 

POPE    PIUS'S  CREED. 

§  48. — Decree  of  Confirmation. — After  the  foregoing  decrees  had 
been  enacted,  the' council  passed  the  following  decree  of  confirma- 
tion, in  which  it  will  be  seen  that,  in  accordance  with  the  invariable 
policy-  of  the  Romish  church,  in  countries  where  they  have  suf- 
ficient influence,  the  council  invokes  the  secular  arm,  and  exhorts 
all  princes  to  enforce  these  decrees.  Such  is  the  unrepealed  doc- 
trine of  Rome,  in  this  decree  of  her  last  general  council  on  the  duty 
of  the  civil  magistrate  to  enforce  upon  the  people  the  dogmas  of 
Popery. 

"  So  great  has  been  the  calamity  of  these  times,  and  the  inveterate  malice  of  the 
heretics"  that  no  explanations  of  our  faith  have  been  given,  however  clear,  nor  any 
decrees  passed,  however  express,  which,  influenced  by  the  enemy  of  mankind, 
they  have  not  defiled  by  some  error.  For  which  cause  the  holy  council  has  taken 
particular  care  to  condemn  and  anathematize  the  principal  errors  of  the  heretics  of 
our  age,  and  to  deliver  and  teach  the  true  and  Catholic  doctrine  ;  this  has  been 
done — xhe  council  has  condemned,  anathematized,  and  defined.  But  since  so  many 
bishops,  called  from  different  provinces  of  the  Christian  world,  could  be  no  longer 
absent  from  their  churches  without  great  loss  and  universal  peril  to  the  flock 
— and  no  hope  remained  that  the  heretics  would  come  hither  any  more,  after  hav- 
ing been  so  often  invited  and  so  long  waited  for,  and  having  received  the  pledge 
of  safety,  according  to  their  desire  ;  and  therefore  it  was  necessary  to  put  an  end 
to  this  holy  council ;  it  now  remains  that  all  princes  be  exhorted  in  the  Lord,  as 
they  now  are,  not  to  permit  its  decrees  to  be  corrupted  or  violated  by  the  heretics,  but 
to  ensure  their  devout  reception  and  faithful  observance,  by  them  and  all  others.  But 
if  any  difficulty  should  arise  in  regard  to  their  reception,  or  any  circumstances  oc- 
cur, which  indeed  are  not  to  be  feared,  that  should  render  necessary  any  further 
explanation  or  definition ;  the  holy  council  trusts,  that  in  addition  to  the  remedies 
already  appointed,  the  blessed  Roman  pontiff  will  provide  for  the  exigency,  either 
by  summoning  certain  individuals  from  those  provinces  in  which  the  difficulty  shall 
arise,  to  whom  the  management  of  the  business  may  be  confided,  or  by  the  cele- 
bration of  a  general  council,  if  it  be  judged  necessary,  or  by  some  fitter  method, 
adapted  to  the  necessities  of  the  provinces,  and  calculated  to  promote  the  glory  of 
God,  and  the  good  of  the  church." 

§  49. — Acclamations  of  the  fathers. — Before  separating,  a  kind  of 
closing  recitative  service  was  held,  conducted  by  the  cardinal  of 
Lorraine,  to  express  the  assent  and  solemn  confirmation  of  the 
fathers,  of  all  that  had  been  done.  At  this  service  a  responsive 
dialogue  or  declaration  was  uttered,  called  the  acclamations  of  the 
fathers,  '  acclamationes  patrum,'  a»d  as  it  is  of  itself  a  curious  per- 
formance, and  a  most  striking  illustration  of  the  spirit  of  Popery, 
it  is  here  subjoined. 

Domine  Deus,  Sanctissimum  Patrem  O  Lord  God  !  long  preserve  the  most 

diutissime  Ecclesise  tuae  conserva,  mul-  Holy  Father  of  thy  church  for  many 

tos  annos.  years. 

Cardinal.  Beatissimorum  Summorum  Cardinal.  To  the  souls  of  the  blessed 


536 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  VII. 


Acclamations  of  the  fathers  at  the  close  of  the  council. 


The  last  words  were  curses. 


Pontificum  animabus  Pauli  III.  et  Julii 
III.  quorum  auctoritate  hoc  sacrum 
generale  Concilium  inchoatum  est.  pax 
a  Domino,  et  sterna  gloria,  atque  felici- 
tas  in  luce  sanctorum. 

Responsio  patrum.  Memoria  in  bene- 
dictione  sit. 

Card.  Caroli  V.  Imperatoris  et  Sere- 
nissimorum  Regum,  qui  hoc  universale 
Concilium  promoverunt  et  protexerunt, 
memoria  in  benedictione  sit. 

Resp.  Amen,  Amen. 


pontiffs  Paul  III.  and  Julius  III.,  by 
whose  authority  this  holy  general  coun- 
cil was  begun,  peace  from  the  Lord, 
eternal  glory  and  felicity  in  the  light  of 
the  saints. 

Answer  of  the  fathers.  May  their  me- 
mory be  blessed. 

Card.  May  the  memory  be  blessed 
of  the  emperor  Charles  V.,  and  the  most 
serene  kings  who  have  promoted  and 
protected  this  universal  council. 

Ans.  Amen,  Amen. 


After  similar  acclamations,  in  praise  of  the  emperor  Ferdinand, 
the  Pope,  legates,  reverend  cardinals,  illustrious  orators,  &c.  the 
Cardinal  proceeded  as  follows : — 


Card.  Sacro-sancta  cecumenica  Tri- 
dentina  Synodus :  ejus  fidem  confitea- 
mur,  ejus  decreta  semper  servemus. 

Resp.  Semper  confiteamur,  semper 
servemus. 

Card.  Omnes  ita  credimus :  omnes 
id  ipsum  sentimus :  omnes  consentien- 
tes  et  amplectentes  subscribimus.  Usee 
est  fides  beati  Petri,  et  Apostolorum : 
haec  est  fides  Patrum :  haec  est  fides 
Orthodoxorum. 

Resp.  Ita  credimus  ;  ita  sentimus  ; 
ita  subscribimus. 

Card.  His  decretis  inhserentes,  digni 
reddamur  misericordiis  et  gratia  primi, 
et  magni  supremi  Sacerdotis  Jesu  Chris- 
ti,  Dei  intercedente  simul  inviolata  Do- 
mina  nostra  sancta  Deipara,  et  omnibus 
Sanctis. 

Resp.  Fiat,  fiat,  Amen,  Amen. 

Card.  Anathema  cunctis  h^reticis. 

Resp.  ANATHEMA,  ANATHEMA. 


Card.  The  most  holy  and  oecumeni- 
cal council  of  Trent — may  we  ever 
confess  its  faith,  ever  observe  its  de- 
crees. 

Ans.  Ever  may  we  confess,  ever  ob- 
serve them. 

C.  Thus  we  all  believe :  we  are 
all  of  the  same  mind ;  with  hearty 
assent  we  all  subscribe.  This  is  the 
faith  of  the  blessed  Peter  and  the  Apos- 
tles ;  this  is  the  faith  of  the  fathers  ;  this 
is  the  faith  of  the  orthodox. 

Ans.  Thus  we  believe;  thus  we 
think ;  thus  we  subscribe. 

C.  Abiding  by  these  decrees,  may  we 
be  found  worthy  of  the  mercy  of  the 
chief  and  great  high  priest,  Jesus  Christ 
our  God,  by  the  intercession  of  our  holy 
Lady,  the  Mother  of  God,  ever  a  virgin, 
and  all  the  saints. 

Ans.  Be  it  so,  be  it  so :  Amen,  Amen. 
C.  Accursed  be  all  heretics. 
Ans.  ACCURSED,  ACCURSED. 


Thus  this  famous  council  closed,  with  a  bitter  curse  upon  its 
lips,  solemnly  repeated  in  full  chorus,  in  the  most  emphatic  form, 
against  all  who  should  dare  to  think  for  themselves,  or  refuse  im- 
plicitly to  receive  their  dogmas.     And  be  it  remembered,  this  is 

THE    LAST    GENERAL    COUNCIL     UK    THE    RoMISH    CHURCH,    and    that    all 

its  acts  and  decrees  are  just  as  binding  now  upon  every  papist  as 
they  were  at  the  moment  when  they  were  proclaimed  to  the  world. 
Again  did  this  popish  council,  at  the  moment  of  its  separation  in 
its  very  last  words  vindicate  the  claim  of  Popery  to  the  character 
of  anti-Christ,  for  Christ  has  said,  "  Love  your  enemies,  bless  and 
curse  not  ;"  but  anti-Christ  says,  "  Accursed  be  all  heretics,  anathe- 
ma, anathema  !  ACCURSED  ! !  ACCURSED  ! !  P 


chap,  viii.]  POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  1545-1563.  537 

Summary  of  the  doctrines  of  Trent  in  pope  Pius's  creed. 


§  50.— Pope  Pius's  creed. — On  January  26th,  1564,  pope  Pius 
IV.  published  the  bull  of  confirmation  of  the  acts  and  decrees  of 
the  council,  enjoining  the  prelates  of  the  church,  whenever  neces- 
sary and  practicable,  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  secular  arm  to  enforce 
the  decisions  of  the  council  upon  all.  In  December  of  the  same 
year,  the  Pope  issued  a  brief  summary  of  the  doctrinal  decisions 
of  the  council,  in  the  form  of  a  creed,  usually  called,  after  himself, 
"Pope  Pius's  Creed."  It  was  immediately  received  throughout 
the  universal  church  :  and  since  that  time,  has  ever  been  considered 
in  every  part  of  the  world,  as  an  accurate  and  explicit  summary 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  Non-catholics,  on  their  admission 
into  the  Catholic  church,  publicly  repeat  and  testify  their  assent  to 
it,  without  restriction  or  qualification.  On  account  of  the  authority 
and  importance  of  this  creed  of  pope  Pius,  it  will  be  given  in  the 
original  and  a  translation.     It  is  expressed  in  the  following  terms : 


Ego  N.  firma  fide  credo  et  profiteor 
omnia  et  singula,  quae  continentur  in 
symbolo  fidei,  quo  S.  Romana  ecclesia 
utitur,  viz.  : — 

1.  Credo  in  unum  Deum  Patrem  omni- 
potentem,  factorem  coeli  et  terras,  visibi- 
lium  omnium,  et  invisibilium  ;  et  in 
unum  Dominum  Jesum  Christum,  filium 
Dei  unigenitum,  et  ex  Patre  natum  ante 
omnia  sascula  ;  Deum  de  Deo,  lu- 
men de  lumine  ;  Deum  verum  de 
Deo  vero ;  genitum,  non  factum ;  con- 
substantialem  Patri,  per  quern  omnia 
facta  sunt ;  qui  propter  nos  homines,  et 
propter  nostram  salutem  descendit  de 
coelis,  et  incarnatus  et  de  Spiritu  Sancto 
ex  Maria  virgine,  et  homo  factus  est ; 
crucifixus  etiam  pro  nobis  sub  Pontio 
Pilato,  passus,  et  sepultus  est ;  et  resur- 
rexit  tertia  die  secundum  scripturas  :  et 
ascendit  in  caelum,  sedet  ad  dexteram 
Patrrs ;  et  iterum  venturus  est  cum  glo- 
ria judicare  vivos,  et  mortuos ;  cujus 
regni  non  erit  finis :  et  in  Spiritum 
Sanctum  Dominum,  et  vivificantem,  qui 
ex  Patre  Filioque  procedit;  qui  cum 
Patre  et  Filio  simul  adoratur,  et  conglo- 
rificatur,  qui  locutus  est  per  prophetas  : 
et  unam  sanctam  Catholicam,  et  apos- 
tolicam  ecclesiam.  Confiteor  unum 
baptisma  in  remissionem  peccatorum,  et 
expecto  resurrectionem  mortuorum,  et 
vitam  venturi  sceculi.     Amen. 


2.  Apostolicas  et  ecclesiasticas  tradi- 
tiones,  reliquasque  ejusdem  ecclesiae  ob- 
servationes  et  constitutiones  firmissime 
admitto,  et  amplector. 


I,  N.,  believe  and  profess,  with  a  firm 
faith,  all  and  every  one  of  the  things 
which  are  contained  in  the  symbol  of 
faith,  which  is  used  in  the  holy  Roman 
church,  viz. : — 

I  believe  in  one  God,  the  Father  Al- 
mighty, maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  and 
of  all  things  visible  and  invisible  ;  and 
in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  be- 
gotten Son  of  God ;  born  of  the  Father 
before  all  worlds ;  God  of  God  ;  Light 
of  Light ;  true  God  of  true  God ;  be- 
gotten, not  made  ;  consubstantial  to  the 
Father,  by  whom  all  things  were  made ; 
who,  for  us  men,  and  for  our  salvation, 
came  down  from  heaven,  and  was  incar- 
nate by  the  Holy  Ghost  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  aud  was  made  man ;  was  cruci- 
fied also  for  us  under  Pontius  Pilate, 
suffered  and  was  buried,  and  rose  again 
the  third  day,  according  to  the  scrip- 
tures, and  ascended  into  heaven ;  sits  at 
the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  and  will 
come  again  with  glory  to  judge  the  liv- 
ing and  the  dead,  of  whose  kingdom 
there  will  be  no  end  ;  and  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  Lord  and  Life-giver,  who  pro- 
ceeds from  the  Father  and  the  Son  ;  who, 
together  with  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
is  adored  and  glorified,  who  spoke  by  the 
prophets :  and  one  holy  catholic  and 
apostolic  church.  I  confess  one  baptism 
for  the  remission  of  sins ;  and  I  expect 
the  resurrection  "  of  the  dead  "  and  the 
life  of  the  world.     Amen. 

I  most  firmly  admit  and  embrace  apos- 
tolical and  ecclesiastical  traditions,  and 
all  other  constitutions  and  observances 
of  the  same  church. 


538 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  VII. 


Creed  of  pope  Pius  IV.,  continued. 


3.  Item  sacrum  scripturam  juxta  eum 
sensum,  quern  tenuit  et  tenet  sancta  ma- 
ter ecclesia,  cujus  est  judicare  de  vero 
sensu  et  interpretatione  sacrarum  scrip- 
turarum,  admitto ;  nee  earn  unquam, 
nisi  juxta  unaninem  consensum  patrum 
accipiam,  et  interpretabor. 

4.  Profiteor  quoque  septem  esse  vere  et 
proprie  sacramenta  novae  legis,  a  Jesu 
Cliristo  Domino  nostro  instituta,  atque 
ad  salutem  humani  generis,  licet 
non  omnia  singulis  necessaria,  scilicet 
baptismum,  confirmationem,  eucharis- 
tiam,  poenitentiam,  extremam  unctionem, 
ordinem  et  matrimonium  ;  illaque  gra- 
tiam  conferre ;  et  ex  his  baptismum, 
confirmationem  et  ordinem,  sine  sacrile- 
gio  reiterari  non  posse. 

5.  Receptos  quoque  et  approbatos  ec- 
clesiee  catholicae  ritus,  in  supra-dictorum 
omnium  sacramentorum  solemni  admin- 
istratione  recipio,  et  admitto. 

6.  Omnia  et  singula,  qua?  de  peccato  ori- 
ginali,  etde  justificatione  in  sacro-sancta 
Tridentina  Synodo  definita  et  declarata 
fuerunt,  amplector  et  recipio. 

7.  Profiteor  pariter  in  Missa  ofFerri  Deo 
verum,  proprium  et  propitiatorium  sa- 
crificium  pro  vivis,  et  defunctis  ;  atque 
in  sanctissimo  Eucharistia;  sacramento 
esse  vere,  realiter  et  substantialiter  cor- 
pus et  sanguinem,  una  cum  anima  et  di- 
vinitate  Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi ; 
fierique  conversionem  totius  substanliae 
panis  in  corpus,  et  totius  substantia?  vini 
in  sanguinem  :  quam  conversionem  ca- 
tholica  ecclesia  transubstantiationem  ap- 
pellat. 

8.  Fateoretiam  sub  altera  tantum  spe- 
cie totum  atque  integrum  Christum,  ve- 
rumque  sacramentum  sumi. 

9.  Constanter  teneo  purgatorium  esse, 
animasque  ibi  detentas  fidelium  suffragiis 
juvari. 

10.  Similiter  et  sanctos  una  cum  Chris- 
to  regnantes,  venerandos  atque  invocan- 
dos  esse,  eosque  orationes  Deo  pro  nobis 
ofierre,  atque  eorum  reliquias  esse  ven- 
erandas. 

11.  Firmissime  assero,  imagines  Chris- 
ti, acDeipara?  semper virginis,  necnon  ali- 
orum  sanctorum,  habendas  et  retinendas 
esse,  atque  eis  debitum  honorem  ac  ven- 
erationem  iinpertiendam. 

12.  Indulgentiarum  etiam  potestatem  a 


I  also  admit  the  sacred  scriptures  ac- 
cording to  the  sense  which  the  holy  mo- 
ther church  has  held,  and  does  hold,  to 
whom  it  belongs  to  judge  of  the  true 
sense  and  interpretation  of  the  holy 
scriptures ;  nor  will  I  ever  take  or  in- 
terpret them  otherwise,  than  according 
to  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  fathers. 

I  profess  also,  that  there  are  truly  and 
properly  seven  sacraments  of  the  new 
law,  instituted  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord, 
and  for  the  salvation  of  mankind,  though 
all  are  not  necessary  for  every  one  :  viz., 
baptism,  confirmation,  eucharist,  pen- 
ance, extreme  unction,  order,  and  matri- 
mony, and  that  they  confer  grace ;  and 
of  these,  baptism,  confirmation,  and  or- 
der, cannot  be  reiterated  without  sacri- 
lege. 

I  also  receive  and  admit  the  ceremo- 
nies of  the  Catholic  church,  received 
and  approved  in  the  solemn  administra- 
tion of  all  the  above  said  sacraments. 

I  receive  and  embrace  all  and  every 
one  of  the  things  which  have  been  de- 
fined and  declared  in  the  holy  council 
of  Trent,  concerning  original  sin  and 
justification. 

I  profess,  likewise,  that  in  the  mass  is 
offered  to  God  a  true,  proper,  and  propi- 
tiatory sacrifice  for  the  living  and  the 
dead  ;  and  that  in  the  most  holy  sacrifice 
of  the  eucharist  there  is  truly,  really, 
and  substantially  the  body  and  blood,  to- 
gether irilh  the  soul  ami  divinity  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  that  there  is 
made  a  conversion  of  the  whole  sub- 
stance of  the  bread  into  the  body,  and  of 
the  whole  substance  of  the  wine  into  the 
blood,  which  conversion  the  Catholic 
church  calls  transubslantiat'um. 

I  confess  also,  that  under  either  kind 
alone,  whole  and  entire  Christ,  and  a 
true  sacrament  is  received. 

I  constantly  hold  that  there  is  a  pur- 
gatory, and  that  the  souls  detained 
therein  are  helped  bv  the  suffrages  of 
the  faithful. 

Likewise,  that  the  saints  reigning  to- 
gether with  Christ,  are  to  be  honored 
and  iniocaled,  that  they  ofter  prayers  to 
God  for  us,  and  that  their  relics  are  to 
be  venerated. 

I  most  firmly  assert,  that  the  images  of 
Christ  and  of  the  mother  of  God,  ever 
virgin,  and  also  of  the  other  saints,  are 
to  be  had  and  retained  ;  and  that  due 
honor  and  veneration  are  to  be  given 
them. 

I  also  affirm,  that  the  power  of  indul- 


CHAP.   VIII.] 


POPERY  AT  TRENT— A.  D.  15-15-1563. 


539 


This  creed  binding  upon  all. 


According  to  it,  Leighton,  Baxter,  Payson,  &.C.,  are  now  all  in  Hell. 


Christo  in  ecclesia  relictam  fuisse ;  il- 
larumque  usum  Christiano  populo  rnax- 
ime  salutarem  esse  affirmo. 

13.  Sanctam  Catholicam  et  apostolicam 
Romanam  ecclesiam,  omnium  ecclesi- 
arum  matrem  et  magistram  agnosco ; 
Romanoque  Pontifici,  beati  Petri,  Apos- 
tolorum  Principis,  successori,  ac  Jesu 
Christi  vicario  veram  obedientiam  spon- 
deo,  ac  juro. 

14.  Castera  item  omnia  a  sacris  canoni- 
bus,  et  oacumenicis  conciliis,  ac  prsecipue 
a  sacro-sancta  Tridentina  Synodo  tradita, 
definita,  et  declarata,  indubitanter  recipio 
atque  profiteor  ;  simulque  contraria  om- 
nia, atque  ha?reses  quascumque  ab  ec- 
clesia damnatas,  rejectas,  et  anathema- 
tizatas,  ego  pariter  damno,  rejicio,  et  an- 
athematizos. 

15.  Hanc  veram  Catholicam  fidem,  ex- 
tra quam  nemo  salvus  esse  potest,  quam 
in  praesenti  sponte  profiteor,  et  veraciter 
teneo,  eandem  integram  et  inviolatam, 
usque  ad  extremum  vitae  spiritum  con- 
stantissime  (Deo  adjuvante)  retinere  et 
confiteri,  atque  a  meis  subditis,  vel  illis 
quorum  cura  ad  me  in  munere  meo  spec- 
tabit,  teneri,  doceri,  et  pradicari,  quan- 
tum in  me  erit,  curaturum,  ego  idem  N. 
spondeo,  voveo,  ac  juro.  Sic  me  Deus 
adjuvet,  et  haec  sancta  Dei  evangelia." 


gences  was  left  by  Christ  in  the  church, 
and  that  the  use  of  them  is  most  whole- 
some to  Christian  people. 

I  acknowledge  the  holy  catholic  and 
apostolical  Roman  church,  the  mother 
and  mistress  of  all  churches ;  and  I 
promise  and  swear  true  obedience  to  the 
Roman  bishop,  the  successor  of  St.  Pe- 
ter, the  prince  of  the  apostles,  and  vicar 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

I  also  profess  and  undoubtedly  re- 
ceive all  other  things  delivered,  defined, 
and  declared  by  the  sacred  canons,  and 
general  councils,  and  particularly  by 
the  holy  council  of  Trent ;  and  like- 
wise I  also  condemn,  reject,  and  anathe- 
matize all  things  contrary  thereto,  and 
all  heresies  whatsoever,  condemned, 
rejected,  and  anathematized  by  the 
church. 

This  true  catholic  faith,  out  of  which 
none  can  be  saved,  which  I  now  freely 
profess,  and  truly  hold,  I,  N.  promise, 
vow  and  swear  most  constantly  to  hold 
and  profess  the  same  whole  and  entire, 
with  God's  assistance,  to  the  end  of  my 
life  :  and  to  procure,  as  far  as  lies  in  my 
power,  that  the  same  shall  be  held, 
taught,  and  preached  by  all  who  are  un- 
der me,  or  are  entrusted  to  my  care,  by 
virtue  of  my  office.  So  help  me  God, 
and  these  holy  gospels  of  God. 


§  51. — The  above  creed  is  binding  at  the  present  day  upon  every 
Romanist,  whether  priest  or  layman,  and  to  it,  every  Romish  priest 
now  living  has  solemnly  expressed  his  adherence.  By  this  creed,  it  is 
expressly  declared  that  out  of  the  Romish  church  none  can  be  saved, 
and  that  of  course  all  who  have  died  out  of  it  are  now  suffering 
the  torments  of  hell  !  The  seraphic  Leighton,  the  godly  Baxter, 
with  Howe,  and  Hooker,  and  Charnock,  and  Flavel,  and  Owen,  and 
the  long  list  of  worthies,  their  compeers  of  the  olden  time,  in  Eng- 
land and  on  the  continent  of  Europe  ;  the  angelic  Payson,  the  heaven- 
ly minded  Nevins,  and  the  holy  and  truly  catholic  Milnor,*  the  self- 
sacrificing  missionaries,  Carey,  and  Ward,  and  Morrison,  and 
Boardman,  and  Henry  Martin,  and  Ann  Judson,  and  Harriet  New- 
ell— all,  all  of  them,  according  to  the  solemnly  professed  creed  of 
the  Romanist,  are  even  now  suffering  in  the  fires  of  Hell  !  Is  it 
possible  for  anti-Christian  bigotry  to  go  beyond  this  ? 

Besides  this,  be  it  remembered  that  he  who  professes  this  creed, 

*  Since  page  68  was  stereotyped,  on  which  the  name  of  this  estimable  clergy- 
man and  devoted  Christian  was  before  mentioned,  he  has  been  called  to  enter  into 
his  rest.  He  departed  this  life,  and  exchanged,  without  doubt,  the  toils  and  sorrows 
of  earth  for  the  joys  and  the  rest  of  Heaven,  on  the  8th  of  April,  1845.  For 
many  years  previous  to  his  death  he  had  been  the  honored,  revered,  and  successful 
Rector  of  St.  George's  Episcopal  Church,  New  York. 


540  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vh. 


The  doctrines  of  Popery  became  permanently  fixed  at  the  council  of  Trent. 


solemnly  declares  that  he  receives  "  all  things  delivered,  defined 
and  declared  by  the  general  councils."  This,  of  course,  includes 
the  decrees  of  the  third  and  fourth  council  of  Lateran  on  the  duty 
of  extirpating  heretics*  and  all  the  rest  of  the  unscriptural  and  anti- 
Christian  decrees  of  these  councils,  which  have  been  related  in  the 
present  work.  Then  let  it  be  remembered  that  this  is  the  present 
faith  of  every  intelligent  Romanist,  and  solemnly  sworn  to  by  every 
Romish  priest. 

With  the  history  and  decrees  of  the  council  of  Trent  we  might 
appropriately  close  our  labors,  as  this  was  the  last  general  council 
of  the  Romish  church,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present,  Popery  has 
undergone  but  little  change.  In  this  council  her  doctrines  became 
permanently  fixed,  and  in  its  decrees  all  her  anti-scriptural  inventions 
were  embodied.  Since  then  her  influence  has  been  gradually  declin- 
ing, with  occasional  fitful  efforts  to  regain  her  long-lost  power. 
Wherever  she  could  secure  the  aid  of  the  secular  arm,  she  has  not 
failed  to  harass,  and  imprison,  and  burn  the  heretics  who  have 
opposed  her ;  and  she  has  still  reeled  on  in  succeeding  centuries, 
"  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints."  A  few  sketches  of  the  most 
famous  of  the  persecutions  of  Popery,  and  a  brief  summary  of  the 
most  important  events  in  the  history  of  the  popedom  since  the 
Trentine  period,  will  bring  our  labors  to  a  close. 

*  For  these  decrees,  see  above,  pp.  302,  320. 


BOOK  VIII. 

POPERY    DRUNK    WITH    THE    BLOOD 
OF    THE    SAINTS. 


PERSECUTIONS   OF   POPERY   TO   THE    REVOCATION  OF   THE   EDICT   OF   NANTES,   A.   D. 

1685. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PERSECUTION  PROVED  FROM  DECREES  OF  GENERAL  COUNCILS  AND  WRIT- 
INGS OF  CELEBRATED  DIVINES  TO  BE  AN  ESSENTIAL  DOCTRINE  OF 
POPERY. 

§  1. — Among  the  scriptural  marks  of  the  predicted  Romish  Apos- 
tasy, the  Babylonish  Harlot  of  the  Apocalypse,  is  the  following : — 
"  And  I  saw  the  woman  drunken  with  the  blood  of  the  saints, 
and  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus  (Rev.  xvii.,  6).  The 
whole  history  of  Popery  is  a  commentary  upon  the  truthfulness  of 
this  description.  That  history  is  written  in  lines  of  blood.  Com- 
pared with  the  butcheries  of  holy  men  and  women  by  the  papal  anti- 
Christ,  the  persecutions  of  the  pagan  emperors  of  the  first  three 
centuries  sink  into  comparative  insignificance.  For  not  a  tithe  of 
the  blood  of  martyrs  was  shed  by  Paganism,  that  has  been  poured 
forth  by  Popery  ;  and  the  persecutors  of  pagan  Rome,  never 
dreamed  of  the  thousand  ingenious  contrivances  of  torture,  which, 
the  malignity  of  popish  inquisitors  succeeded  in  inventing,  when 
in  the  language  of  Pollock,  they 

*******      sat  an(j  p]anneci 
Deliberately,  and  with  most  musing  pains, 
How,  to  extremest  thrill  of  agony, 
The  flesh,  and  blood,  and  souls  of  holy  men, 
Her  victims  might  be  wrought. 

From  theMbirth  of  Popery  in  606,  to  the  present  time,  it  is  esti- 
mated by  careful  and  credible  historians,  that  more  than  Fifty  Mil- 
lions of  the  human  family,  have  been  slaughtered  for  the  crime  of 
heresy  by  popish  persecutors,  an  average  of  more  than  forty  thou- 


5  12  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  viii. 

Immense  numbers  of  the  martyred  victims  of  popish  bigotry  and  cruelty. 


sand  religious  murders  for  every  year  of  the  existence  of  Popery. 
Of  course  the  average  number  of  victims  yearly,  was  vastly  greater, 
during  those  gloomy  ages  when  Popery  was  in  her  glory  and  reign- 
ed Despot  of  the  World  ;  and  it  has  been  much  less  since  the  pow- 
er of  the  popes  has  diminished  to  tyrannize  over  the  nations,  and  to 
compel  the  princes  of  the  earth,  by  the  terrors  of  excommunication, 
interdiction,  and  deposition,  to  butcher  their  heretical  subjects.* 

The  reader  of  the  foregoing  pages  need  not  again  be  told,  that 
the  right  to  persecute  heretics,  and  to  put  them  to  death  for  the  sake 
of  their  opinions,  has  been  claimed  and  exercised  for  centuries  by 
the  Romish  church.  "  The  duty  of  putting  heretics  to  death,"  says 
Professor  Gaussen,  of  Geneva,  "  is  among  the  infallible  and  irre- 
vocable decrees  of  its  general  councils,  like  those  of  the  Mass  and 
Purgatory  ;  and  when  Luther  dared  to  say, '  that  it  was  against  the 
will  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  burn  with  fire  men  convicted  of  error,' 
the  court  of  Rome,  in  its  bull  Exsurge,  placed  this  opinion  among 
the  number  of  the  forty-one  propositions  for  which  it  condemned 
Luther,  and  ordered,  under  severe  penalties,  that  he  should  be 
seized  and  sent  to  the  Pope."f 

§  2. — According  to  the  faith  of  Romanists,  there  can  be  no  higher 
legislative  authority  than  a  pope  and  general  council,  and  what- 
ever is  decreed  by  such  a  council,  with  the  concurrence  of  the 
Pope,  becomes  a  legitimate  doctrine  and  article  of  faith.  Accord- 
ingly, as  we  have  seen,  every  priest,  in  the  words  of  the  creed  of 
pope  Pius,  solemnly  swears,  on  the  holy  evangelists,  to  hold  and 
teach  all  that  the  sacred  canons,  and  general  councils  have  delivered, 
declared,  and  defined.  Of  course  they  are  bound  to  receive  all  the 
laws  enacted  by  the  general  councils  of  Lateran,  Basil,  Constance, 
&c,  enjoining  the  extermination  of  heretics. 

Innumerable  provincial  and  national  councils  have  issued  the 
most  cruel  and  bloody  laws  of  outlawry  and  extermination  against 
the  Waldenses  and  other  heretics  ;  such  as  the  councils  of  Oxford, 
Toledo,  Avignon,  Tours,  Lavaur,  Albi,  Narbonne,  Beziers,  Tolosa. 
&c.J  But  as  papists  will  assert  that  these  possess  no  authority  to 
establish  a  doctrine  of  the  church  (though  they  must  be  admitted  to 

*  "  No  computation  can  reach  the  numbers  who  have  been  put  to  death,  in  dif- 
ferent ways,  on  account  of  their  maintaining  the  profession  of  the  Gospel,  and  op- 
posing the  corruptions  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  A  million  of  poor  Waldenses 
perished  in  France ;  nine  hundred  thousand  orthodox  Christians  were  slain  in 
'ess  than  thirty  years  after  the  institution  of  the  order  of  the  Jesuits.  The  Duke 
of  Alva  boasted  of  having  put  to  death  in  the  Netherlands,  thirty-six  thousand 
by  the  hand  of  the  common  executioner  during  the  space  of  a  few  years.  The 
Inquisition  destroyed,  by  various  tortures,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
within  thirty  years.  These  are  a  few  specimens,  and  but  a  few,  of  those  which 
history  has  recorded  ;  but  the  total  amount  will  never  be  known  till  the  earth  shall 
disclose  her  blood,  and  no  more  cover  her  slain"  (Scott's  Church  History). 

f  See  an  able  discourse  of  Professor  Gaussen,  of  Geneva,  to  the  Theological 
students  at  the  opening  of  the  course  in  October,  1843,  entitled  "  Popery  an  argu- 
ment for  the  Truth,  by  its  fulfilment  of  Scripture  Prophecies." 

I  See  Edgar,  218,  219,  with  citations  of  original  authorities. 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.  543 

General  councils  which  have  enjoined  the  slaughter    and  extirpation  of  heretics. 

be  illustrations  of  its  spirit),  I  shall  pass  over  these,  and  simply  re- 
mind the  reader,  once  more,  of  the  general  councils  that  have  sanc- 
tioned by  their  decrees  the  punishment  of  death  for  heresy.  Six 
at  least  of  these  highest  judicial  assemblies  of  the  Romish  church, 
with  the  Pope  at  their  head,  have  authoritatively  and  solemnly  en- 
joined the  persecution  and  extermination  of  heretics. 

These  comprehended  (1)  the  second  general  council  of  Lateran, 
who  in  the  year  1 139,  in  the  twenty-third  canon,  excommunicated  and 
condemned  the  hei'etics,  commanded  the  civil  powers  to  suppress, 
them,  and  included  their  protectors  and  defenders  in  the  same  curse 
with  themselves.* 

(2.)  The  third  general  council  of  Lateran,  in  1179,  under  pope 
Alexander  III.,  issued  a  still  fiercer  manifesto  against  the  heretics.  'An 
extract  from  this  bloody  decree  has  already  been  given  in  English 
on  page  302.  It  will  be  sufficient,  in  this  place,  to  throw  into  a 
note  a  corresponding  extract  from  the  original  Latin  of  the  same 
decreet 

(3.)  The  fourth  general  council  of  Lateran  in  1215,  under  the 
inhuman  pope  Innocent  III.,  exceeded  in  ferocity  all  that  had  pre- 
ceded it.  A  copious  extract  from  the  decree  of  this  council,  both 
in  the  original  and  in  English,  has  already  been  given  on  pages 
332,  333. 

(4.)  The  sixteenth  general  council  held  at  Constance  in  1414, 
we  have  already  seen  carrying  these  bloody  principles  into  execu- 
tion in  the  inhuman  religious  murder  of  Huss  and  Jerome.  Not 
content  with  this  act  of  horrible  treachery  and  barbarity,  the  Pope 
and  the  council  proceeded,  previous  to  its  dissolution  in  1418,  to  a 
solemn  sanction  of  the  inhuman  decrees  of  Lateran.  The  holy 
and  infallible  assembly,  in  its  forty-fifth  session,  presented  a  shock- 
ing scene  of  blasphemy  and  barbarity.  Pope  Martin,  presiding  in 
the  sacred  synod  and  clothed  with  all  its  authority,  addressed  the 
bishops  and  inquisitors  of  heretical  pravity,  on  whom  he  bestowed 
his  apostolic  benediction.  The  eradication  of  error  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  Catholicism,  Martin  represented  as  the  chief  care 
of  himself  and  the  council.  His  Holiness  in  his  pontifical  polite- 
ness, characterized  Wickliff,  Huss,  and  Jerome,  as  pestilent  and  de- 
ceitful hierarchs,  who,  excited  with  truculent  rage,  infested  the 
Christian  fold,  and  made  the  sheep  putrify  with  the  filth  of  false- 
hood. The  partisans  of  heresy  through  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and 
other  kingdoms,  he  described  as  actuated  with  the  pride  of  Lucifer, 
the  fury  of  wolves,  and  the  deceitfulness  of  demons.     The  Pontiff 

*  Eos  qui  religiositatis  speciem  simulantes,  tanquam  ha;reticos  ab  ecclesia  Dei 
pellimus,  et  damnamus,  et  per  potestates  exteras  coerceri  praecipimus.  Defensores 
quoque  ipsorum  ejusdem  damnationis  vinculo  innodamus.     (Bin.  8,  596.) 

f  Eos  et  defensores  eorum  et  receptores  anathemati  decernimus  subjacere.  Sub 
anathemate  prohibemus,  ne  quis  eos  in  domibus,  vel  in  terra  sua  tenere  vel  fovere, 
vel  negotiationem  cum  eis  exercere  prajsumat.  Confiscentur  eorum  bona  et 
liberum  sit  principibus  hujusmodi  homines  subjicere  servituti.  (Labb.  13,  530. 
Bin.  8,  662.) 


544  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vni. 

Sanctioning  murder  in  the  name  of  the  God  of  mercy.  Plenary  indulgence  for  the  murderers. 

then,  supported  by  the  council,  proceeded,  for  the  glory  of  God, 
the  stability  of  Romanism,  and  the  preservation  of  Christianity,  to 
excommunicate  these  advocates  of  error,  with  their  pestilent  pa- 
trons and  protectors,  and  to  consign  them  to  the  secular  arm  and  the 
severest  vengeance.  He  commanded  kings  to  punish  them  according 
to  the  hateran  council.  The  above  mentioned  inhuman  enactments 
of  the  Late  ran,  therefore,  were  to  be  brought  into  requisition 
against  the  Bohemians  and  Moravians,  and  they  were  to  be  de- 
spoiled of  all  property,  Christian  burial,  and  even  of  the  consola- 
tions of  humanity.* 

(5.)  The  council  of  Sienna,  in  1423,  which  was  afterward  con- 
tinued at  Basil,  published  persecuting  enactments  of  a  similar  kind. 
The  holy  synod  assembled  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  representing  the 
universal  church,  acknowledged  the  spread  of  heresy  in  different 
parts  of  the  world  through  the  remissness  of  the  inquisitors,  and  to 
the  offence  of  God,  the  injury  of  Catholicism,  and  the  perdition  of 
souls.  The  sacred  convention  then  commanded  the  inquisitors,  in 
every  place,  to  extirpate  every  heresy,  especially  those  of  Wickliff, 
Huss,  and  Jerome.  Princes  were  admonished  by  the  mercy  of 
God  ,to  exterminate  error,  if  they  would  escape  divine  vengeance. 
The  holy  fathers  and  the  viceroy  of  heaven  conspired,  in  this  man- 
ner, to  sanction  murder  in  the  name  of  the  God  of  mercy :  and 
granted  plenary  indulgences  to  all  who  should  banish  those  sons  of 
heterodoxy  or  provide  arms  for  their  destruction. f  These  enact- 
ments were  published  every  sabbath,  while  the  bells  were  rung  and 
the  candles  lighted  and  extinguished. 

(6.)  The  fifth  general  council  of  the  Lateran,  in  1514,  enacted 
laws,  marked,  if  possible,  with  augmented  barbarity.  Dissembling 
Christians  of  every  kind  and  nation,  heretics  polluted  with  any  con- 
tamination of  error  were,  by  this  infallible  gang  of  ruffians,  dis- 
missed from  the  assembly  of  the  faithful,  and  consigned  to  the  in- 
quisition, that  the  convicted  might  undergo  due  punishment,  and 
the  relapsed  suffer  without  any  hope  of  pardon.J 

*  Iferesiarchae,  Luciferina  superbia  et  rabie  lupina  evecti,  dacmonum  fraudibus 
illusi.  Oves  Christi  Catbolicas  hacresiarchaG  ipsi  successive  infecerunt,  et  in  ster- 
core  mendaciorum  fecerunt  putrescere.  Credentes  et  adhcerentes  eisdem,  tan- 
quam  ha:reticos  indicetis  et  velut  haereticos  seculari  Curiae  relinquatis.  {Bin.  8, 
1120.)  Secundum  tenorem  Lateranensis  Concilii  expellant,  nee  eosdem  domicilia 
tenere,  contractus  inire,  negotiationes  exercere,  aut  humanitatis  solatia  cum 
Christi  fidelibus  habere  permittant,  (Bin.  8,  1121.   Crab.  2,  1166.) 

f  Volens  hacc  sancta  synodus  remedium  adhibere,  statuit  et  mandat  omnibus  et 
singulis  inquisitoribus  ha^reticae  pravitatis,  ut  solicite  intendant  inquisitioni  et  ex- 
tirpationi  haeresium  quarumcumque.  Omnes  Christianas  religionis  principes  ac 
dominos  tam  ecclesiasticos  quam  saeculares  hortatur,  invitat,  et  monet  per  viscera 
misericordias  Dei,  ad  extirpationem  tanti  per  ecclesiam  pra?damnati  erroris  omni 
celeritate,  si  Divinam  ultionem  et  pcenas  juris  evitare  voluerunt.  (Lal>l>.  17,97, 
98.  Bruy.  4,  72.)  It  is  proper  here  to  remark,  that  some  Romish  authors  deny 
the  claim  of  the  council  of  Sienna  and  Basil  to  be  a  general  council.  Others, 
however,  admit  it. 

\  Omnes  ficti  Christiani,  ac  de  fide  male  sentientes,  cujuscumque  generis  aut 
nationis  fuerint,  necnon  haeretici  seu  aliqua  haeresis  labe  polluti,  a  Christi  fide- 


chap,  i.]      POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.  545 

Persecution  of  heretics  advocated  by  popish  divines.  St.  Aquinas,  Cardinal  Bellarmir.e. 

"  The  principle  of  persecution,  therefore,"  justly  remarks  the 
learned  Edgar,  "  being  sanctioned,  not  only  by  theologians,  popes, 
and  provincial  synods,  but  also  by  general  councils,  is  a  neces- 
sary and  integral  part  of  Romanism.  The  Romish  communion 
has,  by  its  representatives,  declared  its  right  to  compel  men  to  re- 
nounce heterodoxy  and  embrace  Catholicism,  and  to  consign  the 
obstinate  to  the  civil  power  to  be  banished,  tortured,  or  killed."* 

§  3. — The  same  persecuting  principles  have  been  advocated  by 
individual  Romish  divines  in  various  ages.  It  will  be  sufficient  to 
quote  proofs  of  this  remark  from  Saint  Aquinas  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  Bellarmine  of  the  sixteenth,  and  Peter  Dens  who  wrote 
in  the  eighteenth,  but  is  studied  and  followed  by  popish  colleges 
and  seminaries  of  the  nineteenth. 

The  persecuting  doctrine  is  frequently  avowed  in  the  writings 
of  St.  Aquinas,  the  angelic  doctor,  as  he  is  called  by  Romanists. 
"  Heretics,"  says  he,  "  are  to  be  compelled  by  corporeal  punish- 
ments, that  they  may  adhere  to  the  faith."f  In  other  places,  St. 
Aquinas  unequivocally  asserts,  that  "  heretics  may  not  only  be  ex- 
communicated, but  justly  killed"  and  that  " the  church  consigns 
such  to  the  secular  judges  to  be  exterminated  from  the  world  by 
death."%  But  the  most  remarkable  illustration  of  the  spirit  of 
Popery  on  this  subject,  is  the  labored  argument  of  a  celebrated 
Cardinal,  enforcing  the  duty  of  thus  putting  heretics  to  death. 

Cardinal  Bellarmine§  is  the  great  champion  of  Romanism,  and 
expounder  of  its  doctrines.  He  was  the  nephew  of  pope  Marcellus, 
and  is  acknowledged  to  be  a  standard  writer  with  Romanists.  In 
the  21st  and  22d  chapters  of  the  third  book  of  his  work,  entitled 
"  De  Laicis"  (concerning  the  laity),  he  enters  into  a  regular  argu- 
ment to  prove  that  the  church  has  the  right,  and  should  exercise  it, 
of  punishing  heretics  with  death.  The  following  extracts  are  so 
conclusive  as  to  the  faith  of  Romanists  on  this  point,  that  we  give 
them  in  the  original,  as  well  as  in  the  translation.  The  titles  of  the 
chapters  are  Bellarmine's  as  well  as  what  follows. 

Hum  ccetu  penitus  eliminentur,  et  quocumque  loco  expellantur,  ac  debita  ani- 
madversione  puniantur,  statuimus.     (Crabb.  3,  646.  Bin.  2,  112.  Labb.  19.  844.) 

*  See  Edgar,  chapter  vi.,  passim. 

f  Hsretici  sunt  etiam  corporaliter  compellandi.  {Aquinas  2,  42.)  And  again, 
Hjeretici  sunt  compellandi  ut  fidem  teiieant.  (Aquin.  2,  10.) 

|  Haeretici  possunt  non  solum  excommunicari  sed  et  juste  occidi Eccle- 

sia  relinquit  eum  judici  sseculari  mundo  exterminandum  per  mortem.  (Aquinas 
2,  11  ;   3,  48.) 

§  Cardinal  Bellarmine. — This  celebrated  popish  casuist  and  divine  was  born  in 
Tuscany,  in  1542.  He  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  Cardinal  in  1599,  as  a  re- 
ward for  his  writings  and  services  on  behalf  of  Popery;  and  from  1605  to  the 
year  of  his  death,  1621,  he  resided  at  Rome,  in  constant  attendance  upon  the  per- 
son of  the  popes,  and  under  their  patronage,  industriously  employing  his  pen  for 
the  defence  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  After  his  death,  on  account  of  the 
valuable  services  he  had  rendered  the  Romish  church  by  his  writings,  he  was  very 
near  being  placed  in  the  calendar  of  saints.  Out  of  seventeen  cardinals,  we  are 
informed  by  a  Romish  historian,  that  ten  voted  for  his  canonization.  (Dvpin, 
cent,  xvii.,  book  5.) 


54G 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  VIII. 


Bel  I  arrnine's  argument  proving  that  the  church  has  a  right  to  punish  Heretics  with  death. 

Chapter  XXI.  That  heretics,  condemned  hy  the  church,  may  be 
punished  with  temporal  penalties  and  even  with  death.  '  Posse  hcere- 
ticos  ah  ecclesia  damnatos  temporalihus  poenis  etiam  morte  mulctariJ 


Nos  igitur  breviter  ostendemus  haereti- 
cos  incorrigibiles  ac  praesertim  relapsos, 
posse  ac  debere  ab  ecclesia  rejici,  et  a 
secularibus  potestatibus  temporalihus 
ptenis  atque  ipsa  etiam  morte  mulctari. 

Prima  probatur  scripturis.  Probatur 
secundo  sententiis  et  legibus  imperato- 
rum,  quas  ecclesia  semper  probavit. 
Probatur  lertio  legibus  ecclesiae.  Pro- 
batur quarto  testimoniis  Patrum.  Pro- 
batur ultimo  ratione  naturali.  Prima 
haeretici  excommunicari  jure  possunt,  ut 
omnes  fatentur,  ergo  et  occidi.  Probatur 
consequentia  quia  excommunicatio  est 
major  poena,  quam  mors  temporalis. 


Secundo  experientia  docet  non  esse 
aliud  remedium,  nam  ecclesia  paulatim 
progressa  est  et  omnia  remedia  experta  ; 
primo  solum  excommunicabat  deinde  ad- 
didit  mulctam  pecuniariam  ;  tarn  exili- 
um,  ultimo  coacta  est  ad  mortem  venire  : 
mittere  illos  in  locum  suum. 

Tertio,  falsarii  omnium  judicio  meren- 
tur  mortem  ;  at  haeretici  falsarii  sunt 
verbi  Dei. 

Quarto,  gravius  est  non  servare  fidem 
hominem  Deo,  quam  feminam  viro  ;  sed 
hoc  morte  punitur,  cur  non  illud. 


Quinto,  tres  causae  sunt  propter  quas 
ratio  docet  homines  occidendos  esse ; 
prima  causa  est  ne  mali  bonis  noceant ; 
secunda  est,  ut  paucorum  supplicio 
multi  corrigantur.  Multi  enim  quos 
impunitas  faciebat  torpentes  supplicia 
proposita  excitant  ;  et  nos  quotidie  idem 
videmus  fieri  in  locis  ubi  viget  Inquisi- 
tio. 

Denique  haereticis  obstinatis  benefi- 
cium  est  quod  de  hac  vita  tollantur; 
nam  quo  diutius  vivunt  eo  plures  er- 
rores  excogitant,  plures  pervertunt,  et 
majorem  sibi  damnationem  acquirunt. 


"We  will  briefly  show  that  the 
church  has  the  power  and  ought  to  cast 
off  incorrigible  heretics,  especially  those 
who  have  relapsed,  and  that  the  secular 
power  ought  to  inflict  on  such,  tempo- 
ral punishments,  and  even  death  itself. 

1st.  This  may  be  proved  from  the 
Scripture.  2d.  It  is  proved  from  the 
opinions  and  laws  of  the  Emperors, 
which  the  church  hits  ahcays  approved. 
3d.  It  is  proved  by  the  laws  qf  the  church. 
4th.  It  is  proved  by  the  testimony  of  the 
fathers.  Lastly.  It  is  proved  from 
natural  reason.  For  first:  It  is  owned 
by  all,  that  heretics  may  of  right  be  ex- 
communicated— of  course  they  may  be 
put  to  death.  This  consequence  is 
proved  because  excommunication  is  a 
greater  punishment  than  temporal  death. 

Secondly.  Experience  proves  that 
there  is  no  other  remedy;  for  the  church 
has  step  by  step  tried  all  remedies — 
first, — excommunication  alone  ;  then  pe- 
cuniary penalties ;  afterward  banish- 
ment ;  and  lastly  has  been  forced  to  put 
them  to  death  ;  to  send  them  to  their  own 
place. 

Thirdly.  All  allow  that  forgery  de- 
serves death  ;  but  heretics  are  guilty  of 
forgery  of  the  word  of  God. 

Fourthly.  A  breach  of  faith  by  man 
toward  God,  is  a  greater  sin,  than  of  a 
wife  with  her  husband.  But  a  woman's 
unfaithfulness  is  punished  with  death  ; 
why  not  a  heretic's  ? 

Fifthly.  There  are  three  grounds  on 
which  reason  shows  that  heretics  should 
be  put  to  death  :  the  1st  is,  lest  the 
wicked  should  injure  the  righteous — 
2d,  that  by  the  punishment  of  a  few, 
many  may  be  reformed.     For  many  who 

WERE  MADE  TORPID  BY  IMPUNITY,  ARE 
ROUSED  BY  THE  FEAR  OF  PUNISHMENT  : 
AND  THIS  WE  DAILY  SEE  IS  THE  RESULT 
WHERE  THE  INQUISITION  FLOURISHES. 

Finally.  It  is  a  benefit  to  obstinate 
heretics  to  remove  them  from  this  life  ; 
for  Jhe  longer  they  live  the  more  errors 
they  invent,  the  more  persons  they  mis- 
lead :  and  the  greater  damnation  do 
they  treasure  up  to  themselves. 


In  the  next  chapter  Bellarmine  proceeds  to  reply  to  the  objections 
of  Luther  and  others,  against  the   burning  of  heretics.     We  tran- 


chap.  i.J        POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.       547 


Cardinal  Bellarmine's  answers  to  objections  against  the  punishment  of  heretics  by  death. 

scribe  the  replies  of  the  popish  casuist  to  the  first,  second,  thirteenth 
and  eighteenth  arguments  against  the  burning  of  heretics.*  The 
chapter  is  entitled  as  follows  : 

Chapter  XXII.    Objections  answered.     '  Solvuntur  objectiones.'' 


Superest  argumenta  Lutheri  atque 
aliorum  haereticorum  diluere.  Argu- 
mentum,  primum,  ab  experientia  totius 
ecclesiae  :  i  Ecclesia,''  inquit  Lutherus, '  ab 
initio  sui  usque  hue  nullum  combussit 
haoreticum,  ergo  non  videtur  esse  volun- 
tas Spiritus  ut  comburantur.' 

Respondeo,  argumentum  hoc  optime, 
probat,  non  sententiam,  sed  imperitiam, 
vel  impudentiam  Lutheri :  nam  cum 
infiniti  propemodum,  vel  combusti,  vel 
aliter  necati  fuerint,  aut  id  ignoravit 
Lutherus,  et  tunc  imperitus  est,  aut  non 
ignoravit,  et  impudens,  ac  mendax  esse 
convincitur :  nam  quod  haeretici  sint 
saepe  ab  ecclesia  combusti,  ostendi  po- 
test, si  adducamus  pauca  exempla  de 
multis. 

Argumentum  secundum;  experientia 
testatur  non  profici  terroribus.  Respon- 
deo, experientia  est  in  contrarium ;  nam 
Donatistae,  Manichaei,  et  Albigenses 
armis  profligati,  et  extincti  sunt. 

Argumentum  decimum  tertium :  Do- 
minus  attribuit  ecclesia?  gladium  spiri- 
tus, quod  est  verbum  dei  non  autem 
gladium  ferri ;  immo  Petro  volenti 
gladio  ferreo  ipsum  defendere,  ait : 
'  Mitte  gladium  tuum  in  vaginam,'  Joan 
18.  Respondeo  ecclesia  sicut  habet 
Principes  Ecclesiasticos,  et  seculares, 
qui  sunt  quasi  duo  ecclesiae  brachia,  ita 
quos  habet  gladios,  spiritualem,  et  ma- 
terialem,  et  ideo,  quando  manus  dextera 
gladio  spirituali  non  potuit  haereticum 
convertere,  invocat  auxilium  brachii  sin- 


"  It  remains  to  answer  the  objections 
of  Luther  and  other  heretics.  Argument 
1st.  From  the  history  of  the  church  at 
large.  '  T  he  chuPch,"  says  Luther,  'from 
the  beginning,  even  to  this  time,  has  never 
burned  a  heretic.]  Therefore  it  does 
not  seem  to  be  the  mind  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  that  they  should  be  burned  !' 

I  reply  that  this  argument  proves  not 
the  sentiment,  but  the  ignorance,  or  im- 
pudence of  Luther ;  for  as  almost  an 

INFINITE  NUMBER  WERE  EITHER  BURNED 
OR  OTHERWISE    PUT    TO    DEATH,    Luther 

either  did  not  know  it,  and  was  there- 
fore ignorant ;  or  if  he  knew  it,  he  is 
convicted  of  impudence  and  falsehood — 
for  that  heretics  ivere  often  burned  by 
the  church  may  be  proved  by  adducing 
a  few  from  many  examples. 

Argument  2d.  '  Experience  shows  that 
terror  is  not  useful.''    I  reply,  experience 

PROVES    THE    CONTRARY FOR     THE    Do- 

NATISTS,  MANICHEANS,  AND  ALBIGENSES 
WERE  ROUTED,  AND  ANNIHILATED  BY 
ARMS. 

Argument  13th.  '  The  Lord  attributes 
to  the  church  "  the  sword  of  the  Spi- 
rit, which  is  the  word  of  God  ;"  but  not 
the  material  sword,  nay,  He  said  to  Pe- 
ter, who  wished  to  defend  him  with  a 
material  sword,  "  put  up  thy  sword  into 
the  scabbard."'  John  18th.  I  answer ; 
As  the  church  has  ecclesiastical  and 
secular  princes,  who  are  her  two  arms  ; 
so  she  has  two  swords,  the  spiritual  and 
material  ;  and  therefore  when  her  right 
hand  is  unable  to  convert  a  heretic  with 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  she  invokes  the 


*The  whole  of  this  labored  argument  of  the  great  popish  divine,  to  prove  the 
lawfulness  and  expediency  of  the  burning  of  heretics,  is  well  worthy  of  examina- 
tion and  study,  by  all  who  would  understand  what  genuine  Popery  is.  In  the  edi- 
tion of  Bellarmine's  works  (Six  vols.,  fol.  1610),  which  I  have  consulted  in  the  cele- 
brated Van  Ess  library  of  the  New  York  Theological  Seminary,  it  occupied  ten 
folio  columns  of  Vol.  II.,  p.  555,  &c,  besides  the  20th  chapter,  of  four  columns, 
proving  that  the  books  of  heretics  ought  to  be  destroyed. 

f  If  Luther  ever  made  this  assertion  ascribed  to  him  by  Bellarmine,  his  meaning 
must  have  been  that  the  true  church  of  God  had  never  burned  a  heretic,  not  that 
the  anti-Christian  Popes,  councils,  and  secular  powers  of  the  Romish  church  had 
not  burned  heretics,  for  in  the  sense  of  the  Romish  church,  all  history  testifies  to 
the  truth  of  Bellarmine's  remark,  that  "  an  infinite  number"  of  heretics  were 
"  either  burned,  or  otherwise  put  to  death,"  and  that  too  (in  the  words  of  Bel- 
larmine), "  BY  THE  CHURCH." 


548  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vm. 

Popery  is  unchangable.  The  doctrine  of  Bellarmine  taught  !>>  papists  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

istri   ut  o-Iadio  ferreo  hajreticos  coerceat.  aid  of  the  left  hand,  and  coerces  heretics 

with  the  material  sword. 

Argumentum      decimum     octavum:  Argument  18th.  "  The  Apostles  never 

Nunquam   Apostoli    brachium  seculare  invoked  the  secular  arm  against  here- 

contra     haereticos     invocaverunt.     Re-  tics."  Answer  (according  to  St.  Augus- 

spondel  S.  Augustinus  in   epist.  50.  et  tine,  in  letter  50  and  elsewhere).  "  The 

alibi,  Apostolos  id  mm  fecisse,  quia  nul-  Apostles  did  it  not,  because  there  teas  no 

lus  tunc  erat  Christianus Princeps,  quern  Christian  Prince  whom  they  could  call 

invocarent.     At  postquam  tempore  Con-  on  for  aid.     But  afterwards  in  Constan- 

stantini Ecclesia    tiiie's  time the  church  called 

auxilium    sccularis   brachii  imploravit.  in  the  aid  of  the  secular  arm." 

Now  if,  as  Romanists  in protestant  countries  sometimes  assert,  the 
Romish  is  not  a  persecuting  church  ;  could  it  be  possible  that  one 
of  the  very  highest  dignitaries  of  that  church,  a  Cardinal,  the 
nephew  of  one  pope,  and  the  special  favorite  and  confidant  of  others, 
could  have  penned,  without  rebuke,  such  an  infamous  and  labored 
argument  in  support  of  the  burning  of  heretics,  as  that  from  which 
the  foregoing  extracts  are  made. 

§  4. — Some  people  suppose  that,  with  the  lapse  of  ages,  the 
character  of  persecuting  Rome  has  changed.  No  such  thing. 
Popery  is  unchangeable,  and  so  her  ablest  advocates  declare.  Says 
Charles  Butler,  in  the  work  he  wrote  in  reply  to  Southey's  book  of 
the  church, — "  It  is  most  true  that  the  Roman  Catholics  believe  the 
doctrines  of  their  church  to  be  unchangeable  ;  and  that  it  is  a  tenet 
of  their  creed,  that  what  their  faith  ever  has  been,  such  it  was  from 
the  beginning,  such  it  is  now  and  such  it  ever  will  be."* 

But  supposing  Romanists  admitted  a  possibility  of  change  in 
their  doctrines,  still  there  is  abundant  evidence  in  point  of  fact,  from 
the  writings  of  recent  popish  divines,  that  their  doctrine  remains  the 
same,  relative  to  the  duty,  whenever,  and  wherever  they  possess  the 
power  of  extirpating  heretics  by  death.  It  would  be  easy  to  cite  a 
multitude  of  proofs  of  this  assertion  from  various  writers,  but  a 
single  author  will  be  sufficient.  It  is  from  the  theology  of  Peter 
Dens,  the  celebrated  doctor  of  Louvain.  It  was  written,  or  rather 
the  first  volume  was  printed  in  1758,  and  was  adopted  by  the  popish 
clergy  in  Dublin,  in  the  year  1808,  "  who  unanimously  agreed  that 
this  book  was  the  best  work,  and  the  safest  guide  in  Theology  for 
the  Irish  clergy  ."f  A  single  extract  will  be  sufficient.  After  stating 
that  heretics  are  deservedly  visited  with  the  penalties  of  exile,  im- 
prisonment, &c,  the  popish  Doctor  inquires, 

An  hasretici  recte  puniuntur  morte  ?  Are   heretics   rightly  punished   with 

Respondet  S.  Thomas  affirmative  :  quia  Death  ?     St.  Thomas  answers  in  the 

falsarii    pecuniae  vel  alii   rempublicam  affirmative.     Because  forgers  of  mo- 

turbantes  juste  morte  puniuntur:  ergo  ney  or  other  disturbers  of  the  state  are 

iai     hi  ivtiei  qui  sunt  falsarii  fidei  et  justly   punished   with   death;  therefore 

ut  experientia  docet  rempublicam  gravi-  also   heretics,  who  are   forgers   of  the 

ter  perturbant.    .     .     .    Confirmatur  ex  faith,  and  as  experience  shows,  greatly 

oo  quod  Deus  in  veteri  lege  jusserit  oc-  disturb  the  state.     .     .     .     Thisiscon- 

*  Butler's  Book  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
f  Edgar's   Variations,  p.  243. 


chap,  il]       POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.        549 

The  persecuting  doctrine  taught  in  the  Rhemish  Testament,  &x.  Bloody  queen  Mary. 

cidi  falsos  Prophetas.  .  .  .  Idem  firmed  by  the  command  of  God  under 
probatur  ex  condemnatione  articulii  14,  the  old  law,  that  the  false  prophets 
Joan.  Huss  in  Concilio  Constantiensi.  should  be  killed.  .  .  .  The  same  is 
(Dens,  2,  88,  89.)  proved    by   the   condemnation — by    the 

fourteenth  article — of  John  Huss  in  the 
council  of  Constance. 

The  same  horrid  doctrine  is  taught  in  the  Extravagants  or 
Constitutions  and  other  authorized  writings  of  a  large  number  of 
the  popes,  the  Directorium  Inquisitorium,  or  Directory  for  Inquisi- 
tors, the  notes  to  the  Rhemish  Testament,*  &c,  &c,  but  the  point 
is  already  established  upon  sufficient  authority,  and  further  testi- 
mony is  unnecessary.  Without  undertaking  to  give  a  complete 
account  of  the  persecutions  of  Popery,  we  shall  present  a  few 
additional  sketches  of  the  manner  in  which  the  persecuting  princi- 
ples of  Rome  have  in  various  ages  been  carried  out  in  the  tortures, 
massacres,  burnings,  and  other  barbarities  inflicted  upon  those  whom 
she  chose  to  stigmatize  with  the  name  of  heretics. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  PROTESTANTS  UNDER  BLOODY  QUEEN 
MARY. THE  BURNING  OF  LATIMER,  RIDLEY,  CRANMER,  &C. 

§  5. — It  would  be  improper  entirely  to  omit,  and  yet  it  is  not 
necessary  minutely  to  describe  the  well  known  cruel  burnings  of 
the  English  protestants,  during  the  reign  of  the  bigoted  and  hard- 
hearted woman,  whose  name  has  been  appropriately  handed  down 
to  posterity  as  bloody  Queen  Mary.|     And  it  seems  proper  to 

*  In  the  Rhemish  translation  of  the  New  Testament  for  the  English  Romanists, 
the  following  note  is  appended  to  the  words  of  our  Lord — Luke  ix.,  55 — when  he 
rebuked  two  of  his  disciples  for  their  desire  to  destroy  those  who  refused  to  receive 
him  :  "  Not  justice,  nor  all  rigorous  punishment  of  sinners,  is  here  forbidden  ;  nor 
Elias's  fact  reprehended  ;  nor  the  Church,  nor  Christian  princes,  blamed  for  put- 
ting heretics  to  death  ;  but  that  none  of  these  should  be  done  for  desire  of  our 
particular  revenge,  or  without  discretion,  and  in  regard  of  their  amendment  and 
example  to  others.  Therefore,  St.  Peter  used  his  power  upon  Ananias  and  Sap- 
phira,  when  he  struck  them  both  down  to  death  for  defrauding  the  Church  .'"  He- 
brews x.,  29,  is,  in  like  manner,  applied  to  all  whom  the  Church  of  Rome  calls 
heretics. 

f  Full  information  on  these  persecutions  may  be  obtained  from  that  well  known 
and  authentic  work,  "  Fox's  Book  of  Martyrs,''  "  Southey's  Book  of  the  Church," 
&c.  I  would  especially  recommend  the  valuable  abridgment  of  Fox's  work, 
accompanied  with  remarks  in  her  own  beautiful  and  impressive  style,  by  Mrs.  Tonna, 
better  known  as  Charlotte  Elizabeth,  a  lady,  who,  by  her  genius,  piety,  and  genuine 
Protestantism,  as  exhibited  in  the  numerous  productions  of  her  pen,  has  laid  un- 
33 


550  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vm. 

Number  of  martyrs  of  the  Marian  persecution.  The  venerable  Latimer  and  Ridley. 

commence  these  few  sketches  of  persecutions  of  Popery,  with  the 
recital  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Marian  martyrs,  as  they  all  occurred 
during  the  interval  that  elapsed  between  the  second  adjournment 
and  resumption  of  the  council  of  Trent  already  described. 

During  her  brief  reign  of  five  years,  according  to  the  lowest 
calculations,  two  hundred  and  eightv-eight  persons  were  burned 
alive,  by  her  order,  for  the  crime  of  heresy,  and  among  them  were 
the  wealthy  and  the  poor,  the  priest  and  the  layman,  the  merchant 
and  the  fanner,  the  blind  and  the  lame,  the  helpless  female  and  the 
new-born  babe.  The  persecutions  did  not  commence  in  the  first 
year  of  her  reign.  She  was  proclaimed  Queen  on  the  17th  of 
July,  1553,  and  it  was  not  till  the  commencement  of  1555  that  the 
venerable  John  Rogers,  the  proto-martyr  of  the  Marian  persecu- 
tion, sealed  the  truth  with  his  blood  by  being  burnt  alive  at  Smith- 
fiold.  He  suffered  on  the  4th  of  February,  1555.  The  number  of 
heretics  burnt  alive  in  England,  in  1555,  was  seventy-one  ;  in  1556, 
eighty-nine  ;  in  1557,  eighty-eight;  and  in  1558,  forty.  The  num- 
ber of  the  victims  would  have  been  largely  swelled,  had  hot  death 
relieved  the  world  of  the  presence  and  tyranny  of  this  popish  mon- 
ster in  the  shape  of  a  woman,  on  the  17th  of  November,  1558. 

The  names  of  Rogers,  and  Saunders,  and  Hooper ;  of  Taylor, 
and  Bradford,  and  Philpot ;  of  Latimer,  and  Ridley,  and  Cranmer; 
and  of  their  martyred  associates,  have  become  familiar  as  house- 
hold words  to  their  protestant  descendants  of  England  and  Ameri- 
ca; and  the  oft-repeated  story  of  their  painful  but  triumphant 
deaths,  amidst  the  torturing  fires  of  martyrdom,  continues  to  preach 
loudly  and  eloquently  of  the  cruelty  and  bigotry  of  Rome.  Our 
limits*  will  allow  but  a  brief  sketch  of  the  martyrdom  of  the  three 
last-mentioned  of  the  nine  worthies  whose  names  have  been  cited 
above. 

§  6. — Bishops  Latimer  and  Ridley  were  two  of  the  ablest  as 
well  as  holiest  of  the  martyrs  whose  blood  was  offered  as  a  sacri- 
fice upon  the  altar  of  popish  bigotry  during  the  reign  of  Mary. 

Hugh  Latimer  was  born  about  1472,  and  was  now,  therefore, 
upwards  of  fourscore  years  old.  He  had  been  a  prominent  man, 
in  the  reign  of  the  licentious  Henry  VIIL,  the  father  of  queen 
Mary,  and  was  appointed  by  him  to  the  bishopric  of  Worcester. 
It  is*  related  of  Latimer,  as  an  instance  of  his  faithfulness,  that  on 
new  year's  day.  when,  according  to  the  prevailing  custom,  the  emi- 
nent men  of  the  land  presented  the  King  with  a  new  years  gift, 
his  gift  consisted  of  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament,  with  the  pas- 
sage marked,  and  the  leaf  turned  down  to  the  words,  "  Whoremon- 
gers and  adulterers  God  will  judge."  Those  acquainted  with 
the  history  of  the  adulterous  Henry  VIIL  need  not  be  told  how 
applicable  was  the  reproof  to  his  character. 

der  deep  obligation  the  whole  protestant  world.  I  know  of  no  uninspired  writer, 
either  of  the  past  or  present  time,  who  so  happily  combines  entertainment  with 
instruction  as  this  rri ft ed  lady.  Her  "  English  Martyrology"  and  "  Siege  of 
Derry  "  ought  to  be  read  by  every  protestant  youth  in  the  world. 


chap,  ii.]       POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.        551 


Degradation  of  Ridley  from  the  priestly  office.  Reasons  of  this  ceremony. 

When  this  faithful  and  venerable  man  was  apprehended  by  order 
of  the  bloody  Mary,  he  said  to  the  officer,  "  My  friend,  you  are 
a  welcome  messenger  to  me  ;"  and  in  passing  through  Smithfield, 
where  so  many  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus  had  been  burned  alive,  he 
remarked,  "  Smithfield  hath  long  groaned  for  me."  He  suffered  a 
long  and  cruel  imprisonment  in  the  Tower  previous  to  his  martyr- 
dom. One  day,  when  suffering  from  the  severe  frost  and  denied 
the  comfort  of  a  fire,  the  aged  sufferer  pleasantly  remarked  to  his 
keeper,  that  if  he  were  not  taken  better  care  of,  he  should  certainly 
escape  out  of  his  enemies'  hands,  meaning  that  he  should  perish 
with  cold  and  hardship,  and  thus  escape  the  burning  intended  for 
him  by  his  enemies. 

Nicholas  Ridley  was  born  in  the  year  1500,  had  been  chaplain 
to  the  pious  youth,  king  Edward  VI.,  the  predecessor  of  Mary,  and 
had  been  appointed  by  him  bishop  of  London.  Upon  the  accession 
of  Mary,  he  was  soon  seized  and  committed  to  the  Tower,  where 
he  and  Latimer  continued  during  the  winter  of  1553  and  1554,  and 
were  afterwards  removed  to  Oxford,  and  lodged  in  a  common 
prison.  In  the  year  1555,  a  commission  was  issued  to  several 
popish  bishops  to  proceed  against  these  two  holy  men.  Full  ac- 
counts are  given  by  Fox  of  the  various  disputations  they  held  with 
the  martyrs.  It  is" sufficient  here  to  remark,  that  neither  threats  nor 
promises  could  shake  their  constancy,  and  that  in  every  interview 
they  came  off  triumphant  over  all  the  arguments  of  their  popish 
opponents,  by  whom  they  were  condemned  to  be  degraded,  and 
delivered  up  to  the  secular  power. 

§  7. — The  reason  why  the  church  of  Rome  always  performed 
this  ceremony  of  degradation  upon  ecclesiastics  before  delivering 
them  up  to  the  secular  arm  to  be  burnt,  was  because  she  was  too 
watchful  over  the  immunities  of  the  privileged  order  of  priests,  to 
deliver  them  up  to  temporal  jurisdiction,  till  stripped  of  the  sacer- 
dotal character,  and  degraded  to  the  situation  of  laymen.  Brooks, 
bishop  of  Gloucester,  performed  this  ceremony  on  Ridley  on  the 
15th  of  October.  Brooks  repeated  on  this  occasion  his  fruitless 
attempts  to  shake  the  constancy  of  the  martyr,  and  to  induce  him  to 
acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  Pope ;  but  Ridley  only  renewed 
his  faithful  testimony  concerning  "  the  usurped  authority  of  the 
Romish  anti-Christ ;"  and  declared,  "  the  Lord  being  my  helper,  I 
will  maintain  so  long  as  my  tongue  shall  wag,  and  breath  is  within 
my  body,  and  in  confirmation  thereof  seal  the  same  with  my  blood." 
Ridley  continued  so  faithfully  to  reason  upon  the  true  character  of 
the  Pope,  that  the  Bishop  threatened  to  employ  the  gag,  a  weapon 
of  frequent  use  in  those  days,  when  the  faithful  testimony  of  the 
martyrs  could  be  in  no  other  way  prevented. 

The  bishop  of  Gloucester  then  remarked,  that  seeing  he  would 
not  receive  the  Queen's  mercy,  they  must  go  on  to  degrade  him  from 
the  dignity  of  priesthood  ;  saying  moreover,  "  we  take  you  for  no 
bishop,  and  therefore  we  will  the  sooner  have  done  with  you,  com- 
mitting you  to  the  secular  power ;  you  know  what  doth  follow." 


552  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vni. 

Ridley's  courage  under  mockery  and  abuse.  Latimer  and  Ridley  at  the  stake. 

'•  Do  with  me  as  it  shall  please  God  to  suffer  you,"  was  the  reply ; 
"  I  am  well  content  to  abide  the  same  with  all  my  heart."  Brooks 
desired  him  to  put  off  his  cap  and  put  upon  him  the  surplice  :  he 
answered,  "  I  will  not."  "  But  you  must."  "  I  will  not."  "  You 
must ;  therefore  make  no  more  ado,  but  put  this  surplice  upon  you." 
"  Truly,  if  it  come  upon  me,  it  shall  be  against  my  will."  "  Will 
you  not  put  it  upon  you  ?"  "  No,  that  I  will  not."  "  It  shall  be  put 
upon  you  by  some  one  or  other."  "  Do  therein  as  it  shall  please 
you  ;  I  am  well  contented  with  that,  and  more  than  that ;  the  ser- 
vant is  not  above  his  Master.  If  they  dealt  so  cruelly  with  our  Sa- 
viour Christ,  as  the  Scripture  maketh  mention,  and  he  suffered  the 
same   patiently,  how  much  more  doth  it  become  us,  his  servants  ?" 

The  surplice  was  then  forcibly  put  on  him,  with  all  the  trinkets 
appertaining  to  the  mass :  during  which  he  vehemently  inveighed 
against  the  Romish  bishop,  calling  him  anti-Christ,  and  the  apparel 
foolish  and  abominable.  This  made  Dr.  Brooks  very  angry  :  he 
bade  him  hold  his  peace,  for  that  he  did  but  rail.  The  Christian 
martyr  replied,  so  long  as  his  tongue  and  breath  would  suffer  him, 
he  would  speak  against  their  abominable  doings  whatsoever  hap- 
pened unto  him  for  it.  When  they  came  to  the  place  where  he 
should  hold  the  chalice  and  wafer-cake,  they  bade  him  take  them 
into  his  hands  :  he  replied,  "  They  shall  not  come  into  my  hands  ; 
and  if  they  do,  they  shall  fall  to  the  ground  for  me."  An  attendant 
was  obliged  to  hold  them  fast  in  his  hands  while  Brooks  read  a  cer- 
tain thing  in  Latin,  appertaining  to  that  part  of  the  performance. 
Next  they  placed  a  book  in  his  hand,  while  Brooks  recited  the 
passage,  "  We  do  take  from  you  the  office  of  preaching  the  gospel," 
&c.  At  these  words  Dr.  Ridley  gave  a  great  sigh,  and  looking  up 
toward  heaven,  said,  "  O  Lord  God,  forgive  them  this  their  wick- 
edness !"  The  massing  garments  being  taken  off  one  by  one,  till 
the  surplice  only  was  left,  they  proceeded  to  the  last  step  of  the  de- 
gradation, by  deposing  him  from  the  lowest  office  of  the  priesthood." 
(See  Engraving.) 

§  8. — On  the  following  day,  October  10th,  1555,  Latimer  and 
Ridley  were  brought  to  the  stake,  which  was  prepared  in  a  hollow, 
near  Baliol  college,  on  the  north  side  of  the  city  of  Oxford.  The 
venerable  Latimer  being  stripped  for  the  stake,  appeared  in  a  shroud 
prepared  for  the  occasion  ;  and  now,  says  Fox,  "  a  remarkable 
change  was  observed  in  his  appearance  ;  for  whereas  he  had  hith- 
erto seemed  a  withered,  decrepit,  and  even  a  deformed  old  man,  he 
now  stood  perfectly  upright,  a  straight  and  comely  person.  Ridley 
was  disposed  to  remain  in  his  trousers  ;  but  on  his  brother  observ- 
ing that  it  would  occasion  him  more  pain,  and  that  the  article  of 
dress  would  do  some  poor  man  good,  he  yielded  to  the  latter  plea, 
and  saying,  "  Be  it,  in  the  name  of  God,"  delivered  it  to  his  brother. 
Then,  being  stripped  to  his  shirt,  he  stood  upon  a  stone  by  the  stake, 
and  holding  up  his  hand,  said,  "  O  heavenly  Father,  I  give  unto  thee 
most  hearty  thanks,  for  that  thou  hast  called  me  to  be  a  professor  of 
thee,  even  unto  death  :  I  beseech  thee,  Lord  God,  take  mercy  upon 


Ceremony  of  tlie  Uea  ■ 


Burning  of  Lalinwr  and  Riillej     it  Oxfo 


chap,  ii.]       POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.        555 

Dying  remark  of  the  venerable  Latimer.     Ridley's  horrible  and  protracted  torment  by  his  slow  burning 

this  realm  of  England,  and  deliver  the  same  from  all  her  enemies." 
The  smith  now  brought  a  chain,  and  passed  it  round  the  bodies  of 
the  two  martyrs,  as  they  quietly  stood  on  either  side  of  the  stake : 
while  he  was  hammering  the  staple  into  the  wood,  Ridley  took  the 
chain  in  his  hand,  and  shaking  it,  said,  "  Good  fellow,  knock  it  in 
hard,  for  the  flesh  will  have  its  course."  This  being  done,  Shipside 
brought  him  some  gunpowder  in  a  bag  to  tie  round  his  neck  ;  which 
he  received  as  sent  of  God,  to  be  a  means  of  shortening  his  tor- 
ment ;  at  the  same  time  inquiring  whether  he  had  any  for  his  bro- 
ther, meaning  Latimer,  and  hastening  him  to  give  it  immediately, 
lest  it  might  come  too  late  ;  which  was  done.  A  lighted  faggot  was 
then  brought,  and  laid  down  at  his  feet,  on  which  Latimer  turned 
and  addressed  him  in  those  memorable  and  prophetic  words,  "  Be 
of  good  comfort,  Mr.  Ridley,  and   play  the  man  :  "  we  shall  this 

DAY  LIGHT  SUCH  A  CANDLE,  BY  God's  GRACE,  IN  ENGLAND,  AS,  I  TRUST, 
SHALL  NEVER   BE  PUT  OUT." 

The  flames   rose ;  and   Ridley  in  a  wonderfully  loud  voice  ex- 
claimed in  La-tin,  "  Into  thy  hands,  O  Lord,  I  commend  my  spirit," 
often  repeating  in  English,  "  Lord,  receive  my  spirit !"     Latimer  on 
the  other  side  as  vehemently  crying  out,    "  O  Father  of  heaven, 
receive  my  soul !"  and  welcoming,  as  it  were,  the  flame,  he  embraced 
it,  bathed  his  hands  in  it,  stroked  his  venerable  face  with  them,  and 
soon  died,  seemingly  with  little  pain,  or  none.     So  ended  this  old 
and  blessed  servant  of  God,  his  laborious  works,  and  fruitful  life,  by 
an  easy  and  quiet  death  in  the  midst  of  the  fire,  into  which  he  cheer- 
fully entered  for  Christ's  sake.     But  it  pleased   the  Lord  to  glorify 
himself  otherwise  in  Ridley  :  his  torments  were  terrible,  and  pro- 
tracted to  an  extent  that  it  sickens  the  heart  to  contemplate.     The 
fire  had  been  made  so  ill,  by  heaping  a  great  quantity  of  heavy  fag- 
gots very  high  about  him,  above  the  lighter  combustibles,  that  the 
solid  wood  kept  down  the  flame,  causing  it  to  rage  intensely  be- 
neath, without  ascending.     The  martyr  finding  his  lower  extremi- 
ties only  burning,  requested  those  about  him,  for  Christ's  sake,  to  let 
the  fire  come  to  him  ;  which  his  poor  brother  Shipside  hearing,  and 
in  the   anguish  of  his  spirit  not  rightly  understanding,  he  heaped 
more  faggots  on  the   pile,  hoping  so  to  hasten  the   conflagration, 
which  of  course  was  further  repressed  by  it,  and  became  more  ve- 
hement beneath,  burning  to  a  cinder  all  the  nether  parts  of  the  suf- 
ferer, without   approaching  the  vitals.     In  this  horrible  state,  he 
continued  to  leap  u>p  and  down  under  the  wood,  praying  them  to  let 
the  fire  come,  and  repeatedly  exclaiming,  "I  cannot  burn,"  writhing 
in  the  torture,  as  he  turned  from  side  to  side,  the   bystanders  saw 
even  his  shirt  unconsumed,  clean,  and  unscorched  by  the  flame, 
while  his  legs  were  totally  burnt  off.     In  such  extremity  his  heart 
was   still  fixed,  trusting  in   his  God,    and   ejaculating    frequently, 
"  Lord,  have  mercy   upon  me  !"  intermingling  it  with  entreaties, 
"  Let  the  fire  come  unto  me — I   cannot  burn."     At  last  one  of  the 
bill-men  with  his  weapon  mercifully  pulled   away  the  faggots  from 
above,  so  giving  the  flame  power  to  rise  ;  which  the  sufferer  no 


556  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vih. 

Oxford,  the  burning  place  of  Latimer  and  Kidley,  no  place  for  compromise  with  Rome.    Thorn.  Cranmer. 

sooner  saw,  than  with  an  eager  effort  he  wrenched  his  mutilated 
body  to  that  side,  to  meet  the  welcome  deliverance.  The  flame 
now  touched  the  gunpowder,  and  he  was  seen  to  stir  no  more  ;  but 
after  burning  awhile  on  the  other  side,  he  fell  over  the  chain  at  the 
feet  of  Latimer's  corpse. 

Such  are  thy  tender  mercies,  tyrant  Rome  ! 

The  rack,  the  faggot,  or  the  hated  creed — 
Fearless  amidst  thy  folds  fierce  wolves  may  roam, 

Whilst  stainless  sheep  upon  thine  altars  bleed. 

§  9.— Let  the  Christian  reader  now  draw  nigh  and  contem- 
plate this  painful  scene — the  venerable  form  of  the  holy  Latimer, 
with  his  snowy  locks  whitened  by  the  frosts  of  eighty-three  win- 
ters, dressed  in  his  shroud,  directing  his  eyes  upward  to  heaven  for 
strength  as  the  torturing  flames  gather  and  wrap  themselves  around 
his  aged  and  quivering  limbs,  and  yet  amidst  his  tortures  praying 
for  his  tormentors— the  stately  and  noble  form  of  his  companion 
Ridley,  chained  to  the  same  stake,  with  his  feet  and  legs  actually 
burning  to  a  cinder,  till  they  fall  from  his  tortured  body  ;  before 
death,  the  welcome  deliverer,  has  done  his  work— then  let  him  con- 
template the  cowled  priest  of  Rome,  with  cross  in  hand,  insulting 
the  dying  agonies  of  the  martyrs,  and  rejoicing  in  their  protracted 
and  excruciating  torments — and  remember  that  this,  stripped  of  dis- 
guise or  concealment— this  is  Popery — "  drunk  with  the  blood 

OF    THE    SAINTS    AND    OF    THE    MARTYRS    OF     JeSUS." 

Well  does  that  gifted  authoress,  Mrs.  Tonna,  exclaim,  after 
citing  the  description  of  the  horrible  tortures  inflicted  upon  these 
two  &holy  men,  "  Wo  unto  us,  if,  with  these  examples  before  us,  we 
shrink  not  from  touching,  even  the  outermost  fringe  of  that  harlot's 
polluted  garments  !  There  is  that  mingled  with  the  dust  of  Oxford 
which  will  rise  up  in  the  judgment,  a  terrible  witness  against  those 
who,  while  trampling  on  the  ashes  of  the  martyrs,  shall  dare  to  sug- 
gest any,  even  the  slightest  measure  of  approximation  to  the  apos- 
tate church — any  recognition  of  her,  otherwise  than  as  the  deeply 

ACCURSED    ENEMY    OF   CHRIST    AND    HIS    SAINTS."* 

§  10. — Thomas  Cranmer  was  born  in  1489,  and  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  Henry  VIII.  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  During  the 
brief  reign  of  the  youthful  Edward  VI.,  Cranmer  (though  not  entirely 
free  from  the  contamination  of  the  doctrine  of  Rome,  the  right  to 
persecute  for  conscience  sake)  was  one  of  the  principal  agents  in 
advancing  the  reformation  in  England.  Upon  the  accession  of 
bloody  Mary,  he  was  soon  marked  out  as  a  conspicuous  victim  for 
papal*  fury.  His  closing  days  are  clouded,  as  were  those  of  Je- 
rome of  Prague,  by  his  signature  to  a  written  recantation,  obtained 
from  him  by  his  enemies,  by  the  means  of  the  prospect  they  held 
out  to  him  of  life  and  comfort,  after  nearly  three  years  of  cruel 
and  rigorous  imprisonment ;   yet,  like  the  Bohemian  reformer,  he 

*  English  Martyrology,  by  Charlotte  Elizabeth,  vol.  ii.,  p.  55. 


CHAP,  ii.]        POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.       557 

Cranmei  In  St.  Mary's  church.  His  mournful  demeanor  and  copious  tears. 


bitterly  repented  this  act  of  natural  weakness,  and  showed  the  sin- 
cer  ty  of  that  repentance,  by  his  extraordinary  courage  and  con 
stancy,  amidst  the  tires  of  martyrdom.  After  Cranmer  had  signed 
this  document,  he  soon  found  reason  to  suspect  that  his  popish  ene- 
mies would  still  not  be  satisfied  without  his  blood  ;  and  in  the  esti- 
mation of  some,  this  circumstance  may,  perhaps,  tend  to  cast  a 
shade  of  doubt  over  his  dying  protestations.  J\To  one,  however, 
who  will  carefully  consider  the  circumstances  of  the  last  few  hours 
of  his  life  (which  we  shall  now  proceed  to  narrate),  can  reasonably 
doubt  that  his  penitence  for  this  act  of  pardonable  weakness  was 
sincere,  and  that  the  same  Jesus  who  cast  a  look  of  love,  and 
melted  the  heart  of  Peter,  who  had  denied  him,  sustained  the  dying 
Cranmer  by  his  presence  and  his  smiles,  and  welcomed  the  ran- 
somed spirit  of  the  departed  martyr  to  the  abodes  of  the  blessed. 

§  11. — It  is  generally  thought  that  Cranmer  was  not  informed  of 
the  determination  to  put  him  to  death,  till  the  morning  when  he 
was  to  suffer.  About  nine  A.  M.,  of  the  21st  of  March,  1556,  he 
was  taken  to  St.  Mary's  church.  Oxford,  to  listen  to  a  sermon  by 
Doctor  Cole,  preached  at  the  church  instead  of  at  the  place  of  exe- 
cution, on  account  of  its  being  a  very  rainy  day. 

A  Romanist  who  was  present,  and  who  expressed  the  opinion 
"  that  the  former  life  and  wretched  end  of  Cranmer  deserved  a 
greater  misery,  if  greater  had  been  possible,"  was  yet,  in  spite  of 
his  heart-hardening  opinions,  touched  with  compassion  at  beholding 
him  in  a  bare  and  ragged  gown,  and  ill-favoredly  clothed  with  an 
old  square  cap,  exposed  to  the  contempt  of  all  men.  "  I  think," 
said  he,  "  there  was  none  that  pitied  not  his  case,  and  bewailed  not 
his  fortune,  and  feared  not  his  own  chance,  to  see  so  noble  a  prelate, 
so  grave  a  counsellor,  of  so  long-continued  honor,  after  so  many 
dignities,  in  his  old  years  to  be  deprived  of  his  estate,  adjudged  to 
die,  and  in  so  painful  a  death  to  end  his  life."  When  he  had  as- 
cended the  stage,  he  knelt  and  prayed,  weeping  so  profusely,  that 
many,  even  of  the  papists,  were  moved  to  tears. 

While  Cole  was  preaching  the  sermon,  in  which  he  endeavored 
to  make  the  best  apology  possible  for  the  act  of  the  Queen  in  con- 
signing Cranmer  to  the  flames,  the  venerable  martyr  himself  seemed 
overwhelmed  with  the  weight  of  sorrow  and  penitence.  "  With 
what  great  grief  of  mind  he  stood  hearing  this  sermon,"  says  good 
John  Fox,  in  his  own  simple  and  beautiful  style,  "  the  outward 
shows  of  his  body  and  countenance  did  better  express,  than  any 
man  can  declare  :  one  while  lifting  up  his  hands  and  eyes  unto  hea- 
ven, and  then  again  for  shame  letting  them  down  to  the  earth.  A 
man  might  have  seen  the  very  image  and  shape  of  perfect  sorrow 
lively  in  him  expressed.  More  than  twenty  several  times  the  tears 
gushed  out  abundantly,  dropping  down  from  his  fatherly  face.  Those 
which  were  present  testify  that  they  never  saw,  in  any  child,  more 
tears  than  burst  out  from  him  at  that  time.  It  is  marvellous  what 
commiseration  and  pity  moved  all  men's  hearts  that  beheld  so 
heavy  a  countenance,  and  such  abundance  of  tears,  in  an  old  man 


558  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vm. 


His  courageous  and  unexpected  dying  testimony  to  the  truth.  Renounces  his  extorted  recantation 

of  so  reverend  dignity."  Withal  he  ever  retained  "  a  quiet  and 
grave  behavior."  In  this  hour  of  utter  humiliation  and  severe  re- 
pentance, he  possessed  his  soul  in  patience.  Never  had  his  mind 
been  more  clear  and  collected,  never  had  his  heart  been  so  strong. 
After  the  sermon,  Cole  exhorted  Cranmer  to  testify  before  the  peo- 
ple the  sincerity  of  his  conversion  and  repentance,  that  all  men 
might  understand  he  was  "  a  Catholic  indeed." 

§  12. — "I  will  do  it,"  replied  Cranmer,  "and  that  with  a  good 
will."  He  then  rose  from  his  knees,  and,  putting  off  his  cap,  said, 
"  Good  Christian  people,  my  dearly-beloved  brethren  and  sisters  in 
Christ,  I  beseech  you  most  heartily  to  pray  for  me  to  Almighty 
God,  that  he  will  forgive  me  my  sins  and  offences,  which  be  many 
without  number,  and  great  above  measure.  But  among  all  the 
rest,  there  is  one  which  grieveth  my  conscience  most  of  all,  whereof 
you  shall  hear  more  in  its  proper  place."  He  then  knelt  down,  and 
offered  up  a  touching  and  fervent  prayer,  speaking  of  himself  as 
"  a  most  wretched  caitiff  and  miserable  sinner."  Rising  from  his 
knees,  he  proceeded  to  address  the  assembled  multitude,  giving 
them  many  pious  and  godly  exhortations,  before  touching  upon  the 
point  which  all  were  anxiously  expecting  to  hear — whether  he  was 
about  to  die  in  the  Romish  or  the  protestant  faith. 

At  length  he  said  :  "  And  now,  forasmuch  as  I  am  come  to  the 
last  end  of  my  life,  whereupon  hangeth  all  my  life  past,  and  all  my 
life  to  come,  either  to  live  with  my  Master  Christ  for  ever  in  joy,  or 
else  to  be  in  pain  for  ever  with  wicked  devils  in  hell  (and  I  see  be- 
fore mine  eyes  presently  either  heaven  ready  to  receive  me,  or  else 
hell  ready  to  swallow  me  up) ;  I  shall  therefore  declare  unto  you 
my  very  faith,  how  I  believe,  without  any  color  of  dissimulation  ; 
for  now  is  no  time  to  dissemble,  whatsoever  I  have  said  or  written 
in  times  past."  He  then  repeated  the  Apostles'  creed,  and  declared 
his  belief  in  every  article  of  the  true  Catholic  faith,  every  word 
and  sentence  taught  by  our  Saviour,  his  Apostles,  and  prophets,  and 
in  the  New  and  Old  Testament.  "  And  now,"  he  continued,  "  I 
come  to  the  great  thing  which  iroubleth  my  conscience  more  than 
anything  that  ever  I  said  or  did  in  my  whole  life,  and  that  is,  the 
setting  abroad  of  writings  contrary  to  the  truth;  which  now  here 
I  renounce  and  refuse  as  things  written  with  my  hand,  contrary 
to  the  truth  which  I  thought  in  my  heart."  Hitherto,  with  con- 
summate skill,  the  martyr  had  avoided  a  single  word  which  could 
indicate  to  his  popish  persecutors  the  unexpected  blow  they  were 
about  to  receive.  Up  to  this  time,  probably,  the  multitude  of 
Romanists  had  expected  him  to  confirm  his  recantation,  and  sup- 
posed that  the  writings  to  which  he  had  just  referred  and  which  he 
now  renounced  were  those  which  he  had  published  in  opposition  to 
the  doctrines  of  Rome.  This  illusion  was  dissipated,  when,  in  the 
next  sentence,  he  spoke  of  those  writings  as — "  written  for  fear  of 
death,  and  to  save  my  life,  if  it  might  be :  and  that  is,  all  such  bills 
and  papers  as  I  have  written  or  signed  with  my  hand  since  my  de- 
gradation, wherein  I  have  written  many  things  untrue. 


miner's  Renunciation  of  his  Recantation  in  St.  Mary's  Church,  Oxford. 


Martvniom  of  Craumer.    "  Thai  hand  hath  sinned,  that  hand  shall  first  suffer1  " 


chap,  n.]  POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.  561 


Rage  of  the  papists  :it  Cranmer's  noble  confession.  His  unflinching  constancy  in  the  flames. 

"  And,"  proceeded  Cranmer,  "  forasmuch  as  my  hand  offended, 
writing  contrary  to  my  heart,  my  hand  shall  first  be  punished  there- 
fore ;  for  may  I  come  to  the  fire,  it  shall  be  first  burnt !"  He  had 
time  to  add,  "  As  for  the  Pope,  I  refuse  him  as  anti-Christ ;  and  as 
for  the  Sacrament,  I  believe  as  I  have  taught  in  my  book  against 
the  bishop  of  Winchester,  the  which  my  book  teacheth  so  true  a 
doctrine  of  the  Sacrament,  that  it  shall  stand  at  the  last  day  before 
the  judgment  of  God,  when  the  papistical  doctrine,  contrary  thereto, 
shall  be  ashamed  to  show  her  face." 

§  13. — At  this  unexpected  and  noble  confession,  Cole  and  the 
rest  of  the  popish  priests,  monks  and  laymen,  were  too  much  as- 
tonished to  interrupt  him,  or  he  would  not  have  been  suffered  to 
proceed  so  far.  At  length,  an  uproar  was  raised  which  prevented 
him  from  proceeding ;  Cole  foaming  with  rage,  cried  from  the  pul- 
pit— "  Stop  the  heretic's  mouth,  and  take  him  away,"  and  the  priests 
and  friars  rushed  upon  him,  and  tore  him  from  the  stage,  on  which 
he  was  standing.     (See  Engraving.) 

Cranmer  was  quickly  hurried  to  the  stake,  prepared  on  the  spot 
where  Latimer  and  Ridley  had  suffered  five  months  before.  The 
venerable  martyr  had  now  overcome  the  weakness  of  his  nature ; 
and,  after  a  short  prayer,  put  off  his  clothes  with  a  cheerful  coun- 
tenance and  willing  mind,  and  stood  upright  in  his  shirt,  which 
came  down  to  his  feet.  His  feet  were  bare  ;  his  head,  when  both 
his  caps  were  off,  appeared  perfectly  bald,  but  his  beard  was  long 
and  thick,  and  his  countenance  so  venerable,  that  it  moved  even 
his  enemies  to  compassion.  Two  Spanish  friars,  who  had  been 
chiefly  instrumental  in  obtaining  his  recantation,  continued  to  ex- 
hort him  ;  till,  perceiving  that  their  efforts  were  vain,  one  of  them 
said, '  Let  us  leave  him,  for  the  devil  is  with  him  !'  Ely,  who  was 
afterward  president  of  St.  John's,  still  continued  urging  him  to  re- 
pentance. Cranmer  replied,  he  repented  his  recantation  ;  and  in 
the  spirit  of  charity  offered  his  hand  to  Ely,  as  to  others,  when  he 
bade  him  farewell ;  but  the  obdurate  bigot  drew  back,  and  reproved 
those  who  had  accepted  such  a  farewell,  telling  them  it  was  not 
lawful  to  act  thus  with  one  who  had  relapsed  into  heresy.  Once 
more  he  called  upon  him  to  stand  to  his  recantation.  Cranmer 
stretched  forth  his  right  arm,  and  replied,  "  This  is  the  hand  that 

WROTE    IT,    AND     THEREFORE      IT     SHALL     SUFFER    PUNISHMENT    FIRST." 

True  to  this  purpose,  as  soon  as  the  flame  arose,  he  held  his  hand 
out  to  meet  it,  and  retained  it  there  steadfastly,  so  that  all  the  peo- 
ple saw  it  sensibly  burning  before  the  fire  reached  any  other  part 
of  his  body ;  and  often  he  repeated  with  a  loud  and  firm  voice, 
"  This  hand  hath  offended  !  this  unworthy  right  hand."  (See 
Engraving.) 

Never  did  martyr  endure  the  fire  with  more  invincible  resolu- 
tion ;  no  cry  was  heard  from  him,  save  the  exclamation  of  the 
protomartyr  Stephen,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit  !"  He  stood 
immoveable  as  the  stake  to  which  he  was  bound,  his  countenance 
raised,  looking  to  heaven,  and  anticipating  that  rest  into  which  he 


5G2  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vni. 

"  First  perisli  this  unworthy  hand."  Cranmer' s  martyrdom,  injurious  to  the  cause  of  Rome. 

was  about  to  enter  ;  and  thus,  "  in  the  greatness  of  the  flame,"  he 
yielded  up  his  spirit.  The  fire  did  its  work  soon,  .  .  .  and  his  heart 
was  found  unconsumed  amid  the  ashes. 

The  pile  is  lit — the  flames  ascend  ; 

Yet  peace  is  in  the  martyr's  face  ; 
And  unseen  visitants  attend 

That  chief  of  England's  priestly  race  ; 
Mightier  in  peril's  darkest  hour, 
Than  when  enthroned  in  rank  and  power 

Steadfast  he  stood  in  that  fierce  flame, 

As  standing  in  his  own  high  hall : 
He  said,  as  sadness  o'er  him  came, 

Remembrance  of  his  mournful  fall — 
Stretching  it  to  the  burning  brand — 
"  First  perish  this  unworthy  hand  !" 

Thy  foul  and  cruel  deed,  O  Rome  ! 

Was  vain  ;  that  blazing  funeral  pyre 
Where  Cranmer  died,  did  soon  become 

To  England  as  a  beacon  fire ; 
And  he  hath  left  a  glorious  name, 
Victorious  over  Rome  and  flame. 

"Of  all  the  martyrdoms  during  this  great  persecution,"  says 
Dr.  Southey,  "this  was  in  all  its  circumstances  the  most  injurious  to 
the  Romish  cause.  It  was  a  manifestation  of  inveterate  and  deadly 
malice  toward  one  who  had  borne  his  elevation  with  almost  unex- 
ampled meekness.  It  effectually  disproved  the  argument  on  which 
the  Romanists  rested,  that  the  constancy  of  our  martyrs  proceeded 
not  from  confidence  in  their  faith,  and  the  strength  which  they  de- 
rived therefrom ;  but  from  vainglory,  the  pride  of  consistency,  and 
the  shame  of  retracting  what  they  had  so  long  professed.  Such 
deceitful  reasoning  could  have  no  place  here:  Cranmer  had  re- 
tracted ;  and  the  sincerity  of  his  contrition  for  that  sin  was  too 
plain  to  be  denied,  too  public  to  be  concealed,  too  memorable  ever 
to  be  forgotten.  The  agony  of  his  repentance  had  been  seen  by 
thousands ;  and  tens  of  thousands  had  witnessed  how,  when  that 
agony  was  past,  he  stood  calm  and  immoveable  amid  the  flames  : 
a  patient  and  willing  holocaust ;  triumphant,  not  over  his  persecu- 
tors alone,  but  over  himself,  over  the  mind  as  well  as  the  body, 
over  fear  and  weakness,  as  well  as  death."'* 

§  14. — For  upwards  of  two  years  and  a  half  from  the  martyr- 
dom of  Cranmer,  a  mysterious  providence  permitted  the  papists  of 
England  to  glut  their  bigot  rage  in  the  slaughter  of  the  lambs  and 
the°shcep  of  Christ's  fold  who  refused  to  subscribe  to  the  doctrines 
of  Rome.     At  length   the  time  of  deliverance  approached.     The 

last  of  these   M ly  sacrifices  to  the  popish  Moloch  was  made  on 

the  10th  of  November,  only  one  week  previous  to  the  death  of 
queen  Mary,  in  the  burning  alive  of  three  men  and  two  women  at 

*  Southey's  Book  of  the  Church,  chap.  xiv. 


chap,  ii.]       POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.        563 


The  last  burning  in  ihe  reign  of  bloody  Mary.  Joy  of  the  people  at  her  death.    Elizabeth  and  the  Pope. 

Canterbury,  for  denying  transubstantiation  and  the  worship  of 
images.  The  names  of  this  last  company  of  victims  who  brought 
up  "  the  noble  army  of  martyrs  "  of  the  Marian  persecution,  were 
John  Corneford,  John  Hurst,  Christopher  Brown,  Alice  Snoth,  and 
Catharine  Tinley.  The  last  was  an  aged  and  helpless  woman, 
whose  years  and  debility,  one  would  have  thought,  might  awaken 
pity  even  in  the  breast  of  a  savage.  But  popish  bigotry  knows  no 
pity  ;  and  the  feeble  and  withered  body  of  the  aged  saint  was  con- 
sumed to  ashes  in  the  torturing  flames. 

From  the  burning  pile  of  this  last  company  of  martyrs,  the 
prayer  arose  from  the  lips  of  the  sufferers  that  their  blood  might  be 
the. last  that  should  be  thus  shed,  in  England,  for  the  truth  ;  and  God 
heard  that  prayer.  One  week  after,  on  the  17th  of  November,  the 
merciless  bigot-queen  was  called  before  a  higher  tribunal  to  give  an 
account  of  the  innocent  blood  that  she  had  poured  out  like  water 
during  her  brief  but  terrible  reign.  Mary  died  in  the  morning. 
Before  night  the  bells  of  all  the  churches  in  London  were  rung  for 
the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  and  amidst  the  lamentations  of  popish 
bigots  that  some  of  their  victims  had  escaped,  a  shout  of  rapture 
went  up  from  the  hearts  of  the  people  that  the  work  of  blood  was 
done;  and  bonfires  and  illuminations  testified  the  general  joy  that 
the  reign  of  terror  and  of  Rome  was  over. 

§  15. — Great  was  the  sorrow  and  disappointment  of  that  bloody 
persecutor  and  promoter  of  the  Inquisition,  pope  Paul  IV.,  at  hear- 
ing of  the  death  of  his  "  faithful  daughter,"  Mary,  and  the  accession 
of  her  protestant  sister  Elizabeth  to  the  throne  of  England.  In 
answer  to  the  ambassador  sent  to  the  court  of  Rome,  in  common 
with  the  other  European  courts,  the  Pope  replied  in  a  haughty 
style,  "  That  England  was  held  in  fee  of  the  apostolic  See.  .  . 
that  it  ivas  great  boldness  in  her  to  assume  the  crown  without  his 
consent ;  for  which,  in  reason,  she  deserved  no  favor  at  his  hands ; 
yet,  if  she  would  renounce  her  pretensions,  and  refer  herself  wholly 
to  him,  he  would  show  a  fatherly  affection  towards  her,  and  do  every- 
thing for  her  that  he  could  consistently  with  the  dignity  of  the 
apostolic  See  !"* 

Elizabeth  treated  these  kind  proposals  of  his  Holiness  with  just 
the  attention  they  merited,  and  a  few  years  afterward  was  excom- 
municated and  deposed  by  pope  Pius  V.,  and  her  subjects  absolved 
from  their  allegiance  and  forbidden  to  obey  her,  under  penalty  of 
the  same  anathema !  !  This  important  instrument  of  papal  ven- 
geance renews  all  the  obsolete  pretensions  of  Hildebrand  and  Boni- 
face, and  is  especially  valuable  as  an  exhibition  of  the  feelings  of  ap- 
probation and  regard  on  the  part  of  the  anti-Christian  popes  of  Rome 
toward  that  bloody  persecutor  of  God's  saints,  queen  Mary ;  and 
their  bitter  hatred  toward  her  sister  Elizabeth,  who  had  put  an  end 
to  those  scenes  of  horror  and  of  blood. 

The  original  bull,  in  Latin,  may  be  found  in  the  collection  of 

*  Burnet's  Hist,  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  ii.,  p.  580. 


564  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vim. 


Copy  of  the  bull  of  pope  Pius,  excommunicating  and  deposing  queen  Elizabeth. 


records  at  the  end  of  Burnet's  History  of  the  Reformation.  The 
following  is  a  translation  of  the  most  important  part : 

Excommunication  and  deposition  of  queen  Elizabeth  of  England. 

"  PlUSj  &C.,  FOR  A   FUTURE  MEMORIAL  OF  THE  MATTER.       He  that  reign- 

eth  on  high,  to  whom  is  given  all  power  in  Heaven  and  on  Earth, 
committed  one  Holy,  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church,  out  of  which 
there  is  no  salvation,  to  one  alone  upon  earth,  to  Peter  the  Prince  of 
the  Apostles,  and  to  Peter's  successor  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  to  be 
governed  in  fullness  of  power.  Him  alone  he  made  prince  over 
all  people,  and  all  kingdoms,  to  pluck  up,  destroy,  scatter,  con- 
sume, plant  and  build,  &c.  .  .  .  But  the  number  of  the  ungodly 
hath  gotten  such  power,  that  there  is  now  no  place  left  in  the  whole 
world,  which  they  have  not  essayed  to  corrupt  with  their  most 
wicked  doctrines.  Amongst  others,  Elizabeth,  the  pretended  Queen 
of  England,  a  slave  of  wickedness,  lending  thereunto  her  helping- 
hand,  with  whom,  as  in  a  sanctuary,  the  most  pernicious  of  all  men 
have  found  a  refuge ;  this  very  woman  having  seized  on  the  king- 
dom, and  monstrously  usurping  the  place  of  the  Supreme  Head  of 
the  church  in  all  England,  and  the  chief  authority  and  jurisdiction 
thereof,  hath  again  brought  back  the  same  kingdom  into  miserable 
destruction,  which  was  then  newly  reduced  to  the  faith,  and  to  good 
order.     For  having  by  strong  hand,  inhibited  the  exercise  of  the 

TRUE  RELIGION,  WHICH  MaRY  THE  LAWFUL  QuEEN,  OF  FAMOUS  MEMORY, 

had,  by  the  help  of  this  See,  restored,  after  it  had  been  formerly 
overthrown  by  King  Henry  VIII.,  a  revolter  therefrom,  and  follow- 
ing and  embracing  the  errors  of  heretics,  she  hath  removed  the 
royal  council,  consisting  of  the  English  nobility,  and  filled  it  with 
obscure  men,  being  heretics  ;  hath  oppressed  the  embracers  of  the 
Roman  faith,  hath  placed  impious  preachers,  ministers  of  iniquity, 
and  abolished  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  prayers,  fastings,  distinction 
of  meats,  a  single  life,  and  the  rites  and  ceremonies  ;  hath  com- 
manded books  to  be  read  in  the  whole  realm,  containing  manifest 
heresy,  &c.  .  .  .  She  hath  not  only  contemned  the  godly  re- 
quests and  admonitions  of  princes,  concerning  her  healing,  and  con- 
version, but  also  hath  not  so  much  as  permitted  the  Nuncios  of  this 
See  to  cross  the  seas  into  England,  &c.  .  .  .  We  do,  there- 
fore,  out  of  the  fulness  of  our  Apostolic  power,  declare  the  afore- 
said Elizabeth,  being  a  heretic,  and  a  favorer  of  heretics,  and  her 
adherence  in  the  matter  aforesaid,  to  have  incurred  the  sentence  of 
anathema,  and  to  be  cut  off  from  the  unity  of  the  body  of  Christ. 
And,  moreover,  we  do  declare  her  to  be  deprived  of  her  pretended 
title  to  the  kingdom  aforesaid,  and  of  all  dominion,  dignity,  and 
privilege  whatsoever:  and  also  the  nobility,  subjects,  and  people  of 
the  said  kingdom,  and  all  others  which  have  in  any  sort  sworn  unto 
her,  to  be  for  ever  absolved  from  any  such  oath,  and  all  manner  of 
duty,  of  dominion,  allegiance,  and  obedience  ;  as  we  also  do,  by  the 
authority  of  these  presents,  absolve  them,  and  do  deprive  the  b  i  «e 
Elizabeth  of  her  pretended  title  to  the  kingdom,  and  all  other 
things  aforesaid.     And  w7e  do  command  and  interdict  all  and  every 


chai\  in.]       POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.      567 


Original  of  the  bull  excommunicating  Elizabeth — note  The  Holy  Inquisition 

one  of  the  noblemen,  subjects,  people,  and  others  aforesaid,  that  they 
presume  not  to  obey  her,  or  her  admonitions,  mandates,  and  laws ; 
and  those  who  shall  do  the  contrary,  we  do  innodate  with  the  like 
sentence  of  ANATHEMA.* 

"  Given  at  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  in  the  year  1569,  and  the  5th  of 
our  pontificate" 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE     INQ.UI8ITI0N. SEIZURE     OF    THE    VICTIMS. MODES     OF     TORTURE, 

AND    CELEBRATION    OF    THE    AUTO    DA    FE. 

§16  . — Of  all  the  inventions  of  popish  cruelty  the  Holy  Inquisi- 
tion is  the  masterpiece.  We  have  already  referred  to  its  establish- 
ment by  Saint  Dominic,  in  the  thirteenth  century.  For  the  history 
of  this  destructive  engine  of  papal  cruelty,  we  must  refer  to  any, 
or  all  of  the  authentic  works  of  Llorente,  Puigblanch,  Limborch, 
Stockdale,  Geddes,  Dellon,  and  other  historians  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion. All  that  we  shall  undertake  will  be  a  brief  description  of 
the  treatment,  tortures,  and  burnings  of  the  unfortunate  beings 
who  writhed  under  its  iron  rod  of  oppression.  The  adjoining 
engraving  represents  an  exterior  view  of  one  of  the  gloomy 
prisons  of  the  Inquisition  in  that  country,  which,  more  than  any 
other,  has  been  oppressed  and  crushed  by  this  horrid  tribunal,  un- 
happy Spain.  It  is  copied  from  a  drawing  taken  on  the  spot  by 
David  Roberts,  Esq.  (See  Engraving.) 

It  was  impossible  for  even  Satan  himself 'to  conceive  a  more 
horrible   contrivance  of  torture  and  blood,  than  this  so  called  Holy 

*  The  following  is  the  original  of  the  closing  extract  of  this  bull,  deposing  Eli- 
zabeth from  her  throne.  We  should  hardly  have  believed  that  the  mad  pretensions 
of  Hildebrand  were  thus  revived  by  the  Pope  near  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  centurv. 
and  half  a  century  subsequent  to  the  glorious  reformation,  were  not  the  original 
documents  at  hand,  and  the  fact  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt : — "  Declaramus 
de  Apostolicse  potestatis  plenitudine,  praedictam  Elizabetham  Hsreticam,  et  Haere- 
tdcorum  faulricem,  eique  adherentes  in  praedictis,  anathematis  sententiam  incurrisse, 
esseque  a  Christi  Corporis  imitate  praecisos :  Quin  etiam  ipsam  prastenso  Regni 
praedicti  jure,  necnon  omni  et  quorumque  Dominio,  dignitate,  privilegioque  priva- 
tam ;  Et  item  proceres,  subditos  et  populos  dicti  Regni,  ac  ceeteros  omnes,  qui  illi 
quomodocunque  juraverunt  a  Juramento  hujusmodi,  acomni  prorsus  dominii,  nde- 
litatis,  et  obsequii  debito,  perpetuo  absolutos,  prout  nos  illos  prasentium  authori- 
tate  absolvimus,  et  privamus  eandem  Elizabetham  prastenso  jure  Regni,  aliiisque 
omnibus  supradictis.  Pra^cipimusque  et  interdicimus  Universis  et  singulis  Proce- 
ribus,  Subditis,  Populis  et  aliis  pradictis ;  ne  illi,  ejusve  monitis,  mandatis,  et  legi- 
bus  audeant  obedire  :  Qui  secus  egerint,  eos  simili  Anathematis  sententia  innoda- 
mus." — Burnet's  Reformation,  vol.  iv.,  p.  99. 


568  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vm. 

Pollock's  poetical  description  of  the  Inquisition.  Mode  of  apprehending  the  victims. 

Inquisition.      There  it  was   (in  the  words   of  Pollock),   that    the 
Babylonish  harlot  of  the  Apocalypse, 

*     *     *     *     *     <<  VVith  horrid  relish  drank  the  blood 
Of  God's  peculiar  children — and  was  drunk ; 
And  in  her  drunkenness  dreamed  of  doing  good. 
The  supplicating  hand  of  innocence, 
That  made  the  tiger  mild,  and  in  his  wrath 
The  lion  pause — the  groans  of  suffering  most 
Severe  were  naught  to  her :  she  laughed  at  groans ; 
No  music  pleased  her  more ;  and  no  repast 
So  sweet  to  her  as  blood  of  men  redeemed 
By  blood  of  Christ.     Ambition's  self,  though  mad 
And  nursed  on  human  gore,  with  her  compared 
Was  merciful.     Nor  did  she  always  rage  ; 
She  had  some  hours  of  meditation,  set 
Apart,  wherein  she  to  her  study  went ; 
The  Inquisition  model  most  complete 
Of  perfect  wickedness, where  deeds  were  done, 
Deeds  !  let  them  ne'er  be  named, — and  sat  and  planned 
Deliberately,  and  with  most  musing  pains, 
How,  to  extremest  thrill  of  agony, 
The  flesh,  and  blood,  and  souls  of  holy  men, 
Her  victims  might  be  wrought ;  and  when  she  saw 
New  tortures  of  her  laboring  fancy  born, 
She  leaped  for  joy,  and  made  great  haste  to  try 
Their  force, — well  pleased  to  hear  a  deeper  groan." 

§  17. — The  victims  of  the  Inquisition  were  generally  apprehended 
by  the  officers  of  the  tribunal  called  familiars,  who  were  dispersed  in 
large  numbers  over  Spain,  and  other  lands  where  the  "Holy  office7 
was  established.  In  the  dead  of  the  night,  perhaps,  a  carriage 
drives  up,  and  a  knock  is  heard  at  the  door.  An  inquiry  is  made 
from  the  window,  by  some  member  of  the  family  rising  from  his 
bed  ;  '  who  is  there'?'  The  reply  is  the  terrible  words,  '  The  Holy 
Inquisition.'  Perhaps  the  inquirer  has  an  only  child,  a  beloved  and 
cherished  daughter  ;  and  almost  frozen  with  terror,  he  hears  trie 
words.  '  Deliver  up  your  daughter  to  the  Holy  Inquisition' — or  it 
may  be — Deliver  up  your  wife,  your  father,  your  brother,  your 
son".  No  matter  who  is  demanded,  not  a  question  must  be  asked. 
Not  a  murmur  must  escape  his  lips,  on  pain  of  a  like  terrible  fate 
with  the  destined  victim.  The  trembling  prisoner  is  led  out,  per- 
haps totally  ignorant  of  his  crime  or  accuser,  and  immured  within 
those  horrid  walls,  through  which  no  sigh  of  agony  or  shriek  of  an- 
guish can  reach  the  ear  of  tender  and  sympathizing  friends. 

The  next  day  the  family  go  in  mourning  ;  they  bewail  the  lost 
one  as  dead  ;  consigned  not  to  a  peaceful  sepulchre,  but  to  a  living 
tomb  ;  and  strive  to  conceal  even  the  tears  which  natural  affection 
prompts,  lest  the  next  terrible  summons  should  be  for  them.  In  the 
gloomy  cell  to  which  the  victim  is  consigned,  the  most  awful  and 
mysterious  silence  must  be  preserved.  Lest  any  of  its  internal 
secrets  might  be  disclosed,  no  sounds  were  permitted  to  be  heard 
throughout  the  dismal   apartments  of  the   Inquisition.     The  poor 


chap,    hi.]      POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.      5G9 

A  poor  heretic  whipped  to  death  for  coughing  in  the  Inquisition.  Torture  of  pulley  and  ropes. 

prisoner  was  not  allowed  to  bewail  his  fate,  or,  in  an  audible  voice, 
to  offer  up  his  prayers  to  Him  who  is  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed ; 
nay,  even  to  cough  was  to  be  guilty  of  a  crime,  which  was  imme- 
diately punished.  Limborch  tells  us  of  a  poor  afflicted  victim  who 
was,  on  one  occasion,  heard  to  cough  ;  the  jailors  of  the  Inquisition 
instantly  repaired  to  his  cell  and  warned  him  to  forbear,  as  the 
slightest  noise  was  not  tolerated  in  that  house.  The  prisoner  replied 
that  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  forbear  ;  a  second  time  they  admo- 
nished him  to  desist ;  and  when  again,  the  poor  man,  unable  to  re- 
frain from  coughing,  had  repeated  the  offence,  they  stripped  him 
naked,  and  cruelly  beat  him.  This  increased  his  cough,  for  which 
they  beat  him  so  often,  that  at  last  he  died  through  the  pain  and  an- 
guish of  the  stripes  which  he  had  received. 

1  §  18. — The  commonest  modes  of  torture  to  force  the  victims  to 
confess  or  to  accuse  themselves,  were,  dislocation,  by  means  of  pul- 
ley, rope  and  weights  ;  roasting  the  soles  of  the  feet :  and  suffoca- 
tion by  water,  with  the  torment  of  tightened  ropes.  These  tor- 
tures were  inflicted  in  a  sad  and  gloomy  apartment  called  the  "  Hall 
of  Torture,"  generally  situated  far  underground  in  order  that  the 
shrieks  of  anguish  generally  forced  from  the  miserable  sufferers, 
might  not  interrupt  the  death-like  silence  that  reigned  through  the 
rest  of  the  building. 

(1.)  Dislocation  by  the  pulley,  ropes,  and  weights.  In  this  kind  of 
torture,  according  to  Puigblanch,*  a  pulley  was  fixed  to  the  roof  of 
the  Hall,  and  a  strong  cord  passed  through  it.  The  culprit,  whether 
male  or  female,  was  then  seized  and  stripped,  his  arms  forced  be- 
hind his  back,  a  cord  fastened  first  above  his  elbows,  then  above  his 
wrists,  shackles  put  on  his  feet,  and  weights,  generally  of  one  hun- 
dred pounds,  attached  to  his  ancles.  The  poor  victim,  entirely 
naked,  with  the  exception  of  a  cloth  around  the  loins,  was  then 
raised  by  the  cord  and  pulley,  and  in  this  position  was  coolly  admo- 
nished by  the  cruel  inquisitors  to  reveal  all  he  knew.  If  his  replies 
were  unsatisfactory,  sometimes  stripes  would  be  inflicted  upon  his, 
or  her  naked  body,  while  in  this  dreadfully  painful  situation — the 
arms  bent  behind  and  upwards,  and  the  weight  of  the  body,  with 
the  heavy  irons  attached,  wrenching  the  very  bones  from  their 
sockets.  If  the  confessions  were  still  unsatisfactory,  the  rope  was 
suddenly  loosened  and  the  victim  let  fall  to  within  a  foot  or  two  of 
the  ground  ;  thus  most  fearfully  dislocating  the  arms  and  shoulders, 
and  causing  the  most  indescribable  agony.  This  dreadful  process 
was  sometimes  repeated  again  and  again,  till  (oh  horrible  !)  the 
poor  mangled  victim,  with  his  dislocated  bones,  dangling  on  the 
ropes,  as  it  were  by  his  loose  flesh,  fainting  from  excessive  pain, 
was  hurried  to  his  miserable  dungeon,  and  thrown  upon  the  cold 
damp  ground,  where  the  surgeon  was  permitted  to  attend  him,  to  set 

*  See  "  Inquisition  Unmasked,  a  historical  and  philosophical  account  of  that  tre- 
mendous tribunal,  by  D.  Antonio  Puigblanch."  Translated  from  the  Spanish.  2 
vols. ;  London,  1816. 


570  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  viii. 


Torture  of  rousting  the  soles  of  the  feet,  the  tightened  ropes,  &c.  Horrid  torture  of  a  young  lady. 

his  dislocated  bones  and  patch  up  his  poor  tortured  frame,  only  to 
prepare  him  for  a  renewal  of  these  horrors,  unless  in  the  interval 
he  should  choose  to  avoid  them  either  by  renouncing  his  faith,  or  by 
accusing  himself  of  what  he  might  be  entirely  innocent. 

(2.)  Roasting  the  soles  of  the  feet. — In  this  torture  the  prisoner, 
whether  male  or  female,  stripped  as  before,  was  placed  in  the  stocks  ; 
the  soles  of  the  feet  were  well  greased  with  lard,  and  a  blazing  fire 
of  coals  in  a  chafing  dish  placed  close  to  them,  by  the  heat  of  which 
the  soles  of  the  sufferer's  feet  became  perfectly  roasted.  When  the 
violence  of  the  anguish  forced  the  poor  tortured  victim  to  shriek 
with  agony,  an  attendant  was  commanded  to  interpose  a  board  be- 
tween the  victim's  feet  and  the  fire,  and  he  was  commanded  to  con- 
fess or  to  recant ;  but  if  he  refused  to  obey  the  command  of  the 
inquisitor,  the  board  was  again  removed  and  the  cruel  torture  re- 
peated till  the  soles  of  the  sufferer's  feet  were  actually  burnt  away 
to  the  bone,  and  the  poor  victim,  if  he  ever  escaped  from  these  hor- 
rid dungeons  of  torture  and  misery,  was  perhaps  made  a  cripple  for 
life.  The  two  forms  of  torture  above  described  are  represented  in 
the  adjoining  illustration.     (See  Engraving.) 

(3.)  The  torture  of  tightened  ropes  and  suffocation  by  water  was 
performed  in  the  following  manner.  The  victim,  frequently  a  female, 
was  tied  to  a  wooden  horse,  or  hollow  bench,  so  tightly  by  cords 
that  they  sometimes  cut  through  the  flesh  of  the  arms,  thighs  and 
legs  to  the  very  bone.  In  this  situation,  she  was  obliged  to  swallow 
seven  pints  of  water  slowly  dropped  into  her  mouth  on  a  piece  of 
silk  or  linen,  which  wras  thus  sometimes  forced  down  her  throat, 
and  produced  all  the  horrid  sensations  of  drowning.  Thus  se- 
cured, vain  are  all  her  fearful  struggles  to  escape  from  the  cords  that 
bind  her — every  motion  only  forces  the  cords  further  and  further 
through  the  quivering  and  bleeding  flesh. 

Heretics  who  were  supposed  incapable  of  surviving  the  inflic- 
tion of  the  horrid  tortures  above  described,  were  subjected  to  other 
contrivances  for  inflicting  pain,  with  less  danger  of  life.  Among 
these  lesser  tortures  was  one  called  the  torture  of  the  canes.  A 
hard  piece  of  cane  was  inserted  between  each  of  the  fingers,  which 
were  then  bound  together  with  a  cord,  and  subjected  to  the  action 
of  a  screw.  Another  of  these  was  the  torture  of  the  die.  in  which 
the  prisoner  was  extended  on  the  ground,  and  two  pieces  of  iron, 
shaped  like  a  die,  but  concave  on  one  side,  were  placed  on  the  heel 
of  his  right  foot,  then  bound  on  fast  with  a  rope  which  was  pulled 
tight  with  a  screw.  Both  of  these  kinds  of  torture  occasioned  the 
sufferer  the  most  intolerable  pain,  but  with  little  or  no  danger  of 
life. 

§  19. — Not  unfrequently  death  ensued  from  the  severe  tortures 
of  the  holy  office.  "  A  young  lady,  who  was  incarcerated  in  the 
dungeon  of  the  Inquisition  at  the  same  time  with  the  celebrated 
Donna  Jane  Bohorques,  will  supply  an  instance  of  this  kind.  This 
victim  of  inquisitorial  brutality  endured  the  torture  till  all  the  mem- 
bers of  her  body  were  rent  asunder  by  the   infernal   machinery  of 


Tortures  of  the  InquiBition-^-Pulley,  and  Roasting  the  Feet. 


Lady  after  Torture,  brought  before  the  Tribunal  of  the  Holy  Office. 


cuap.  in]      POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.        573 

A  young  lady  tortured  to  death.  Reflections  on  such  an  act  of  Inquisitorial  cruelty 

the  holy  office.  An  interval  of  some  days  succeeded,  till  she  began, 
notwithstanding  such  inhumanity,  to  recover.  She  was  then  taken 
back  to  the  infliction  of  similar  barbarity.  Small  cords  were  twisted 
round  her  naked  arms,  legs  and  thighs,  till  they  cut  through  the 
flesh  to  the  bone  ;  and  blood,  in  copious  torrents,  streamed  from  the 
lacerated  veins.  Eight  days  after,  she  died  of  her  wounds,  and  was 
translated  from  the  dungeons  of  the  Inquisition  to  the  glory  of  hea- 
ven.*'* 

Ah,  who  can  conceive  the  tale  of  unutterable  anguish  that  is  in- 
cluded in  a  single  instance  of  inquisitorial  malignity  and  cruelty — 
such,  perhaps,  as  that  just  related  !  A  lady — a  young  lady — per- 
haps the  only  daughter  of  doating  parents,  as  dear  to  them,  reader, 
as  your  daughter  to  you,  or  mine  to  me — brought  up,  perhaps,  in 
the  lap  of  luxury  and  refinement — living  amid  the  smiles  and  ca- 
resses of  doating  friends,  and  dreaming  of  no  danger  nigh.  In  an 
unguarded  moment  a  sentence  has  escaped  her,  disrespectful  to  the 
idolatry  of  Rome.  Perhaps  she  has  dared  to  say,  she  trusts  for 
salvation,  not  in  Mary  and  the  saints,  but  in  Christ  alone.  That 
sentence  has  been  heard  by  a  spy  of  the  Holy  office.  She  retires 
to  sleep  at  night ;  at  the  midnight  hour  the  carriage  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion stops  before  the  door,  and  the  lovely,  the  tender,  the  delicate 
female,  upon  whom  the  wind  has  never  before  been  suffered  to  blow 
roughly,  is  dragged  away  to  the  damp  and  gloomy  cell  of  the  hor- 
rible Inquisition. 

Look  at  her,  as  she  kneels  prostrate  in  her  gloomy  dungeon, 
and  implores  succor  from  on  high !  See  that  tear  of  natural  an- 
guish that  trickles  down  her  cheeks,  as  she  thinks  of  the  agony  of  a 
doating  father,  of  a  tender  mother,  perhaps  of  a  frantic  betrothed 
one,  who  yet  dare  not  give  utterance  to  their  anguish  for  fear  of  a 
similar  fate.  She  is  summoned  before  the  tribunal  of  the  men  of 
blood.  She  is  darkly  told  of  suspicions,  of  informations,  but  she 
knows  neither  their  author  nor  their  subject.  She  is  commanded  to 
confess,  without  knowing  her  accusation,  and  is  silent.  The  rough 
and  hardened  popish  executioners  are  summoned,  and  her  maiden 
modesty  is  outraged  by  her  clothes  being  rudely  torn  from  her  per- 
son by  cruel  and  bloody  men.  The  command  is  given,  the  horrid 
torture  is  applied.  The  piercing  cords  are  bound  around  her  tender 
limbs,  till  they  cut  through  the  quivering  flesh,  and,  fainting,  she  is 
borne  back  to  her  gloomy  dungeon.  No  father's  hand  is  there  in 
that  gloomy  dungeon  to  wipe  away  those  tears,  no  mother's  hand  to 
stanch  and  to  bind  up  those  bleeding  wounds.  She  flies  to  the  throne 
of  grace  for  help  (where  else  can  she?)  and  she  feels  that  Jesus  is 
with  her.  In  a  few  days,  she  is  carried,  all  pale,  enfeebled  and  ema- 
ciated, before  her  iron-hearted  judges.     (See  Engraving.) 

She  is  again  examined,  and  the  horrible  process  of  outrage 
and  torture  is  repeated.  She  is  carried  back  to  her  dungeon,  to 
breathe  her  sighs  to  the  cold  stone  walls,  to  linger  alone,  and  suffer- 

*  Moreri,  6,  7.     Limborch,  323.     Edgar,  230. 
34 


574  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vra. 

The  Auto  dn  fe.  Description  of  the  dresses  of  the  victims.  The  San  benito — Coroza,  &c. 

in^  for  a  few  days,  and  then  her  ransomed  spirit  quits  the  tortured 
body,  and  wings  its  way  to  Heaven.  Her  mourning  friends  know 
not  of  her  death,  for  no  news  is  suffered  to  transpire  beyond  those 
gloomy  walls.  But  there  is  ONE  who  knows,  ONE  who  sees,  and 
in  his  book  are  recorded  all  the  groans  and  sighs  of  that  poor  suf- 
ferer, to  be  brought  forth  in  fearful  reckoning  against  her  murderers 
in  another  day. 

When  the  mind  has  formed  an  accurate  and  vivid  conception 
of  a  single  case  like  this,  then  let  it  be  remembered  that  it  is  but  one 
of  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  equally  barbarous  instances 
of  popish  persecution,  cruelty  and  torture  ;  and  that  for  ages,  in 
lands  that  groaned  under  the  iron  rod  of  Popery,  these  horrors 
were  of  daily  occurrence. 

O  merciful  and  compassionate  God  !  what  deeds  of  cruelty  and 
blood  have  been  perpetrated  upon  thy  suffering  children,  in  the 
name  of  HIM  whose  very  heart  is  tenderness,  and  whose  very 
name  is  LOVE ! 

§  20. — The  next  scene  in  this  melancholy  tragedy  is  the  auto  da 
fe.  This  horrid  and  tremendous  spectacle  is  always  represented 
on  the  Sabbath  day.  The  term  auto  da  fe  {act  of  faith)  is  applied 
to  the  great  burning  of  heretics,  when  large  numbers  of  these  tor- 
tured and  lacerated  beings  are  led  forth  from  their  gloomy  cells, 
and  marched  in  procession  to  the  place  of  burning,  dressed  accord- 
ing to  the  fate  that  awaits  them  on  that  terrible  day.  The  victims 
who  walk  in  the  procession  wear  the  san  benito,  the  coroza,  the 
rope  around  the  neck,  and  carry  in  their  hand  a  yellow  wax  candle. 
The  san  benito  is  a  penitential  garment  or  tunic  of  yellow  cloth 
reaching  down  to  the  knees,  and  on  it  is  painted  the  picture  of  the 
person  who  wears  it,  burning  in  the  flames,  with  figures  of  dragons 
and  devils  in  the  act  of  fanning  the  flames.  This  costume  indicates 
that  the  wearer  is  to  be  burnt  alive  as  an  incorrigible  heretic.  If 
the  person  is  only  to  do  penance,  then  the  san  benito  has  on  it  a 
cross,  and  no  paintings  or  flames.  If  an  impenitent  is  converted 
just  before  being  led  out,  then  the  san  benito  is  painted  with  the 
flames  downward  ;  this  is  called  "  fuego  repolto,"  and  it  indicates 
that  the  wearer  is  not  to  be  burnt  alive,  but  to  have  the  favor  of 
being  strangled  before  the  fire  is  applied  to  the  pile.  Formerly 
these  garments  were  hung  up  in  the  churches  as  eternal  monuments 
of  disgrace  to  their  wearers,  and  as  the  trophies  of  the  Inquisition. 
The  coroza  is  a  pasteboard  cap,  three  feet  high,  and  ending  in  a 
point.  On  it  are  likewise  painted  crosses,  flames,  and  devils.  In 
Spanish  America  it  was  customary  to  add  long  twisted  tails  to  the 
corozas.  Some  of  the  victims  have  gags  in  their  mouths,  of  which 
a  number  is  kept  in  reserve  in  case  the  victims,  as  they  march  along 
in  public,  should  become  outrageous,  insult  the  tribunal,  or  attempt 
to  reveal  any  secrets. 

The  prisoners  who  are  to  be  roasted  alive  have  a  Jesuit  on  each 
side  continually  preaching  to  them  to  abjure  their  heresies,  and  if 
any  one  attempts  to  offer  one  word  in  defence  of  the  doctrines  for 


chap,  in.]      POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.       575 


Gagging  of  heretics.  Outrageous  hypocrisy  of  the  Inquisition,  in  their  pretence  of  mercy 

which  he  is  going  to  suffer  death,  his  mouth  is  instantly  gagged. 
"  This  I  saw  done  to  a  prisoner,  says  Dr.  Geddes,  in  his  account 
of  the  Inquisition  in  Portugal,  "  presently  after  he  came  out  of  the 
gates  of  the  Inquisition,  upon  his  having  looked  up  to  the  sun, 
which  he  had  not  seen  before  in  several  years,  and  cried  out  in  a 
rapture,  •  How  is  it  possible  for  people  that  behold  that  glorious 
body  to  worship  any  being  but  Him  that  created  it.' " 

§  21. — When  the  procession  arrives  at  the  place  where  a  large 
scaffolding  has  been  erected  for  their  reception,  prayers  are  offered 
up,  strange  to  tell,  at  a  throne  of  merry,  and  a  sermon  is  preached, 
consisting  of  impious  praises  of  the  Inquisition,  and  bitter  invectives 
against  all  heretics  ;  after  which  a  priest  ascends  a  desk,  and  re- 
cites the  final  sentence.  This  is  done  in  the  following  words, 
wherein  the  reader  will  find  nothing  but  a  shocking  mixture  of 
blasphemy,  ferociousness,  and  hypocrisy. 

"  We,  the  inquisitors  of  heretical  pravity,  having,  with  the  con- 
currence of  the  most  illustrious  N ,  lord  archbishop  of  Lisbon, 

or  of  his  deputy,  N ,  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus 

Christ,  and  of  his  glorious  mother,  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  sitting  on 
our  tribunal,  and  judging  with  the  holy  gospels  lying  before  us,  so 
that  our  judgment  may  be  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  our  eyes  may 
behold  what  is  just  in  all  matters,  &c.  &c. 

"  We  do  therefore,  by  this  our  sentence  put  in  writing,  define, 
pronounce,  declare,  and  sentence  thee  (the  prisoner),  of  the  city  of 
Lisbon,  to  be  a  convicted,  confessing,  affirmative,  and  professed 
heretic  ;  and  to  be  delivered  and  left  by  us  as  such  to  the  secular 
arm  ;  and  we,  by  this  our  sentence,  do  cast  thee  out  of  the  eccle- 
siastical court  as  a  convicted,  confessing,  affirmative,  and  professed 
heretic ;  and  we  do  leave  and  deliver  thee  to  the  secular  arm,  and 
to  the  power  of  the  secular  court,  but  at  the  same  time  do  most 
earnestly  beseech  that  court  so  to  moderate  its  sentence  as  not  to 
touch  thy  blood,  nor  to  put  thy  life  in  any  sort  of  danger." 

Well  may  Dr.  Geddes  inquire,  in  reference  to  this  hypocritical 
mockery  of  God  and  man,  "  Is  there  in  all  history  an  instance  of  so 
gross  and  confident  a  mockery  of  God,  and  the  world,  as  this  of  the 
inquisitors  beseeching  the  civil  magistrate  not  to  put  the  heretics  they 
have  condemned  and  delivered  to  them,  to  death?  For  were  they 
in  earnest  when  they  made  this  solemn  petition  to  the  secular 
magistrates,  why  do  they  bring  their  prisoners  out  of  the  Inquisition, 
and  deliver  them  to  those  magistrates  in  coats  painted  over  with 
flames  ?  Why  do  they  teach  that  heretics,  above  all  other  male- 
factors, ought  to  be  punished  with  death  ?  And  why  do  they  never 
resent  the  secular  magistrates  having  so  little  regard  to  their  earnest 
and  joint  petition  as  never  to  fail  to  burn  all  the  heretics  that  are 
delivered  to  them  by  the  Inquisition,  within  an  hour  or  two  after 
they  have  them  in  their  hands  ?  And  why  in  Rome,  where  the  su- 
preme civil,  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  authority  are  lodged  in  the 


576  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  viii. 

Joy  of  papists  at  the  auto  da  fe.  Kings  and  queens  witnessing  and  aiding  in  the  bloody  scene. 

same  person,  is  this  petition  of  the  Inquisition,  which  is  made  there 
as  well  as  in  other  places,  never  granted  ?"* 

§  22. — If  the  prisoner,  on  being  asked,  says  that  he  will  die  in  the 
Catholic  faith,  he  has  the  privilege  of  being  strangled  first,  and  then 
burnt ;  but  if  in  the  Protestant  or  any  other  faith  different  from  the 
Catholic,  he  must  be  roasted  alive  ;  and,  at  parting  with  him,  his 
ghostly  comforters,  the  Jesuits,  tell  him,  "  that  they  leave  him  to  the 
devil,  who  is  standing  at  his  elbow  to  receive  his  soul  and  carry  it 
to  the  flames  of  hell,  as  soon  as  the  spirit  leaves  his  body."  When 
all  is  ready,  fire  is  applied  to  the  immense  pile,  and  the  suffering 
martyrs,  who  have  been  securely  fastened  to  their  stakes,  are  roasted 
alive  ;  the  living  flesh  of  the  lower  extremities  being  often  burnt  and 
crisped  by  the  action  of  the  flumes,  driven  hither  and  thither  by  the 
wind  before  the  vital  parts  are  touched  ;  and  while  the  poor  sufferers 
are  writhing  in  inconceivable  agony,  the  joy  of  the  vast  multitude, 
inflamed  by  popish  b'gotry  and  cruelty,  causes  the  air  to  resound 
with  shouts  of  exultation  and  delight.  Says  Dr.  Geddes,  in  a  de- 
scription of  one  of  these  auto  da  fes,  of  which  he  was  a  horrified 
spectator :  "  The  victims  were  chained  to  stakes,  at  the  height  of 
about  four  feet  from  the  ground.  A  quantity  of  furze  that  lay  round 
the  bottom  of  the  stakes  was  set  on  fire ;  by  a  current  of  wind  it 
was  in  some  cases  prevented  from  reaching  above  the  lowest  ex- 
tremities of  the  body.  Some  were  thus  kept  in  torture  for  an  hour 
or  two,  and  were  actually  roasted,  not  burnt  to  death.  "  This  spec- 
tacle," says  he,  "  is  beheld  by  people  of  both  sexes,  and  all  ages,  with 
such  transports  of  joy  and  satisfaction,  as  are  not  on  any  other  occa- 
sion to  be  met  with.  And  that  the  reader  may  not  think  that  this 
inhuman  joy  is  the  effect  of  a  natural  cruelty  that  is  in  this  people's 
disposition,  and  not  the  spirit  of  their  religion,  he  may  rest  assured, 
that  all  public  malefactors,  except  heretics,  have  their  violent  death 
nowhere  more  tenderly  lamented,  than  amongst  the  same  people, 
and  even  when  there  is  nothing  in  the  manner  of  their  death  that 
appears  inhuman  or  cruel. "f     (See  Engraving.) 

It  was  not  uncommon  for  the  popish  kings  and  queens  of  Spain 
to  witness  these  wholesale  burnings  of  heretics  from  a  magnificent 
stage  and  canopy  erected  for  the  purpose,  and  it  was  represented 
by  the  Jesuit  priests  as  an  act  highly  meritorious  in  the  king  to  sup- 
ply a  faggot  for  the  pile  upon  which  the  heretics  were  to  be  con- 
sumed. Among  other  instances  of  this  kind,  king  Charles  II.,  in  an 
auto  da  fe,  supplied  a  faggot,  the  sticks  of  which  were  gilded, 
adorned  by  flowers,  and  tied  up  with  ribands,  and  was  honored  by 
being  the  first  faggot  placed  upon  the  pile  of  burning.  In  1559,  king 
Philip,  the  popish  husband  of  bloody  queen  Mary  of  England,  was 
witnessing  one  of  these  cruel  scenes,  when  a  protestant  nobleman 
named  Don  Carlos  de  Seso,  while  he  was  being  conducted  to  the 

*  Geddes'  tracts  on  Popery.     View  of  the  court  of  Inquisition  in  Portugal, 
p.  446.     Limborch,  vol.  ii.,  p.  289. 
t  Cited  in  Limborch,  vol.  ii.,  p.  301. 


chap,  iv.]      POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.        579 

The  Waldenscs.        Their  increase,  in  spite  of  persecution.  Cruel  outrage  in  the  valley  of  Pragela. 


stake,  called  out  to  the  King  for  mercy  in  these  words  :  "  And  canst 
thou,  oh  king,  witness  the  torments  of  thy  subjects  ?  Save  us  from 
this  cruel  death  ;  we  do  not  deserve  it."  "  No,"  replied  the  iron- 
hearted  bigoted  monarch,  "  I  would  myself  carry  wood  to  burn  my 
own  son,  were  he  such  a  wretch  as  thou.''  Thus  is  it  that  popish 
bigotry  can  stifle  the  strongest  and  tenderest  instincts  of  our  nature, 
turn  human  beings  into  monsters,  and  inspire  joy  and  delight  at  wit- 
nessing the  writhing  agonies  and  hearing  the  piercing  shrieks  of 
even  tender  and  delicate  women,  as  their  living  bodies  are  being 
roasted  amidst  the  fires  of  the  auto  daft. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

INHUMAN    PERSECUTIONS    OF    THE    WALDENSES. 

§  23. — We  have  already  given  an  account  of  the  popish  crusade 
against  the  Waldenses  of  the  south  of  France,  and  the  horrible  cru- 
elties and  massacres  inflicted  on  them  by  the  bloody  Montfort  and 
the  Pope's  legate,  at  the  commencement  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
(Book  v.,  chap.  7,  8.)  Nothing  more  than  a  very  brief  sketch  can 
now  be  added  of  the  barbarities  of  a  similar  kind,  which  at  various 
intervals  were  endured  by  this  pious  and  interesting  people  during 
the  five  centuries  which  followed  from  the  commencement  of  the 
crusade  of  pope  Innocent. 

In  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  popes  and  their  bigoted  adherents 
to  extirpate  from  the  earth  these  pious  people,  they  continued  to 
increase  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  in  various  coun- 
tries of  Europe,  but  especially  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  where, 
shut  in  by  the  lofty  and  snow-capped  mountains  around  them,  they 
were  in  some  degree  sheltered  from  their  popish  persecutors. 

About  the  year  1400,  a  violent  outrage  was  committed  upon  the 
Waldenses  who  inhabited  the  valley  of  Pragela,  in  Piedmont,  by 
the  Catholic  party  resident  in  that  neighborhood.  The  attack, 
which  seems  to  have  been  of  the  most  furious  kind,  was  made 
toward  the  end  of  the  month  of  December,  when  the  mountains  are 
covered  with  snow,  and  thereby  rendered  so  difficult  of  access,  that 
the  peaceable  inhabitants  of  the'  valleys  were  wholly  unapprised  that 
any  such  attempt  was  meditated ;  and  the  persecutors  were  in  ac- 
tual possession  of  their  caves,  ere  the  former  seem  to  have  been 
apprised  of  any  hostile  designs  against  thern.  In  this  pitiable  plight 
they  had  recourse  to  the  only  alternative  which  remained  for  saving 
their  lives — they  fled  to  one  of  the  highest  mountains  of  the  Alps, 
with  their  wives  and  children,  the  unhappy  mothers  carrying  the 
cradle  in  one  hand,  and  in  the  other  leading  such  of  their  offspring 


580  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vm. 


Mothers  and  infants  perish  in  the  mountains.  Horrid  barbarities  of  the  archdeacon  of  Cremona. 

as  were  able  to  walk.  Their  inhuman  invaders,  whose  feet  were 
swift  to  shed  blood,  pursued  them  in  their  flight,  until  night  came 
on,  and  slew  great  numbers  of  them,  before  they  could  reach  the 
mountains.  Those  that  escaped,  were,  however,  reserved  to  expe- 
rience a  fate  not  more  enviable.  Overtaken  by  the  shades  of  night, 
they  wandered  up  and  down  the  mountains,  covered  with  snow,  des- 
titute of  the  means  of  shelter  from  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather, 
or  of  supporting  themselves  under  it  by  any  of  the  comforts  which 
Providence  has  destined  for  that  purpose  :  benumbed  with  cold, 
they  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  severity  of  the  climate,  and  when  the 
night  had  passed  away,  there  were  found  in  their  cradles,  or  lying 
upon  the  snow,  fourscore  of  their  infants,  deprived  of  life,  many  ot 
the  mothers  also  lying  dead  by  their  sides,  and  others  just  upon  the 
point  of  expiring. 

§  24. — Nearly  a  century  later,  in  consequence  of  the  ferocious  bull 
of  pope  Innocent  VIII.,  already  cited  (page  425),  a  most  barbarous 
persecution  was  carried  on  against  the  Waldenses  in  the  valleys  of 
Loyse  and  Frassiniere.  Albert  de  Capitaneis,  archdeacon  of  Cre- 
mona, was  appointed  legate  of  the  Pope  to  carry  his  bull  into  exe- 
cution, and  was  no  sooner  vested  with  his  commission,  than  calling 
to  his  aid  the  lieutenant  of  the  province  of  Daupbiny,  and  a  body  of 
troops,  they  marched  at  once  to  the  villages  inhabited  by  the  here- 
tics. The  inhabitants,  apprised  of  their  approach,  fled  into  thecals 
at  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  carrying  with  them  their  children,  and 
whatever  valuables  they  had,  as  well  as  what  was  thought  neces- 
sary for  their  support  and  nourishment.  The  lieutenant  finding  the 
inhabitants  all  fled,  and  that  not  an  individual  appeared  with  whom 
he  could  converse,  at  length  discovered  their  retreats,  and  causing 
quantities  of  wood  to  be  placed  at  their  entrances,  ordered  it  to  be 
set  on  fire.  The  consequence  was,  that  four  hundred  children  were 
suffocated  in  their  cradles,  or  in  the  arms  of  their  dead  mothers, 
while  multitudes,  to  avoid  dying  by  suffocation,  or  being  burnt  to 
death,  precipitated  themselves  headlong  from  their  caverns  upon  the 
rocks  below,  where  they  were  dashed  in  pieces  ;  or  if  any  escaped 
death  by  the  fall,  they  were  immediately  slaughtered  by  the  brutal 
soldiery.  "  It  is  held  as  unquestionably  true,"  says  Perrin,  "  amongst 
the  Waldenses  dwelling  in  the  adjacent  valleys,  "that  more  than  three 
thousand  persons,  men  and  women,  belonging  to  the  valley  of  Loyse, 
perished  on  this  occasion.  And,  indeed,  they  were  wholly  extermi- 
nated, for  that  valley  was  afterwards  peopled  with  new  inhabitants, 
not  one  family  of  the  Waldenses  having  subsequently  resided  in  it ; 
which  proves  beyond  dispute,  that  all  the  inhabitants,  and  of  both 
sexes,  died  at  that  time."* 

§  25. — In  the  year  1545,  a  large  tract  of  country  at  the  south  of 
France,  inhabited  chiefly  by  the  Waldenses,  was  overrun  and  most 
cruelly  desolated  by  the  popish  barbarians,  under  the  command  of  a 
violent  bigot,  named  baron  Oppede.     A  copious  account  of  this  per- 

*  Perrin's  History  of  the  Waldenses,  book  ii.,  chap.  3. 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.  581 


A  barn  full  of  women  burnt  to  death.  Dreadful  persecution  of  the  Waldenses  in  Calabria. 

secution  is  given  by  a  candid  Romish  contemporary  historian,  Thu- 
anus,  in  the  history  of  his  own  times.  As  a  specimen  of  the  cruel- 
ties perpetrated  upon  the  heretics  at  this  time,  we  can  only  extract 
the  description  of  the  taking  of  a  single  town,  Cabrieres.  "  They 
had  surrendered  to  the  papists,  upon  a  promise  of  having  their  lives 
spared  ;  but  when  the  garrison  was  admitted  they  were  all  seized, 
they  who  lay  hid  in  the  dungeon  of  the  castle,  or  thought  themselves 
secured  by  the  sacredness  of  the  church ;  and  being  dragged  out 
from  thence  into  a  hollow  meadow  were  put  to  death,  without  re-  ' 
gard  to  age  or  the  assurances  given :  the  number  of  the  slain,  within 
and  without  the  town,  amounted  to  eight  hundred  :  the  women,  by 
the  command  of  Oppede,  were  thrust  into  a  barn  filled  with  straw, 
and  fire  being  set  to  it,  when  they  endeavored  to  leap  out  of  the  win- 
dow, they  were  pushed  back  by  poles  and  pikes,  and  were  thus  mise- 
rably suffocated  and  consumed  in  the  flames."* 

§  26. — About  the  year  1560,  during  the  suspension  of  the  council 
of  Trent,  a  most  violent  and  bloody  persecution  was  carried  on 
against  the  Waldenses  of  Calabria  at  the  south  of  Italy,  by  direc- 
tion of  that  brutal  tyrant,  pope  Pius  IV.  Two  monks  were  sent 
from  Rome,  armed  with  power  to  reduce  the  Calabrian  heretics  to 
obedience  to  the  Holy  See.  Upon  their  arrival,  at  once  to  bring 
matters  to  the  test,  they  caused  a  bell  to  be  immediately  tolled  for 
mass,  commanding  the  people  to  attend.  Instead  of  complying, 
however,  the  Waldenses  forsook  their  houses,  and  as  many  as  were 
able  fled  to  the  woods  with  their  wives  and  children.  Two  com- 
panies were  instantly  ordered  out  to  pursue  them,  who  hunted  them 
like  wild  beasts,  crying,  "  Amazzi !  Amazzi  !"  that  is,  "  murder 
them  !  murder  them  !"  and  numbers  were  put  to  death. 

Seventy  of  the  heretics  were  seized  and  conducted  in  chains  to 
Montalto.  They  were  put  to  the  torture  by  the  orders  of  the 
inquisitor  Panza,  to  induce  them  not  only  to  renounce  their  faith  but 
also  to  accuse  themselves  and  their  brethren  of  having  committed 
odious  crimes  in  their  religious  assemblies.  To  wring  a  confession 
of  this  from  him,  Stefano  was  tortured  until  his  bowels  gushed  out. 
Another  prisoner,  named  Verminel,  having,  in  the  extremity  of 
pain,  promised  to  go  to  mass,  the  inquisitor  flattered  himself  that, 
by  increasing  the  violence  of  the  torture,  he  could  extort  a  confes- 
sion of  the  charge  which  he  was  so  anxious  to  fasten  on  the  Pro- 
testants. The  manner  in  which  persons  of  the  tender  sex  were 
treated  by  this  brutal  inquisitor,  is  too  disgusting  to  be  related  here. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  he  put  sixty  females  to  the  torture,  the  greater 
part  of  whom  died  in  prison  in  consequence  of  their  wounds  re- 
maining undressed.  On  his  return  to  Naples,  he  delivered  a  great 
number  of  Protestants  to  the  secular  arm  at  St.  Agata,  where  he 
inspired  the  inhabitants  with  the   utmost  terror  ;  for  if  any  indivi- 

*  Thuani  Historia  sui  temporis,  Lib.  vi.  The  same  horrible  cruelties,  with 
some  additional  particulars,  are  related  by  Sleidan,  in  his  History  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, book  xvi. 


582  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vm. 


Horrible  barbarities  at  Montalto.  Eighty-eight  throats  of  the  Waldenses  cut  in  cold  blood. 


dual  came  forward  to  intercede  for  the  prisoners,  he  was  immedi- 
ately put  to  the  torture  as  a  favorer  of  heresy.* 

Of  the  almost  incredible  barbarities  of  the  papists  at  Montalto 
in  the  month  of  June,  1560,  the  best  and  most  unexceptionable 
account  is  that  furnished  in  the  words  of  a  letter  of  a  Roman 
Catholic  spectator  of  the  horrid  scene,  writing  to  Ascanio  Carac- 
cioli.  This  letter  was  published  in  Italy  with  other  narrations  of 
the  bloody  transactions.  It  commences  as  follows  : — '  Most  illus- 
trious sir — Having  written  you  from  time  to  time  what  has  been 
done  here  in  the  affair  of  heresy,  I  have  now  to  inform  you  of  the 
dreadful  justice  which  began  to  be  executed  on  these  Lutherans 
early  this  morning,  being  the  11th  of  June.  And,  to  tell  you  the 
truth,  I  can  compare  it  to  nothing  but  the  slaughter  of  so  many 
sheep.  They  were  all  shut  up  in  one  house  as  in  a  sheepfold. 
The  executioner  went,  and,  bringing  out  one  of  them,  covered  his 
face  with  a  napkin,  or  benda,  as  we  call  it,  led  him  out  to  a  field 
near  the  house,  and,  causing  him  to  kneel  down,  cut  his  throat  with 
a  knife.  Then,  taking  off  the  bloody  napkin,  he  went  and  brought 
out  another,  whom  he  put  to  death  after  the  same  manner.  In 
this  way,  the  whole  number,  amounting  to  eighty-eight  men,  were 
butchered.  I  leave  you  to  figure  to  yourself  the  lamentable  spec- 
tacle, for  I  can  scarcely  refrain  from  tears  while  I  write  ;  nor  was 
there  any  person  who,  after  witnessing  the  execution  of  one,  could 
stand  to  look  on  a  second.  The  meekness  and  patience  with  which 
they  went  to  martyrdom  and  death  are  incredible.  Some  of  them 
at  their  death  professed  themselves  of  the  same  faith  with  us,  but 
the  greater  part  died  in  their  cursed  obstinacy.  All  the  old  men 
met  their  death  with  cheerfulness,  but  the  young  exhibited  symp- 
toms of  fear.  I  still  shudder  while  I  think  of  the  executioner  with 
the  bloody  knife  in  his  teeth,  the  dripping  napkin  in  his  hand,  and 
his  arms  besmeared  with  gore,  going  to  the  house  and  taking  out 
one  victim  after  another,  just  as  the  butcher  does  the  sheep  which 
he  means  to  kill." 

Lest  the  reader  should  be  inclined  to  doubt  the  truth  of  such 
horrid  atrocities,  the  following  summary  account  of  them,  by  a 
Neapolitan  historian  of  that  age,  may  be  added.  After  giving 
some  account  of  the  Calabrian  heretics,  he  says — "  Some  had  their 
throats  cut,  others  were  sawn  through  the  middle,  and  others 
thrown  from  the  top  of  a  high  cliff:  all  were  cruelly  but  deservedly 
put  to  death.  It  was  strange  to  hear  of  their  obstinacy  ;  for  while 
the  father  saw  his  son  put  to  death,  and  the  son  his  father,  they  not 
only  exhibited  no  symptoms  of  grief,  but  said  joyfully  that  they 
would  be  angels  of  God  :  so  much  had  the  devil,  to  whom  they  had 
given  themselves  up  as  a  prey,  deceived  them."f 

*  Perrin's  Waldenses,  pp.  202 — "206.     Leger,  &c. 

t  Tommaso  Costo,  Seconda  Parte  del  Compendio  dell'  Istoria  di  Napoli,  p.  257. 
See  that  valuable  work,  which  has  recently  been  honored  by  a  notice  in  the  Pope's 
bull  against  the  Christian  Alliance,  M'Crie's  Reformation  in  Italy,  chap.  v.  The 
Reformation  in  Spain,  by  the  same  writer,  is  equally  valuable. 


Cruelties  of  the  Popish  Piedmontese  soldiery  to  the  Waldenses. 


Children  forcibly  taken  from  their  parents,  to  he  brought  up  as  Papist- 


chaf.  iv.]      POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.        585 


Barbarities  in  Piedmont.  "  Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks."  The  poet  Milton  and  Oliver  Cromwell. 

§  27. — About  the  middle  of  the  following  century,  the  barbarity 
and  wholesale  slaughter  of  the  poor  oppressed  Waldenses,  in  the 
valleys  of  Piedmont,  by  their  popish  persecutors,  was  such  as  to 
excite  a  general  feeling  of  indignation  and  remonstrance  in  all  the 
protestant  states  of  Europe.  The  bigoted  and  cruel  soldiery,  at- 
tended by  the  still  more  bigoted  monks,  had  been  let  loose  upon  the 
inoffensive  inhabitants  of  the  valleys.  Thousands  of  families  had 
been  compelled  to  abandon  their  homes  in  the  very  depths  of  win- 
ter, and  to  wander  over  mountains  covered  with  ice  and  snow,  des- 
titute and  starving,  to  seek  a  refuge  from  their  relentless  persecu- 
tors ;  and  multitudes  of  them  perished  on  the  way,  overwhelmed 
by  tempests  of  drifted  snow.  Children  had  been  torn  from  their 
agonized  parents  to  be  brought  up  as  Roman  Catholics,  and  carried 
off  where  those  parents,  even  if  they  should  linger  out  a  miserable 
existence  themselves,  might  never  more  expect  to  behold  these  ob- 
jects of  their  tenderness  and  affection.  Many  were  hurled  from 
precipitous  rocks,  and  dashed  to  pieces  by  the  fall.  Sir  Samuel 
Morland,  who  was  appointed  ambassador  by  Oliver  Cromwell  to 
bear  the  remonstrances  of  protestant  England  against  these  popish 
cruelties,  published,  on  his  return,  a  minute  account  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  Waldenses,  in  which  he  relates  that  in  one  instance  "  a 
mother  was  hurled  down  a  mighty  rock,  with  a  little  infant  in  her 
arms  ;  and  three  days  after  was  found  dead,  with  the  little  child 
alive,  but  fast  clasped  between  the  arms  of  the  dead  mother,  which 
were  cold  and  stiff,  insomuch  that  those  who  found  them  had  much 
ado  to  get  the  young  child  out."*  (See  Engraving.) 

The  great  poet  Milton  was,  at  this  time,  Latin  secretary  to 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  wrote  the  eloquent  expostulations  on  the 
persecutions  of  the  Waldenses,  addressed  to  the  duke  of  Savoy, 
with  which  Morland  was  entrusted,  and  the  letters  to  the  various 
protestant  sovereigns  of  Europe  on  the  same  subject.f  The  im- 
mortal author  of  the  Paradise  Lost  also  invoked  his  poetic  muse  to 
excite  sympathy  for  these  "  slaughtered  saints,"  in  the  following 
sonnet,  in  which  there  is  an  allusion  to  the  touching  incident  oi  the 
mother  and  her  babe,  just  cited  from  Sir  Samuel  Morland. 

ON    THE    LATE    MASSACRE    IN    PIEDMONT. 

Avenge,  O  Lord,  thy  slaughter'd  saints,  whose  bones 
Lie  scatter'd  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold  ; 
Ev'n  them  who  kept  thy  truth  so  pure  of  old, 
When  all  our  fathers  worshipped  stocks  and  stones 

Forget  not :  in  thy  book  record  their  groans 
Who  were  thy  sheep,  and  in  their  ancient  fold 
Slain  by  the  bloody  Piedmontese  that  rolVd 
Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks.     Their  moans 

*  Sir  Samuel  Morland's  history  of  the  Valleys  of  Piedmont,  p.  363.  Folio. 
London,  1658. 

f  For  a  full  translation  of  these  able  and  interesting  documents  from  the  pen 
of  Milton,  see  Jones'  History  of  the  Church,  Cone's  edition,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  326-366. 
This  valuable  work  is  very  full  on  the  subject  of  the  Waldenses.     It  was  origi- 


586  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  viii. 

Milton's  sonnet  on  the  sufferings  of  the  Waldenses  in  Piedmont.         Further  persecutions  and  cruelties. 

The  vales  redoubled  to  the  hills,  and  they 

To  heaven.     Their  martyr'd  blood  and  ashes  sow 
O'er  all  th'  Italian  fields,  where  still  doth  sway 

The  tripled  tyrant ;  that  from  these  may  grow 
A  hundred  fold,  who  having  learned  thy  way 
Early  may  fly  the  Babylonian  wo. 

§  28. — The  interposition  of  the  powerful  Protector  of  England  was 
not  to  be  resisted.  The  persecutions  of  the  Waldenses  were 
abated,  and  the  protestant  Christians  of  Piedmont  enjoyed  for  a 
few  years  a  season  of  comparative  repose,  till  the  persecutions 
arising  from  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  in  France,  when 
the  popish  duke  of  Savoy,  imitating  king  Louis  of  France,  com- 
menced another  most  cruel  and  bloody  persecution  of  the  Wal- 
denses, hardly  exceeded  in  severity  by  any  of  the  preceding.  To 
relate  the  particulars  of  it  would  be  only  to  repeat  the  horrors  of 
massacres,  burning,  outrage,  and  rapine,  by  which  the  feelings  of 
the  reader  must  already  have  been  sufficiently  harrowed.  This 
cruel  persecution  was  brought  to  a  close  through  the  friendly  inter- 
position of  the  Swiss  Cantons,  in  September,  1086.  Multitudes  of 
the  Waldenses  had  long  been  confined  in  loathsome  prisons  in  Pied- 
mont. The  Swiss  Cantons  sent  deputies  to  demand  their  release, 
and  the  privilege  of  quitting  the  dominions  of  their  popish  per- 
secutor. 

In  the  month  of  October,  the  duke  of  Savoy's  proclamation  was 
issued  for  their  release  and  banishment.  It  was  now  the  approach 
of  winter,  the  ground  was  covered  with  snow  and  ice  ;  the  vic- 
tims of  cruelty  were  almost  universally  emaciated  through  poverty 
and  disease,  and  very  unfit  for  the  projected  journey.  The  pro- 
clamation was  made  at  the  castle  of  Mondovi,  for  example :  and  at 
five  o'clock  the  same  evening  they  were  to  begin  a  march  of  four  or 
five  leagues  !  Before  the  morning  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty 
of  them  sunk  under  the  burden  of  their  maladies  and  fatigues,  and 
died.  The  same  thing  happened  to  the  prisoners  at  Fossan.  A 
company  of  them  halted  one  night  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Cenis  ; 
when  they  were  about  to  march  the  next  morning,  they  pointed  the 
officer  who  conducted  them  to  a  terrible  tempest  upon  the  top  of 
the  mountain,  beseeching  him  to  allow  them  to  stay  till  it  had  passed 
away.  The  inhuman  papist,  deaf  to  the  voice  of  pity,  insisted  on 
their  marching ;  the  consequence  of  which  was,  that  eighty-six  of 
their  number  died,  and  were  buried  in  that  horrible  tempest  of 
snow.  Some  merchants  that  afterwards  crossed  the  mountains, 
saw  the  bodies  of  these  miserable  people  extended  on  the  snow,  the 
mothers  clasping  their  children  in  their  arms  !  Such  are  the  ten- 
der mercies  of  Rome. 

nally  written  as  a  "  History  of  the  Waldenses,"  and  afterward  enlarged,  and  re- 
published under  the  title  of  a  "History  of  the  Church." 


587 


CHAPTER  V. 

PERSECUTIONS      IN      FRANCE. MASSACRE     OF     ST.     BARTHOLOMEW,    AND 

REVOCATION    OF    THE    EDICT    OF    NANTES. 

§  29. — We  have  already  seen,  in  the  massacres  of  the  Waldenses 
of  Beziers,  Mencrbe,  Lavaur,  and  other  places,  that  the  emissaries 
of  papal  vengeance  did  not  always  wait  for  the  slow  process  of 
inquisitorial  examination  and  torture,  to  wreak  their  vengeance 
upon  the  detested  heretics ;  and  it  would  be  easy  to  fill  a  volume 
with  the  horrid  details  of  wholesale  massacres  of  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  heretics  at  the  time,  by  which  the  faithful  servants  of 
the  popes  have  merited  and  obtained  from  these  self-styled  suc- 
cessors of  St.  Peter,  plenary  indulgences,  which  should  admit  them, 
with  their  hands  all  recking  with  blood,  to  the  abodes  of  the  blessed. 

Omitting  all  mention  of  the  horrid  massacres  of  Orange  and 
Vassy,  in  France  ;*  the  butcheries  of  the  bigoted  duke  of  Alva, 
in  the  Netherlands,  performed  under  the  sanction  of  the  husband 
of  bloody  Mary,  Philip  of  Spain  ;f  or  the  massacres  in  Ireland  and 
other  popish  countries,  we  can  describe  but  one  which  stands  pre- 
eminent among  these  scenes  of  blood,  viz.  the  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, at  Paris,  on  the  24th  of  August,  1572. 

The  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  was  a  plan  laid  by  the  in- 
famous Catharine  de  Medici,  queen  dowager  of  France,  in  concert 
with  her  weak  and  bigoted  son,  Charles  IX.,  for  the  extirpation  of 
the  French  protcstants,  who  were  called  by  the  name  of  Hugue- 
nots. Under  the  pretext  of  a  marriage  between  Henry,  the  pro- 
testant  king  of  Navarre,  and  Margaret,  the  sister  of  Charles,  the 
Huguenots,  with  their  most  celebrated  and  favorite  leader,  admiral 
Coligny,  had  been  attracted  to  Paris.  Coligny  had  been  affection- 
ately warned  by  many  of  his  friends  against  trusting  himself  at 
Paris,  but  such  were  the  assurances  of  friendship  on  the  part  of 
king  Charles,  that  he  was  thrown  off  his  guard,  and  was  drawn 
within  the  toils  that  popish  malignity  and  craft  had  laid  for  him. 
On  the  22d  of  August,  an  attempt  was  made  to  assassinate  the  Ad- 
miral by  a  shot  fired  at  him  in  the  street,  by  which  he  was  wounded 
in  the  arm.  This  act  was  doubtless  perpetrated  at  the  instigation 
of  the  infamous  queen  mother,  if  not  of  her  son,  though  that  wicked 
woman  pretended  deep  commiseration,  and  upon  a  visit  to  the  Ad- 
miral remarked,  that  she  "did  not  believe  now  the  King  could 
sleep  safely  in  his  palace."     And  yet  both  the  mother  and  son,  were 

*  For  a  description  of  these  see  Lorimer's  Protestant  church  of  France,  and 
Smedley's  Reformed  Religion  in  France. 

f  For  an  account  of  the  cruelties  of  the  duke  of  Alva  in  the  Netherlands,  who 
boasted  that  in  six  weeks  he  had  caused  18.000  persons  to  be  put  to  death  for  the 
crime  of  Protestantism,  see  Watson's  History  of  Philip  II.,  book  x. 


588  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  via. 

Murder  of  Coligny.  Frightful  slaughter  at  the  massacre  of  Bartholomew. 

at  that  very  moment,  and  had  for  weeks  past  been  deliberately  con- 
cocting a  plan  for  the  slaughter  not  only  of  Coligny,  but  of  all  his 
protestant  friends,  whom  they  had  now  caught  in  their  toils  at 
Paris  ;  and  in  all  this,  no  doubt,  their  popish  bigotry  taught  thsm 
they  were  doing  God  service  ! 

§  30. — At  length  the  fatal  hour  had  arrived.  All  things  were 
ready.  The  tocsin,  at  midnight,  tolled  the  signal  of  destruction. 
The  troops  were  sent  forth,  by  royal  command,  to  perform  their 
work  of  death.  The  assassins  rushed  into  Coligny's  hotel,  killing 
several  protestant  Swiss  soldiers  as  they  passed.  "  Save  your- 
selves, my  friends,"  cried  the  generous-minded  chief.  "I  have  long 
been  prepared  for  death."  They  obeyed  his  commands,  and  es- 
caped through  the  tiling  of  the  roof;  and  in  a  moment  after,  the 
daggers  of  the  popish  assassins  were  buried  in  the  heart  of  the 
noble  chief  of  the  protestants,  and  his  body  ignominiously  thrown 
from  the  window,  to  be  exposed  to  the  rude  insults  of  the  bigoted 
populace.*  Among  those  who  escaped  through  the  tiling  was  a 
protestant  clergyman,  M.  Merlin,  the  chaplain  of  the  Admiral.  His 
escape  was  attended  with  a  remarkable  providential  circumstance. 
He  hid  himself  in  a  hay-loft,  where  he  was  sustained  for  three  days 
by  an  egg  each  day,  which  a  hen  laid,  for  his  support,  f 

After  the  death  of  Coligny,  the  slaughter  soon  extended  itself  to 
every  quarter  of  the  city,  and  when  the  glorious  sun  looked  forth 
that  morning,  it  was  upon  an  awful  spectacle.  The  dead  and  the 
dying  mingled  together  in  undistinguished  heaps.  The  pavements 
besmeared  with  a  path  of  gore,  along  which  the  bodies  of  the  mur- 
dered protestants  had  been  dragged  to  be  cast  into  the  waters  of 
the  Seine,  already  dyed  with  the  blood  of  the  slain.  The  execu- 
tioners rushing  through  the  streets,  bespattered  with  blood  and 
brains,  brandishing  their  murderous  weapons,  and  in  merriment, 
mimicking  the  psalin-singing  of  the  protestants  !  The  frantic  Hu- 
guenots, bewildered  with  fright,  running  hither  and  thither  to  seek 
a  place  of  safety,  but  in  vain.  Some  ran  towards  the  house  of 
Coligny,  but  only  to  fall  by  the  hands  of  the  same  murderers  ; 
others,  remembering  the  solemn  promises  of  the  King,  and  hoping 
that  he  was  not  privy  to  the  massacre,  ran  toward  the  palace  of 
the  Louvre,  but  only  to  meet  a  more  certain  and  speedy  death  ;  for, 
even  Charles  himself  fired  upon  the  fugitives  from  the  window  of 
the  palace,  shouting  with  the  fiend-like  fury  of  a  devil  or  an  in- 
quisitor, "Kill  them!  kill  them!" 

The  Louvre  itself  was  a  frightful  scene  of  slaughter.  The 
protestants  who  had  remained  there,  in  the  train  of  the  king  of 
Navarre,  were  called  out  one  by  one, J  and  put  to   death  in  cold 

*  See  Smedley's  History  of  the  Reformed  Religion  in  France,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  11. 

t  Quick's  Synodicon,  i.,  125.     Smedley,  ii.,  10. 

I  Ad  uno,  ad  uno.  (Davila,  torn,  i.,  p.  295.)  "  They  were  compelled  to  go 
out  one  after  another  by  a  little  door,  before  which  they  found  a  great  number  of 
satellites  armed  with  halberds,  who  assassinated  the  Navarrese  as  they  came  out." 
(German  Narrative  cited  by  Mr.  Sharon  Turner,  Reign  of  Elizabeth,  p.  319.) 


ohap.  v.]  POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.  589 

Multitudes  of  the  slain  in  Paris  and  other  cities  of  France. 

blood,  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  king.  Even  the  protcstant  king 
of  Navarre  himself  had  been  ushered  into  the  presence  of  Charles 
through  long  lines  of  soldiers  thirsting  for  his  blood,  and  commanded 
with  oaths  to  renounce  the  protestant  faith,  and  was  then,  together 
with  the  prince  of  Conde,  thrust  into  pr  son,  and  informed  that  un- 
less they  embraced  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  in  three  days,  they 
would  be  executed  for  treason.  In  the  meanwhile  the  work  of 
slaughter  went  forward,  and  during  seven  days,  at  the  lowest  com- 
putation,* 5000  protestants  were  murdered  in  the  city  of  Paris 
alone. 

§  31. — The  whole  city  was  one  great  butchery  and  flowed  with 
human  blood.  The  court  was  heaped  with  the  slain,  on  which  the 
King  and  Queen  gazed,  not  with  horror,  but  with  delight.  Her 
majesty  unblushingly  feasted  her  eyes  on  the  spectacle  of  thousands 
of  men,  exposed  naked,  and  lying  wounded  and  frightful  in  the  pale 
livery  of  death.f  The  king  went  to  see  the  body  of  admiral  Co- 
ligny,  which  was  dragged  by  the  populace  through  the  streets  ;  and 
remarked,  in  unfeeling  witticism,  that  the  "  smell  of  a  dead  enemy 
was  agreeable." 

The  tragedy  was  not  confined  to  Paris,  but  extended,  in  general, 
through  the  French  nation.  Special  messengers  were,  on  the  pre- 
ceding day,  dispatched  in  all  directions,  ordering  a  general  massa- 
cre of  the  Huguenots.  The  carnage,  in  consequence,  was  made 
through  nearly  all  the  provinces,  and  especially  in  Meaux,  Troyes, 
Orleans,  Nevers,  Lyons,  Thoulouse,  Bordeaux,  and  Rouen.  Twenty- 
five  or  thirty  thousand,  according  to  Mezeray,  perished  in  different 
places.  Many  were  thrown  into  the  rivers,  which,  floating  the 
corpses  on  the  weaves,  carried  horror  and  infection  to  all  the  coun- 
try, which  they  watered  with  their  streams.  The  populace,  tutored 
by  the  priesthood,  accounted  themselves,  in  shedding  heretical 
blood,  "  the  agents  of  Divine  justice,"  and  engaged  "  in  doing  God 
service."J  The  King,  accompanied  with  the  Queen  and  princes 
of  the  blood,  and  all  the  French  court,  went  to  the  Parliament,  and 
acknowledged  that  all  these  sanguinary  transactions  were  done  by 
his  authority.  "The  Parliament  publicly  eulogized  the  King's 
wisdom,"  which  had  effected  the  effusion  of  so  much  heretical 
blood.  His  Majesty  also  went  to  mass,  and  returned  solemn  thanks 
to  God  for  the  glorious  victory  obtained  over  heresy.  He  ordered 
medals  to  be  coined  to  perpetuate  its  memory.     A  medal  accord- 

*  That  of  Mezeray.     Bossuet  says  6000,  and  Davila  10,000  victims  in  Paris. 

f  Tout  le  quartier  ruisseloit  de  sang.  La  cour  etoit  pleine  de  corps  morts,  que 
le  Roi  et  la  Reine  regardoient,  non  seulement  sans  horreur,  mais  avec  plaisir. 
Tout  les  rues  de  la  ville  n'etoient  plus  que  boucheries.  (Bossuet,  4,  537.)  On 
exposa  leurs  corps  tout  nuds  a  la  porte  du  Louvre,  la  Reine  mere  etant  a  une 
fenestre,  qui  repaisoit  ses  yeux  de  cet  horrible  spectacle.  (Mezeray,  5.  Davila,  v. 
Thuan.,  ii..  8.) 

Frequentes  e  gynceceo  foemina?,  nequaquam  crudeli  spectaculo  eas  absterrente, 
curiosis  oculis  nudorum  corpora  inverecunde  intuebantur.  (Thuan.,  3,  131.) 

\  Les  Catholiques  se  regarderent  comme  les  executeurs  de  la  justice  de  Dieu. 
(Daniel,  8,  738.   Thuan.,  3.  149.) 


590  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vm. 

Joy  of  the  Pope  and  Cardinals  at  the  massacre.  Medal  struck  in  honor  of  the  event 

inglv  was  struck  for   the   purpose  with  this   inscription,  PIETY 
EXCITED  JUSTICE.* 

§  32. — The  King  sent  a  special  messenger  to  the  Pope  to  an- 
nounce to  him  the  joyful  intelligence  of  the  extirpation  of  the  pro- 
testants,  and  to  tell  him  that  "  the  Seine  flowed  on  more  majesti- 
cally after  receiving  the  dead  bodies  of  the  heretics."  Nothing 
could  exceed  the  joy  with  which  the  news  was  received  at  Rome. 
The  Pope  and  cardinals  went  in  procession  to  the  church  of  St. 
Louis  to  return  solemn  thanks  to  God  (oh,  horrible  impiety  !)  for 
the  extirpation  of  the  heretics.  Te  Deum  was  sung,  and  the  firing  of 
cannon  announced  the  welcome  news  to  the  neighborhood  around. 
The  Pope's  legate  in  France  felicitated  his  most  Christian  majesty 
in  the  Pontiff's  name,  "  and  praised  the  exploit,  so  long  meditated 
and  so  happily  executed,  for  the  good  of  religion."  The  massacre, 
says  Mezeray,  '■  was  extolled  before  the  King  as  the  triumph  of  the 

church."t 

The  Pope  was  not  satisfied  with  a  temporary  expression  of  his 
joy.  He  caused  a  more  enduring  memorial  to  be  struck  in  the 
form  of  triumphant  medals  in  commemoration  and  honor  of  the 
event.  These  medals  represented  on  one  side  an  angel  carrying  a 
sword  in  one  hand,  and  a  crucifix  in  the  other,  employed  in  the 
slaughter  of  a  group  of  heretics,  with  the  words  hugonotorum 
strages  (slaughter  of  the  Huguenots),  1572  ;  on  the  other  side,  the 
name  and  title  of  the  reigning  Pope.  A  new  issue  of  this  cele- 
brated medal  in  honor  of  the  Bartholomew  massacre  has  recently 
been  struck  from  the  papal  mint  at  Rome,  and  sold  for  the  profit  of 
the  papal  government.     (For  fac-simile,  see  Engraving.) 

Such  was  the  joy  of  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine  (whom  we  have 
already  seen  closing  the  council  of  Trent  with  anathemas  against 
heretics),  upon  receiving  the  news  at  Rome,  that  he  presented  the 
messenger  with  one  thousand  pieces  of  gold,  and,  unable  to  restrain 
the  extravagance  of  his  delight,  exclaimed  aloud  that  "he  believed 
the  King's  heart  must  have  been  filled  with  a  sudden  inspiration 
from  God  when  he  gave  orders  for  the  slaughter  of  the  heretics.''^ 
Another  Cardinal,  Santorio,  afterwards  pope  Clement  VIII.,  in  his 
autobiography,  designates  the  massacre  as  "  the  celebrated  day  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  most  cheering  to  the  Catholics"^     Thus  is  it  by 

*  Pietas  excitavit  justitiam.  II  fit  frapper  un  medaille  a  l'occasion  de  la  Saint 
Barthelemi.  (Daniel,  8,  786.)  Apres  avoir  oui  solemnellement  la  messe  pour  re- 
mercier  Dieu  de  la  belle  victoire  obtenue  sur  l'heresie,  et  commande  de  fabriquer 
des  medailles  pour  en  conserver  la  memoire.  (Mezeray,  5,  160,  cited  by  Edgar.  240.) 

f  La  haine  de  1'  heresie  les  fit  recevoir  agreablement  a  Rome.  On  se  rejouit 
aussi  en  Espagne.  (Bossuet,  4,  544.)  La  Cour  de  Rome  et  le  Conseil  d'  Espagne 
eurent  une  joye  indicible  de  la  Saint  Bartelemy.  Le  Pape  alia  en  procession  a 
Teglise  de  Saint  Louis,  rendre  graces  a  Dieu  d'un  si  heureux  succes,  et  l'on  fit  le 
panegyrique  de  cette  action  sous  le  nom  de  Triomphe  de  1'  Eglise.  (Mezeray.  5, 
162.    Sully,  1,21.    Edgar,  241.) 

t  De  Thou,  lib.  liii.,  ch.  4.     Smedley,  ii.,  36. 

5  He  speaks  of  the  "  giusto  sdegno  del  re  Carlos  IX.  di  gloriosa  memoria,  in 
quel  celebre  giorno  di  S.  Bartolomeo  lietissimo  a' cattolici  ;"  that  is,  "  the  just 
wrath  of  king  Charles  IX.,  of  glorious   memory,  on  the   celebrated  day  of    St. 


,/v 


- 
• 


mile  of  Papal  Medal  in  honor  of  Lin  Btlasea f  Si.  Bartholomew's. 


^J^K 


m 


Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's, in  Paris,  in  I.' 


chap,  v.]       POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.       593 

Revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  in  1685.  Cruel  effects  of  this  decree. 

the  joy  of  the  Pope  and  cardinals  at  the  massacre,  by  the  medal 
struck  in  its  commemoration  and  honor,  and  by  their  solemn  thanks- 
givings for  the  happy  events,  without  alluding  to  the  proofs  (by  no 
means  inconsiderable)  of  a  previous  correspondence  between  the 
Pope  and  the  King,  that  this  horrible  slaughter  is  fixed  as  another 
dark  and  damning  spot  upon  the  blood-stained  escutcheon  of  Rome. 

§  33. — After  the  massacre  of  Bartholomew,  the  protestants  of 
France  continued  to  be  the  subjects  of  cruel  and  bitter  persecution 
from  the  papists,  and  yet  in  the  midst  of  all,  the  blood  of  the  mar- 
tyrs was  the  seed  of  the  church,  and  the  cause  of  God  and  of  truth 
continued  steadily  to  advance. 

At  length,  in  the  year  1598,  twenty-six  years  after  the  massacre, 
an  edict  granting  the  protestants  liberty  of  worship,  with  certain 
restrictions,  was  passed,  through  the  favor  of  king  Henry  IV.  This 
was  called  the  edict  of  Nantes,  and  though  far  from  removing  all 
disabilities  on  account  of  religion,  was  received  by  the  protestants 
with  joy  and  gratitude.  It  continued  in  force  till  1685,  though  for 
the  last  few  years  of  that  period  many  of  its  provisions  had  been 
violated  with  impunity,  and  the  protestants  exposed  to  a  series  of 
cruel  insults  and  annoyances  from  their  popish  neighbors. 

In  the  year  1685,  king  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  a  bigoted 
papist,  at  the  persuasions  of  La  Chaise,  his  Jesuit  confessor,  publicly 
revoked  that  protecting  edict,  and  thus  let  loose  the  floodgates  of 
popish  cruelty  upon  the  defenceless  protestants.  By  the  edict  of 
revocation,  all  former  edicts  protecting  the  protestants  were  fully 
repealed  ;  they  were  forbidden  to  assemble  for  religious  worship  : 
all  their  ministers  were  banished  the  kingdom  within  fifteen  days 
under  penalty  of  being  sent  to  the  galleys  ;*  all  their  children  born 
in  future  were  ordered  to  be  brought  up  in  the  Roman  Catholic  re- 
ligion, and  the  parents  required  to  send  them  to  the  popish  churches 
under  a  penalty  of  five  hundred  livres  ;  and  what  rendered  the  law 
yet  more  cruel,  all  other  protestants,  except  the  banished  ministers, 
were  forbidden  to  depart  out  of' the  kingdom,  under  penalty  of 
the  galleys  for  men,  and  of  confiscation  of  money  and  goods  for 
the  women. 

§  34. — In  the  cruelties  that  followed  the  revocation  of  the  edict 
of  Nantes,  the  policy  of  Rome  appeared  to  be  changed.  She 
had  tried,  in  innumerable  instances,  the  effect  of  persecution  unto 
death,  and  the  results  of  Bartholomew  had  shown  that  it  was  not 
effectual  in  eradicating  the  heresy.    ,Now,  her  plan  was  by  torture, 

Bartholomew,  most  cheering  to  catholics."  (Cited  by  Rarike  in  his  History  of  the 
Popes,  book  vi.,  p.  228.) 

*  Sent  to  the  galleys. — This  was  a  punishment  somewhat  similar  to  sending 
felons  to  the  hulks  or  convict  ships,  such  as  those  at  Woolwich,  England ;  except 
that  the  rigor  of  the  former  was  much  greater.  The  galley-slave  was  chained  to 
his  oar,  compelled  to  labor  without  intermission,  in  company  with  the  vilest  felons 
and  blasphemers,  and  continually  exposed  to  the  lash  of  the  cruel  and  (in  the 
case  of  heretics  especially)  often  vindictive  taskmaster,  upon  his  naked  back.  To 
this  horrid  and  degrading  punishment,  some  of  the  most  distinguished  and  learned 
of  the  French  protestant  clergy  were  doomed  during  this  persecution. 


594  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vm. 

Wearing  out  the  saints  of  the  Musi  High.  Dragoonading.  Cruel  treatment  of  the  protestants. 


annoyance,  and  inflictions  of  various  kinds  suggested  by  a  brutal 
ingenu  tv,  "  to  wear  out  the  saints  o£  the  Most  High." 

One  of  the  most  common  means  was  what  was  called  dra- 
goonading;  that  is  quartering  brutal  dragoons  upon  the  defence- 
less people,  who  had  1, cense  to  employ  any  means  in  their  power 
to  compel  the  poor  persecuted  protestants  to  embrace  the  popish 
failh.  '•  There  was  no  wickedness,"  says  M.  Quick  in  his  Synodi- 
con,  "  though  ever  so  horrid,  which  they  did  not  put  in  practice, 
that  they  might  enforce  them  to  change  their  religion.  Amidst  a 
thousand  hideous  cries  and  blasphemies,  they  hung  up  men  and 
women  by  the  hair  or  feet  upon  the  roofs  of  the  chambers,  or  hooks 
of  chimneys,  and  smoked  them  with  wisps  of  wet  hay  till  they  were 
no  longer  able  to  bear  it ;  and  when  they  had  taken  them  down,  if 
they  would  not  sign  an  abjuration  of  their  pretended  heresies,  they 
then  trussed  them  up  again  immediately.  Some  they  threw  into 
great  fires,  kindled  on  purpose,  and  would  not  take  them  out  till 
they  were  half  roasted.  They  tied  ropes  under  their  arms,  and 
plunged  them  again  and  again  into  deep  wells,  from  whence  they 
would  not  draw  them  till  they  had  promised  to  change  their  religion. 
They  bound  them  as  criminals  are  when  they  are  put  to  the  rack, 
and  in  that  posture,  putting  a  funnel  into  their  mouths,  they  poured 
wrine  down  their  throats  till  its  fumes  had  deprived  them  of  their 
reason,  and  they  had  in  that  condition  made  them  consent  to  be- 
come Catholics.  Some  they  stripped  stark  naked,  and  after  they 
had  offered  them  a  thousand  indignities,  they  stuck  them  with  pins 
from  head  to  foot ;  they  cut  them  with  penknives,  tore  them  by  the 
noses  with  red-hot  pincers,  and  dragged  them  about  the  rooms  till 
they  promised  to  become  Roman  Catholics,  or  till  the  doleful  cries 
of  these  poor  tormented  creatures,  calling  upon  God  for  mercy, 
constrained  them  to  let  them  go.  They  beat  them  with  staves, 
and  dragged  them  all  bruised  to  the  popish  churches,  where  their 
enforced  presence  is  reputed  for  an  abjuration.  They  kept  them 
waking  seven  or  eight  days  together,  relieving  one  another  by 
turns,  that  they  might  not  get  a  wink  of  sleep  or  rest.  In  case  they 
began  to  nod,  they  threw  buckets  of  water  in  their  faces,  or  hold- 
ing kettles  over  their  heads,  they  beat  on  them  with  such  a  con- 
tinual noise,  that  those  poor  wretches  lost  their  senses.  If  they 
found  any  sick,  who  kept  their  beds,  men  or  women,  be  it  of  fevers 
or  other  diseases,  they  were  so  cruel  as  to  beat  up  an  alarm  with 
twelve  drums  about  their  beds  for  a  whole  week  together,  without 
intermission,  till  they  had  promised  to  change.  In  some  places  they 
tied  fathers  and  husbands  to  the  bedposts,  and  ravished  their  wives 
and  daughters  before  their  eyes.  And  in  other  places  rapes  were 
publicly  and  generally  permitted  for  many  hours  together.  From 
others  they  plucked  off  the  nails  of  their  hands  and  toes,  which 
must  needs  have  caused  an  intolerable  pain." 

§  35. — The  galleys  formed  another  mode  of  oppression.  There, 
:i  vast  body  of  protestants,  some  of  them,  such  as  Marolles  and  Le 
Febvre,  of  the  highest  station  and  talent,  were  confined — wretch- 


chap,  v.]       POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.       595 

Popery  tolerates  wickedness,  but  not  heresy.  Pious  expressions  of  the  persecuted  Le  1  ebvre 

edly  fed  on  disgusting  fare — and  wrought  in  chains  for  many  years. 
The  prisoners  often  died  under  their  sufferings.  When  they  did 
not  acquit  themselves  to  the  mind  of  their  taskmasters,  or  d.sre- 
garded  any  of  their  persecuting  enactments,  they  were  subjected 
to  the  lash.  Fifty  or  sixty  lashes  were  considered  a  punishment  se- 
vere enough  for  the  criminals  of  France — men  who  were  notorious 
for  every  species  of  profligacy;  but  nothing  less  than  one  hundred 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  would  suffice  for  the  meek  and  holy  saints 
of  God.  They  were  considered  a  thousand  times  worse  than  the 
worst  criminals. 

It  is  a  striking  feature  of  the  persecutions  of  Popery  that  the 
more  holy  and  Christ-like  her  victims,  the  more  dreadfully  severe 
have  been  the  character  of  their  sufferings ;  her  war  has  not  been 
against  wickedness,  but  heresy,  and  she  could  readily  tolerate  the 
grossest  immorality,  so  long  as  she  had  no  reason  to  complain  of 
the  rejection  of  her  creed. 

This  is  consistent  with  her  true  character.  Popery  is  anti- 
Christ,  and  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  the  nearer  men  come  to 
the  character  of  Christ,  the  fiercer  will  be  her  hatred,  and  the  more 
bitter  her  persecution.  Hence  the  quenchless  enmity  of  Rome  for 
such  holy  men  as  Wickliff  and  Huss  and  Jerome,  Rogers  and 
Latimer  and  Ridley,  Le  Febvre  and  Marolles  and  Mauru.  We 
shall  present  an  extract  or  two  from  the  letters  of  the  three  last 
named  victims  of  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  while  suf- 
fering under  the  cruel  inflictions  of  the  papal  anti-Christ,  to  sustain 
this  assertion. 

§  36. — Says  Le  Febvre,  when  writing  from  a  noisome  dungeon, 
"  Nothing  can  exceed  the  cruelty  of  the  treatment  I  receive.  The 
weaker  I  become,- the  more  they  endeavor  to  aggravate  the  miseries 
of  the  prison.  For  several  weeks  no  one  has  been  allowed  to  enter 
my  dungeon  ;  and  if  one  spot  could  be  found  where  the  air  was  more 
infected  than  another,  I  was  placed  there.  Yet  the  love  of  the 
truth  prevails  in  my  soul  ;  for  God,  who  knows  my  heart,  and  the 
purity  of  my  motives,  supports  me  by  his  grace.  He  fights  against. 
me,  but  he  also  fights  for  me.  My  weapons  are  tears  and  prayers. 
....  The  place  is  very  dark  and  damp.  The  air  is  noisome,  and 
has  a  bad  smell.  Everything  rots  and  becomes  mouldy.  The 
wells  and  cisterns  are  above  me.  I  have  never  seen  a  fire  here,  ex- 
cept the  flame  of  the   candle You  will  feel  for  me  in   this 

misery,"  said  he  to  a  dear  relative,  to  whom  he  was  describing  his 
sad  condition :  "  but  think  of  the  eternal  weight  of  glory  which 
will  follow.  Death  is  nothing.  Christ  has  vanquished  the  foe  for  me : 
and  when  the  fit  time  shall  arrive,  the  Lord  will  give  me  strength  to 
tear  off  the  mask  which  that  last  enemy  wears  in  great  afflictions." 
....  Far  be  it  from  me  to  murmur.  I  pray  without  ceasing, 
that  he  would  show  pity,  not  only  to  those  who  suffer,  but  also  to 
those  who  are  the  cause  of  our  sufferings.  He  who  commanded  us 
to  love  our  enemies,  produces  in  our  hearts  the  love  he  has  com- 
35 


596  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vm. 

Marolles  and  Pierre  Mauru.  Heavenly-minded  piety  in  a  dungeon  and  in  a  galley-ship. 

manded.     The  world  has  long  regarded  us  as  tottering  walls  ;   but 
they  do  not  see  the  Almighty  hand  by  which  we  are  upheld." 

§  37. — Says  Marolles,  a  minister  of  eminent  piety,  and  extensive 
scientific  attainments,  in  a  letter  to  his  wife,  after  being  removed 
from  a  galley  to  a  dungeon,  "  When  I  was  taken  out  of  the  galley 
and  brought  hither,  I  found  the  change  very  agreeable  at  first.  My 
ears  were  no  longer  offended  with  the  horrid  and  blasphemous 
sounds  with  which  those  places  continually  echo.  I  had  liberty  to 
sing  the  praises  of  God  at  all  times,  and  could  prostrate  myself  be- 
fore him  as  often  as  I  pleased.  Besides,  I  was  released  from  that 
uneasy  chain,  which  was  far  more  troublesome  to  me  than  the  one 
of  thirty  pounds  weight  which  you  saw  me  wear."  He  then  goes 
on  to  speak  of  a  temptation  into  which  he  was  permitted  to  fall — 
a  distrust  of  God  lest  he  should  lose  his  reason,  and  a  fear  that  he 
was  advancing  to  a  state  of  insanity — "  At  length,"  says  he,  "  after 
many  prayers,  sighs,  and  tears,  the  God  of  my  deliverance  heard 
my  petitions,  commanded  a  perfect  calm,  and  dissipated  all  those 
illusions  which  had  so  troubled  my  soul.  After  the  Lord  has  de- 
livered me  out  of  so  sore  a  trial,  never  have  any  doubt,  my  dear 
wife,  that  he  will  deliver  me  out  of  all  others.  Do  not,  therefore, 
disquiet  yourself  any  more  about  me.  Hope  always  in  the  good- 
ness of  God,  and  your  hope  shall  not  be  in  vain.  I  ought  not,  in 
my  opinion,  to  pass  by  unnoticed  a  considerable  circumstance 
which  tends  to  the  glory  of  God.  The  duration  of  so  great  a 
temptation  was,  in  my  opinion,  the  proper  time  for  the  Old  Serpent 
to  endeavor  to  cast  me  into  rebellion  and  infidelity  ;  but  God  al- 
ways kept  him  in  so  profound  a  silence,  that  he  never  once  offered 
to  infest  me  with  any  of  his  pernicious  counsels ;  and  I  never  felt 
the  least  inclination  to  revolt.  Ever  since  those  sorrowful  days. 
God  has  continually  filed  my  heart  with  joy.  1  possess  my  soul  in 
patience.  He  makes  the  days  of  my  affliction  speedily  pass  away. 
I  have  no  sooner  begun  them  than  I  find  myself  at  the  end.  With 
the  bread  and  water  of  affliction  he  affords  me  continually  most 
delicious  repasts."  This  was  his  last  letter.  He  resigned  his  spirit 
into  the  hands  of  his  heavenly  Father  on  the  17th  June,  1692. 

§  38. — The  next  example  of  suffering  piety,  from  whom  I  shall 
quote,  was  of  one  who  wrote  from  amidst  the  slavery  and  suffering 
and  horrors  of  the  galleys.  Says  Pierre  Mauru,  after  referring  to 
the  cruel  stripes  he  was  forced  to  bear,  from  twenty  to  forty  at  a 
time,  and  these  repeated  frequently  for  several  days  in  succession. 
"  But  I  must  tell  you,  that  though  these  stripes  are  painful,  the  joy 
of  suffering  for  Christ  gives  ease  to  every  wound  ;  and  when,  after 
we  have  suffered  for  him,  the  consolations  of  Christ  abound  in  us 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Comforter  :  they  are  a  heavenly  balm, 
which  heals  all  our  sorrows,  and  even  imparts  such  perfect  health 
to  our  souls,  that  we   can  despise  every  other  thing.     In  short. 

when  we  belong  to  God,  nothing  can  pluck  us  out  of  his  hand 

If  my  body  was  tortured  during  the  day,  my  soul  rejoiced  exceed- 
ingly in  God  my   Saviour,  both  day  and  night.     At  this  period 


CHAP,  v.]      POPERY  DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS.         597 

Cruel  scourging  of  Pierre  Mauru  011  board  the  galleys.  The  faith  and  the  patience  of  the  saints 

especially,  my  soul  was  fed  with  hidden  manna,  and  I  tasted  of  that 
joy  which  the  world  knows  not  of;  and  daily,  with  the  holy  apos- 
tles, my  heart  leaped  with  joy  that  I  was  counted  worthy  to  suffer 
for  my  Saviour's  sake,  who  poured  such  consolations  into  my  soul 
that  I  was  filled  with  holy  transport,  and,  as  it  were,  carried  out  of 
myself.  ....  But  this  season  of  quiet  was  of  short  duration  ;  for 
soon  afterwards  the  galley  was  furnished  with  oars  to  exercise  the 
new-comers  ;  and  then  these  inexorable  haters  of  our  blessed  re- 
ligion took  the  opportunity  to  beat  me  as  often  as  they  pleased, 
telling  me  it  was  in  my  power  to  avoid  these  torments.  But  when 
they  held  this  language,  my  Saviour  revealed  to  my  soul  the  ago- 
nies he  suffered  to  purchase  my  salvation,  and  that  it  became  me 
thus  to  suffer  with  him.  After  this,  we  were  ordered  to  sea,  when 
the  excessive  toil  of  rowing,  and  the  blows  I  received,  often  brought 
me  to  the  brink  of  the  grave.  Whenever  the  chaplain  saw  me 
sinking  with  fatigue,  he  beset  me  with  temptations ;  but  my  soul 
was  bound  for  the  heavenly  shore,  and  he  gained  nothing  from  my 

answers In  every  voyage  there  were  many  persons   whose 

greatest  amusement  was  to  see  me  incessantly  beaten,  but  particu- 
larly the  captain's  steward,  who  called  it  painting  Calvin's  back, 
and  insultingly  asked  if  Calvin  gave  me  strength  to  work  after 
being  so  finely  bruised  ;  and  when  he  wished  the  beating  to  be  re- 
peated, he  would  ask  if  Calvin  was  not  to  have  his  portion  again. 
When  he  saw  me  sinking  from  day  to  day  under  cruelties  and  fa- 
tigue, his  happiness  was  complete.  The  officers,  who  were  anxious 
to  please  him,  had  recourse  to  this  inhuman  sport  for  his  entertain- 
ment, during  which  he  was  constantly  convulsed  with  laughter. 
When  he  saw  me  raise  my  eyes  to  heaven,  he  said, '  God  does  not 
hear  Calvinists  when  they  pray.  They  must  endure  their  tortures 
till  they  die,  or  change  their  religion.'  ....  In  short,  my  very  dear 
brother,  there  was  not  a  single  day,  when  we  were  at  sea,  and  toil- 
ing at  the  oar,  but  I  was  brought  into  a  dying  state.  The  poor 
wretched  creatures  who  were  near  me  did  everything  in  their 
power  to  help  me,  and  to  make  me  take  a  little  nourishment.  But 
in  the  depth  of  distress,  which  nature  could  hardly  endure,  my  God 
left  me  not  without  support.  In  a  short  time  all  will  be  over,  and  I 
shall  forget  all  my  sorrows  in  the  joy  of  being  ever  with  the  Lord. 
Indeed,  whenever  I  was  left  in  peace  a  little  while,  and  was  able  to 
meditate  on  the  words  of  eternal  life,  I  was  perfectly  happy ;  and 
when  I  looked  at  my  wounded  body,  I  said,  here  are  the  glorious 
marks  which  St.  Paul  rejoiced  to  bear  in  his  body.  After  every 
voyage  I  fell  sick  ;  and  then,  being  free  from  hard  labor  and  the 
fear  of  blows,  I  could  meditate  in  quiet,  and  render  thanks  to  God 
for  sustaining  me  by  his  goodness,  and  strengthening  me  by  his 
good  Spirit."  Here  is  the  faith  and  the  patience  of  the 
saints.  Is  it  possible  to  conceive  of  suffering  borne  in  a  holier 
cause  or  in  a  more  Christ-like  spirit? 

§  39. — It  would  be  an  endless  task  to  recount  all  the  inventions 
of  popish  ingenuity  to  harass  and  to  wear  out  these  saints  of  the 


598  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  vm. 

Fiendish  cruelty  to  u  mother  and  babe.       The  Pope's  thanks  to  Louis  for  thus  persecuting  the  heretics. 

Most  High.  One  which  could  not  have  been  conceived  anywhere 
else  but  in  the  bottomless  pit  and  in  the  heart  of  a  fiend,  deserves 
to  be  mentioned.  On  January  23d,  1085,  a  woman  had  her  suck- 
ing child  snatched  from  her  breasts,  and  put  into  the  next  room, 
which  was  only  parted  by  a  few  boards  from  her's.  These  devils 
incarnate  would  not  let  the  poor  mother  come  to  her  child,  unless 
she  would  renounce  her  religion  and  become  a  Roman  Catholic. 
Her  child  cries  and  she  cries  ;  her  bowels  yearn  upon  the  poor 
miserable  infant ;  but  the  fear  of  God,  and  of  losing  her  soul,  keep  her 
from  apostasy.  However  she  suffers  a  double  martyrdom,  one  in 
her  own  person,  the  other  in  that  of  her  sweet  babe,  who  dies  in 
her  hearing  with  crying  and  famine  before  its  poor  mother.  The 
heart  sickens  at  the  contemplation  of  such  enormities.  Human 
language  cannot  describe  the  sufferings  of  these  oppressed  victims 
of  popish  cruelty.  It  is  only  the  Spirit  of  God  who  can  mark  the 
terrible  lineaments,  and  he  does  so  when  he  speaks  of  "  wearing 
out  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,"  and  of  anti-Christ  being  "  drunk 
with  the  blood  of  the  saints,"  and  of  their  blood  crying  from  under 
the  altar,  "  O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  how  long  dost  thou  not  judge 
and  avenge  our  blood  upon  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  ?"  and 
when  he  speaks  of  similar  worthies  as  persons  "  who  were  stoned, 
were  sawn  asunder,  were  tempted,  were  slain  with  the  sword  :  they 
wandered  about  in  sheep-skins  and  goat-skins ;  being  destitute, 
afflicted,  tormented  (of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy) :  they 
wrandered  in  deserts  and  in  mountains,  and  in  dens  and  caves  of 
the  earth."* 

§  40. — Let  the  reader  carefully  consider  the  above  affecting  and 
authentic  instances  of  suffering  for  Christ's  sake,  and  then  let  him 
read  the  following  language  of  pope  Innocent  XL,  in  praise  of  the 
popish  bigot,  by  whose  orders  they  were  inflicted.  This  Pontiff  wrote 
a  special  letter  to  king  Louis,  expressly  thanking  him  in  the  warmest 
and  most  plowing  terms  for  the  service  he  had  rendered  the  church 
in  this  persecuting  edict  against  the  heretics  of  France.  The  Pope 
requests  him  to  consider  this  letter  a  special  testimony  to  his  merits, 
and  concludes  it  in  the  following  words  : — "  The  Catholic  Church 
shall  most  assuredly  record  in  her  sacred  annals  a  ivork  of  such 
devotion  toward  her,  and  celebrate  your  name  with  never-dy- 
ing fraises  ;  but,  above  all,  you  may  most  assuredly  promise  to 
yourself  an  ample  retribution  from  the  divine  goodness  for  this 
most  excellent  undertaking,  and  may  rest  assured  that  we  shall 
never  cease  to  pour  forth  our  most  earnest  prayers  to  that  Divine 
goodness  for  this  intent  and  purpose." 

Thus  evident  is  it  net  only  that  the  acknowledged  head  of  the 
apostate  church  of  Rome  approved  of  the  horrid  barbarities  in- 
flicted upon  the  French  protestants,  but  that  he  regarded  their  per- 
petrator as  conferring  a  special  favor  upon  that  church,  thus  en- 
titling himself  to  her  lasting  gratitude  and  her  warmest  thanks. 

*  Lorimer's  Protestant  Church  of  France,  chap,  iv. 


BOOK    IX. 


POPERY   IN   ITS   DOTAGE 


I  ROM   THE    B EVOCATION   OF    THE   EDICT   OF   NANTES,   A.  D.    1685,   TO   THE     PRESENT 

TIME,   A.  D.    1845. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE     JESUITS. THEIR     MISSIONS. THEIR     SUPPRESSION,    REVIVAL,    AND 

PRESENT    POSITION. 

§  1. — The  eighteenth  century  was  chiefly  distinguished  by  events 
connected  with  the  history  and  proceedings  of  that  crafty  and  dan- 
gerous order,  the  Jesuits ;  their  missionary  efforts  to  extend  the 
dominion  of  the  papacy  in  China  and  other  oriental  countries,  and 
the  disputes  which  arose  relative  to  their  practice  of  amalgamating 
heathen  with  Christian  rites  ;  their  protracted  and  fierce  contests 
with  the  rival  sect  of  the  Jansenists ;  their  banishment  from  the 
various  kingdoms  of  Europe,  and  the  final  suppression  of  the  order 
by  pope  Clement  XIV.  in  1773. 

Before  describing  the  controversy  which  arose  in  this  century 
relative  to  the  missionary  operations  of  the  Jesuits  in  China,  it  may 
be  necessary  briefly  to  refer  to  the  origin  of  those  missions.  The 
missionary  efforts  of  the  Jesuits  commenced  immediately  after  the 
establishment  of  that  order:  in  1541.  Francis  Xavier,  who  appears 
to  have  been  a  man  of  fervent  piety,  free  from  the  trickery  and 
worldly  policy  that  afterwards  distinguished  his  order,  and  who 
by  his  zeal  and  success  obtained  the  name  of  "  the  apostle  of  In- 
dians," sailed  for  India,  where  he  was  successful  in  converting  thou- 
sands to  the  Romish  faith.  In  1549,  he  visited  Japan,  where  he 
laid  the  foundations  of  a  branch  of  the  Romish  church,  which  in 
after  years  is  said  to  have  consisted  of  two  or  three  hundred  thou- 
sand members.  From  Japan,  with  a  zeal  and  self-devotion  worthy 
of  a  purer  faith,  Xavier  sailed  for  China,  but  died  when  in  sight  of 
that  populous  empire,  in  1552.  Subsequently  to  his  death,  Matthew 
Ricci  penetrated  into  China,  recommended  himself  to  the  favor  of 
the  nobility  and  Emperor  by  his  skill  in  mathematics,  and  succeeded 
in  planting  the  Romish  faith  in  Pekin,  the  capital,  where  he  died  in 


6Q0  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 


Policy  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries.     "  All  things  to  all  men."    Their  shameful  conformity  to  heathenism. 

1610.  Other  Jesuit  missionaries,  in  process  of  time,  extended  the 
spiritual  dominion  of  the  Pope  and  their  order  into  Malabar,  Abys- 
sinia, and  other  countries,  and  especially  into  South  America, 
where  they  succeeded  in  reducing  whole  nations  of  Indians  to  their 

swav. 

In  1622,  was  established  at  Rome,  by  pope  Gregory  XV.,  the 
Congregation  for  propagating  the  faith  (l)e  Propaganda  Fide),  a 
body  of  cardinals,  priests,  &c,  whose  special  duty  it  is  to  devise 
means  for  propagating  the  Romish  faith  throughout  the  world  ;  and 
in  1627,  the  College  De  Propaganda  Fide,  in  which  young  men  of 
all  nations  are  educated  as  Romish  missionaries  ;  and  in  1663,  the 
kindred  institution  in  France,  called  "  the  Congregation  of  the  priests 
of  foreign  missions."  From  these  institutions  hundreds  of  Jesuits 
were  sent  forth  to  reduce  the  nations  of  the  world  to  the  obedience 
of  the  Pope. 

§  2. — In  accomplishing  this  object  the  Jesuits  early  adopted  the 
principle  that  the  end  sanctifies  the  means,  and  scrupled  at  no 
measures  to  entrap  the  people  to  the  nominal  profession  of  Chris- 
tianity. In  the  words  of  an  eloquent  living  writer,  "  The  motto 
and  device  in  one  of  their  earlier  histories  was  well  illustrated  in 
their  conduct.  That  device  was  a  mirror,  and  the  superscription 
was  '  Omnia  omnibus,'  All  things  to  all  men.  But  what  in  Paul 
was  Christian  courtesy,  leaning  on  inflexible  principle ;  and  what 
in  Loyola  himself  was  probably  wisdom,  but  slightly  tinged  with 
unwarrantable  policy,  became,  in  some  of  his  disciples,  the  laxest 
casuistry,  chameleon-like,  shifting  its  hues  to  every  varying  shade 
of  interest  or  fashion. 

"  The  gospel  is  to  be  presented  with  no  needless  offence  given 
to  the  prejudices  and  habits  of  the  heathen,  but  the  gospel  itself  is 
never  to  be  mutilated   or  disguised  ;  nor  is  the  ministry  ever  to 
stoop  to  compliances  in  themselves  sinful.     The  Jesuit  mistook  or 
forgot  this.     From  a  very  early  period,  the  order  were  famed  for 
the  art  with  which  they  studied  to  accommodate  themselves  and 
their  religion  to  the   tastes  of  the  nation  they  would  evangelize. 
Ricci,  on  entering  China,  found  the  bonzes,  the  priests  of  the  nation  ; 
and  to  secure  respect,  himself  and  his  associates  adopted  the  habits 
and  dress  of  the  bonzes.     But  a  short  acquaintance  with  the  empire 
taught   him,  that  the  whole  class  of  the  priesthood  was  in  China  a 
despised  one,  and  that  he  had  been  only  attracting  gratuitous  odium 
in  assuming  their  garb.     He  therefore  relinquished  it  again,  to  take 
that  of  the  men  of  letters.     In  India,  some  of  their  number  adopted 
the  Brahminical  dress,  and  others  conformed  to  the  disgusting  habits 
of  the  Fakeer  and  the  Yogee,  the  hermits  and  penitents  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan and  Hindoo  superstition.     Swartz  met  a  Catholic  mis- 
sionary, arrayed  in  the  style  of  the  pagan  priests,  wearing  their 
yellow  robe,  and  having  like  them  a  drum  beaten  before  him.     It 
would  seem,  upon  such   principle  of  action,  as  if  their  next  step 
ought  to  have  been  the  creation  of  a  Christian  Juggernaut;  or  to 
have  arranged  the  Christian  suttee,  where  the  widow  might  burn 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  601 


Worshipping  the  crucifix  upon  the  altar  of  Confucius.        Decrees  of  pope  Clement.        The  Jansenists. 

according  to  the  forms  of  the  Romish  breviary  ;  or  to  have  or- 
ganized a  band  of  Romanist  Thugs,  strangling  in  the  name  of  the 
virgin,  as  d.d  their  Hindoo  brethren  for  the  honor  of  Kalee. 

"  In  South  America,  one  of  the  zealous  Jesuit  lathers,  finding  that 
the  Payernes,  as  the  sorcerers  and  priests  of  the  tribe  were  called, 
were  accustomed  to  dance  and  s.ng  in  giving  their  religious  in- 
structions, put  his  preachments  into  metre,  and  copied  the  move- 
ments of  these  Pagan  priests,  that  he  might  win  the  savage  by  the 
forms  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed.  In  China,  again,  they 
found  the  worship  of  deceased  ancestors  generally  prevailing. 
Failing  to  supplant  the  practice,  they  proceeded  to  legitimate  it. 
They  even  allowed  worship  to  be  paid  to  Confucius,  the  atheistical 
philosopher  of  China,  prov.ded  their  converts  would,  in  offering  the 
worship,  conceal  upon  the  altar  a  crucifix  to  which  their  homage, 
should  be  secretly  directed.  Finding  the  adoration  of  a  crucified 
Saviour  unpopular  among  that  self-sufficient  people,  they  are  ac- 
cused by  their  own  Romanist  brethren  of  having  suppressed  in 
their  teachings  the  mystery  of  the  cross,  and  preached  Christ  glo- 
rified, but  not  Christ  in  his  humiliation,  his  agony  and  his  death.  A 
more  arrogant  act  than  this,  the  wisdom  of  this  world  has  seldom 
perpetrated,  when  it  has  undertaken  to  modify  and  adorn  the  gos- 
pel of  the  crucified  Nazarene."* 

About  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  ques- 
tion arose  in  the  Romish  church  whether  this  amalgamation  of 
heathenism  with  Christianity  in  the  missionary  operations  of  the 
Jesuits  was  a  lawful  method  of  multiplying  converts.  This  was 
decided  by  pope  Clement  XI.,  in  the  year  1704,  against  the  Jesuits, 
and  the  Chinese  converts  were  forbidden  by  a  solemn  edict  any 
longer  to  practise  the  idolatrous  rites  of  their  nation  in  connection 
with  their  professed  Christian  worship.  This  edict,  however,  so 
displeased  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  that  the  same  Pope,  dreading 
the  consequences  of  exasperating  so  powerful  an  order,  deemed  it 
politic  to  issue  another  edict  a  few  years  later,  which  in  effect  nul- 
lified the  provisions  of  the  former.  This  latter  decree  which  was 
dated  in  1715,  allowed  the  heathen  ceremonies  referred  to,  upon 
condition  that  they  should  be  regarded,  not  as  religious  but  civil 
institutions  ;f  a  distinction  which  might  serve  to  satisfy  the  con- 
science of  the  Pope  in  thus  authorizing  the  ceremonies  of  heathen- 
ism, but  would  have  not  the  slightest  effect  on  the  feelings  of  the 
Chinese  devotee  in  mingling  in  the  same  act  of  devotion,  the  wor- 
ship of  Confucius  and  of  Christ. 

§  3. — Among  the  most  persevering  and  able  of  the  opponents  of 
the  Jesuits  and  their  methods  of  converting  the  heathen,  the  Jan- 
senists were  the  most  conspicuous  and  celebrated.  They  were  so 
called   from    Cornelius   Jansenius,  a   celebrated  Roman   Catholic 

*  See  an  able  and  learned  article  on  "  the  Jesuits  as  a  Missionary  Order,"  from 
the  pen  of  Rev.  Wm.  R.  Williams,  D.D.,  in  the  Christian  Review,  for  June,  1841. 
f  Bower's  Lives  of  the  Popes,  vol.  vii.,  page  494 ;  Mosheim,  vi.,  3. 


602  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 

Pascal's  provincial  letters.  Father  Quesnel's  book  on  the  New  Testament  condemned. 

.*»- ■ ■        ■ 

bishop,  who,  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  had  pub- 
lished a  work  under  the  title  of  Augustinus.  advocating  the  doc- 
trines of  the  African  bishop  on  the  native  depravity  ot  man,  and 
the  nature  of  that  divine  influence,  by  whieh  alone  this  depravity 
can  be  cured.  The  doctrines  of  this  book  were  altogether  too 
evangelical  for  the  Jesuits,  who  opposed  it  w.th  all  their  might. 
Through  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  the  book  was  first  prohibited 
by  the  Inquisition,  and  afterwards  condemned  by  the  1  ope,  and  a 
fierce  and  bitter  controversy  was  thus  enkindled  between  these 
rival  sects  in  the  Romish  church,  which  continued  for  more  than  a 
century.  For  a  time  the  Jesuits  appeared  to  triumph  in  France, 
but  a  blow  was  given  to  them  in  the  "Provincial  Letters"  of  the 
devout  and  learned  Pascal,  from  which  they  never  have  and  never 
can  recover.  In  this  celebrated  work  it  was  shown  by  innumera- 
ble citations  from  their  own  standard  writers,  presented  in  a  style 
of  inimitable  wit,  beauty,  and  eloquence,  that  Jesuitism  is  utterly 
subversive  of  all  true  principles,  ahke  of  morality,  religion  and  civil 
government ;  a  fact  which  the  whole  history  of  this  crafty  and  mis- 
chievous order  in  every  land  where  it  has  obtained  a  foothold  has 
tended  to  confirm. 

The  cause  of  the  Jansenists  acquired  an  additional  degree  of  credit 
a  few  years  later  by  the  publication,  in  1687,  of  "  Father  Quesnel's 
moral  reflections  on  the  New  Testament."  The  quintessence  of 
Jansenism  was  blended,  in  an  elegant  and  artful  manner,  with  these 
annotations,  and  was  thus  presented  to  the  reader  under  the  most 
pleasing  aspect.  The  Jesuits  were  alarmed  at  the  success  of  Ques- 
nel's book,  and  particularly  at  the  change  it  had  wrought  in  many, 
in  favor  of  the  evangelical  and  almost  protestant  doctrines  of  Jan- 
senius :  and  to  remove  out  of  the  way  an  instrument  which  proved 
so  advantageous  to  their  adversaries,  they  engaged  that  weak 
prince  Louis  XIV.  to  solicit  the  condemnation  of  this  production 
at  the  court  of  Rome.  Clement  XL  granted  the  request  of  the 
French  monarch,  because  he  considered  it  as  the  request  ot 
the  Jesuits;  and,  in  the  year  1713.  issued  out  the  famous  bull  Uni~ 
genitus,  in  which  Quesnel's  New  Testament  was  condemned,  and  a 
hundred  and  one  propositions  contained  in  it  pronounced  heretical. 
Among  the  propositions  condemned  were  the  following  three,  viz., 
that  grace  is  the  effectual  principle  of  all  good  works ;  that  faith  is 
the  fountain  of  all  the  graces  of  the  Christian  ;  and  that  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  ought  to  be  read  by  all. 

§  4. — This  temporary  triumph  of  the  Jesuits  was  destined  to  be 
but  short.  The  princes  of  Europe  at  length  opened  their  eyes  to 
the  dangerous  principles  of  an  order  which  hesitated  at  no  means. 
however  unjust  or  perfidious,  to  accomplish  their  nefarious  designs. 
The  only  wonder  is  that  they  should  not  have  earlier  begun  to  dis- 
trust an  order  of  men,  a  part  of  whose  creed  it  was,  that  it  was 
meritorious  to  assassinate  rulers  and  governors  that  stood  in  the 
way  of  the  advancement  of  the  Romish  church. 

The  Jesuits  had  long  been  notorious  for  attempting  the  lives  of 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  G03 


The  Jesuits'  plots  against  the  lives  of  princes.  The  gunpowder  plot  and  the  Jesuit  Garnet. 

sovereigns,  as  is  testified  by  the  assassination  of  Henri  III.  of 
Franco,  and  William,  prince  of  Orange,  as  well  as  by  the  various 
unsuccessful  plots  against  queen  Elizabeth  and  James  I.,  of  Eng- 
land. Toward  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  in  a  pro- 
clamation dated  Nov.  16th,  1602,  she  says  that  "the  J  suits  had 
foment i;d  the  plots  against  her  person,  excited  her  subjects  to  revolt, 
provoked  foreign  princes  to  compass  her  death,  engaged  in  all 
affairs  of  state,  and  by  their  language  and  writings  had  undertaken 
to  dispose  of  her  crown." 

In  the  reign  of  her  successor,  James  I.,  after  the  failure  of 
several  schemes  against  his  life,  the  Jesuits,  in  the  year  1605,  con- 
trived the  horrible  gunpowder  plot  to  blow  up  the  King,  the  royal 
family,  and  both  houses  of  parliament,  in  order  to  place  a  papist 
upon  the  throne  of  England.  Through  the  good  providence  of 
God,  this  dreadful  plot  was  defeated,  and  its  popish  contrivers  de- 
tected and  punished.  In  this  atrocious  conspiracy,  says  Southey 
(Book  of  the  Church,  435),  "Guy  Fawkes  and  his  associates  acted 
upon  the  same  principles  as  the  head  of  the  Romish  church,  when 
in  his  arrogated  infallibility  he  fulminated  his  bulls  against  Eliza- 
beth, struck  medals  in  honor  of  the  Bartholomew  massacre,  and 
pronounced  that  the  friar  who  assassinated  Henri  III.  had  per- 
formed "  a  famous  and  memorable  act,  not  without  the  special 
providence  of  God,  and  the  suggestion  and  assistance  of  his  Holy 
Spirit !"  If  the  conspirators  had  felt  any  compunctious  scruples, 
the  sanction  of  their  ghostly  fathers  quieted  all  doubts  ;  and  when 
one  of  their  confessors,  the  Jesuit  Garnet,  suffered  for  his  share  in 
the  treason,  it  was  pretended  that  a  portrait  of  the  sufferer  was 
miraculously  formed  by  his  blood,  upon  the  straw  with  which  the 
scaffold  was  strewn ;  the  likeness  was  rapidly  multiplied  ;  a  print 
of  the  wonder,  with  suitable  accompaniments,  was  published  at 
Rome  ;  Garnet  in  consequence  received  the  honors  of  beatification 
from  the  Pope,  and  the  society  to  which  he  belonged  enrolled  him 
in  their  books  as  a  martyr.*' 

Even  the  persecuting  Louis  XIV.  of  France  stood  in  fear  of 
the  dirk  or  the  poniard  of  the  Jesuits.  When  Pere  La  Chaise,  for 
so  many  years  the  Jesuit  confessor  of  Louis,  and  the  prompter  of 
his  persecuting  measures  against  the  protestants,  felt  his  own  end 
approaching,  he  earnestly  begged  of  him  to  select  his  future  con- 
fessor from  among  the  Jesuits.  He  requested  him  to  do  so,  ac- 
cording to  S.  Simon,  "  for  his  own  security,"  as  the  society  num- 
bered among  its  members  persons  that  ought  not  to  be  driven  to 
despair,  and  because  after  all  a  "  bad  blow  "  was  soon  struck,  and 
was  not  without  precedents.  Louis  XIV.,  however  prodigal  of 
the  lives  of  others,  was  too  careful  of  his  own  to  neglect  the  Jesuit's 
advice,  and  selected  a  successor  to  La  Chaise  from  among  the 
same  powerful  and  dangerous  order.* 

*  S.  Simon.  Memoires,  chap.  217.  See  an  able  article  on  the  Jesuits  in 
France  in  the  North  British  Review  for  February,  1845. 


604  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 


Suppression  of  ihe  Jesuits  in  France,  Spain,  &c.  Abolition  of  the  order  by  Clement  XIV. 

§  5. — The  Jesuits  had  already  been  expelled  from  England  by 
proclamation  of  James  I.,  in  1004,  the  year  previous  to  the  gun- 
powder plot.  But  it  was  not  till  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  that  the  other  sovereigns  of  Europe  awakened  to  the  dan- 
ger of  permitting  in  their  dominions  an  order  of  men  holding  such 
principles  ;  and  incensed  by  the  officious  interference  of  the  Jesuits 
in  political  affairs,  they  one  after  another  expelled  them  as  a  pest 
and  a  plague  from  the  countries  they  governed.  They  were  ex- 
pelled from  Portugal  in  1759.  Three  years  later,  the  French 
parliament  declared  that  such  a  body,  having  peculiar  laws,  and  all 
subject  to  one  individual  residing  in  Rome,  was  dangerous  to  the 
state  ;  and  in  1764  the  society  was  suppressed  in  France  by  order  of 
the  King.  Three  years  afterward  they  were  expelled  from  Spain. 
On  the  31st  of  March,  1767,  the  colleges  and  houses  of  the  Jesuits 
in  that  country  were  surrounded  at  midnight  by  troops ;  sentinels 
were  posted  at  every  door,  the  bells  were  secured,  the  royal  decree 
expelling  them  from  Spain  read  to  the  members  hastily  assembled ; 
and  then  having  taken  their  breviaries,  some  linen,  and  a  few  other 
conveniences,  they  were  placed  in  carriages  and  escorted  by 
cavalry  to  the  coast,  where  they  embarked  for  Italy.  In  the  follow- 
ing year,  1768,  the  king  of  the  Two  Sicilies  and  the  duke  of 
Parma,  followed  in  the  steps  of  France  and  of  Spain,  and  sup- 
pressed the  order  in  their  dominions. 

§  6. — At  length,  by  a  bull  of  pope  Ganganelli,  or  Clement  XIV., 
dated  July  21st,  1773,  the  order  of  the  Jesuits  was  entirely  abolished, 
its  statutes  annulled,  and  its  members  released  from  their  vows. 

"  Their  abolition  was  not  a  work  of  haste.  According  to  the 
life  of  this  Pope,  published  in  the  year  1776,  he  spent  four  years 
deliberately  examining  the  history  of  the  order.  He  searched  the 
archives  of  the  Propaganda  for  the  documents  relating  to  their 
missions,  the  accusations  against  and  apologies  for  them ;  desirous 
of  being  correct  in  the  matter  of  his  condemnation,  he  communi- 
cated his  brief  privately  to  several  cardinals  and  theologians  as 
well  as  to  some  sovereigns,  &c,  before  he  promulgated  it.  He 
then  decided  on  the  abolition,  but  not  without  considering  the  con- 
sequences to  himself.  He  believed  it  would  be  death  to  him  ;  when 
he  signed  the  instrument,  he  is  reported  to  have  said  :  "  The  sup- 
pression is  accomplished.  I  do  not  repent  of  it,  having  only  re- 
solved on  it  after  examining  and  weighing  everything,  and  because 
I  thought  it  necessary  for  the  church.  If  it  were  not  done,  I  would 
do  it  now ;  but  this  suppression  will  be  my  death."  The  initial 
letters  of  a  Pasquinade  appeared  on  St.  Peter's  church,  which  he 
interpreted,  "  The  Holy  See  will  be  vacant  in  September,'"  which 
was  verified  in  his  death  on  the  twenty-second  of  that  month,  1774, 
attended  with  every  symptom  of  poison.  Thus  ended  for  the  time 
being  the  order  of  "Jesuits,  and  thus  too  the  man  that  dared  to  stop 
them  in  their  course  of  iniquity.  It  is  not  saying  too  much,"  re- 
marks Rev.  Dr  Giustiniani  (page  247),  "  if  we  consult  history  and 
experience,  that  another  so  infamous  a  class  of  men  never  lived." 


chap,  i.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  G05 

The  order  revived  by  pope  Pius  VII.  in  1814.  Copy  of  the  Jesuits'  oath. 

§  7. — Notwithstanding  this  deliberate  condemnation  of  the 
Jesuits,  the  order  was  revived  by  pope  Pius  VII.,  soon  after  his  re- 
turn to  Rome  from  his  captivity  in  Fronce,  where  he  had  been  de- 
tained by  Napoleon.  The  bull  of  restoration  was  dated  August 
7th,  1814,  and  the  order  is  now  engaged,  as  busily  as  ever,  in  Eng- 
land, Switzerland,  America,  and  other  lands,  in  secretly  under- 
mining every  protestant  government  by  its  insidious  and  crafty,  yet 
steady  and  persevering  efforts  to  advance  the  influence  of  the 
order,  to  propagate  the  dogmas,  and  extend  the  dominion  of  Rome. 
It  will  be  a  sufficient  evidence  of  the  dangerous  character  of  the 
order  to  any  government  where  they  are  suffered  to  pursue  their 
nefarious  designs,  to  append  to  this  brief  notice  of  the  Jesuits  the 
solemn  oath  that  is  taken  by  every  member  upon  his  initiation  into 
the  Society. 

Jesuits'  Oath. — "  I,  A.  B.,  now  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  the  blessed 
Virgin  Mary,  the  blessed  Michael  the  Archangel,  the  blessed  St.  John  Baptist, 
the  holy  apostles  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  and  the  saints  and  sacred  host  of  heaven, 
and  to  you  my  ghostly  father  do  declare  from  my  heart,  without  mental  reserva- 
tion, that  pope  Gregory  is  Christ's  Vicar  General,  and  is  the  true  and  only  Head 
of  the  universal  church  throughout  the  earth ;  and  that  by  virtue  of  the  keys  of 
binding  and  loosing,  given  to  his  Holiness  by  Jesus  Christ,  he  hath  power  to 

DEPOSE  HERETICAL  KINGS,  PRINCES,  STATES,  COMMONWEALTHS,  AND  GOVERNMENTS, 
ALL    BEING    ILLEGAL,    WITHOUT    HIS    SACRED    CONFIRMATION,    AND    THAT    THEY    MAY 

safely  be  destroyed  ;  therefore  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  I  will  defend  this 
doctrine  and  his  Holiness's  rights  and  customs  against  all  usurpers  of  the  hereti- 
cal or  protestant  authority  whatsoever,  especially  against  the  now  pretended  au- 
thority and  church  in  England,  and  all  adherents,  in  regard  that  they  be  usurped 
and  heretical,  opposing  the  sacred  mother  church  of  Rome. 

"  I  DO  RENOUNCE  AND  DISOWN  ANY  ALLEGIANCE  AS  DUE  TO  ANY  HERETICAL 
KING,     PRINCE,    OR    STATE,    NAMED    PROTESTANT,    OR    OBEDIENCE    TO   ANY    OF    THEIR 

inferior  magistrates  or  officers.  I  do  further  declare  the  doctrine  of  the 
church  of  England,  of  the  Calvinists,  Huguenots,  and  other  protestants,  to  be 
damnable,  and  those  to  be  damned  who  will  not  forsake  the  same.  I  do  further 
declare,  that  I  will  help,  assist,  and  advise  all  or  any  of  his  Holiness's  agents  in 
any  place  wherever  I  shall  be;  and  do  my  utmost  to  extirpate  the  heretical  pro- 
testants' doctrine,  and  to  destroy  all  their  pretended  power,  legal  or  otherwise. 
I  do  further  promise  and  declare,  that  notwithstanding  I  am  dispensed  with  to  as- 
sume any  religion  heretical,  for  the  propagation  of  the  mother  church's  interest, 
to  keep  secret  and  private  all  her  agents'  counsels,  as  they  entrust  me,  and  not  to 
divulge,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  word,  writing  or  circumstance  whatsoever,  but 
to  execute  all  which  shall  be  proposed,  given  in  charge,  or  discovered  unto  me,  by 
you  my  ghostly  father,  or  by  any  one  of  this  convent.  All  which  I,  A.  B.,  do 
swear  by  the  blessed  Trinity,  and  blessed  sacrament,  which  I  am  now  to  receive, 
to  perform  and  on  my  part  to  keep  inviolably ;  and  do  call  all  the  heavenly  and 
glorious  host  of  heaven,  to  witness  my  real  intentions  to  keep  this  my  oath.  In 
testimony  hereof,  I  take  this  most  holy  and  blessed  sacrament  of  the  eucharist, 
and  witness  the  same  further  with  my  hand  and  seal,  in  the  face  of  this  holy 
convent." 


606 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    PERSECUTING    AND    INTOLERANT   SPIRIT    OF    POPERY,  AS    EXHIBITED 
IN    THE    EIGHTEENTH    AND    NINETEENTH    CENTURIES. 

§  8. — Subsequent  to  the  cruel  edict  of  the  popish  king  Louis 
XIV.  in  1685,  which  was  the  cause  of  the  horrible  sufferings  de- 
scribed in  a  previous  chapter,  the  remaining  years  of  the  seven- 
teenth and  a  few  of  the  eighteenth  century,  were  occupied  in 
France  in  attempting  to  suppress  the  insurrections  which  arose  in 
some  parts  of  that  kingdom,  by  those  who  banded  together  in  de- 
fence of  their  religious  liberties.  Multitudes  of  the  Huguenots,  in 
spite  of  the  decree  which  forbade  them  to  quit  the  country,  evaded 
the  vigilance  of  the  guards,  and  escaped  into  Holland,  England, 
America,  and  other  countries  where  they  could  enjoy  freedom  to 
worship  God. 

The  larger  number  of  those  who  escaped  were  artisans,  and 
carried  their  useful  arts  and  manufactures  to  the  countries  which 
they  thus  enriched  by  their  flight.  The  farmer  was  unable  to  carry 
with  him  his  cattle  or  his  fields,  his  vines  or  his  fig  trees,  and  was 
thus,  in  some  instances,  driven  by  oppression  to  fight  for  religious 
freedom  in  his  native  land.  A  thrilling  account  has  been  given  of 
the  protracted  struggle  for  religious  freedom  of  the  people  of  the 
Cevennes,  in  Languedoc,  and  the  horrible  barbarities  of  their  popish 
persecutors  and  conquerors,  by  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  their 
leaders,  Mons.  Cavalier,  whose  memoirs  were  published  in  London 
in  1726.  In  this  contest  no  quarter  was  given  by  the  papists  to 
the  Huguenots,  or  Camisards  as  they  were  now  generally  called, 
and  hundreds  of  men,  women,  and  children,  the  inhabitants  of  whole 
towns,  were  butchered  in  cold  blood. 

§  9. — In  the  year  1705,  a  few  months  after  the  Camisards  ap- 
peared to  be  wholly  crushed,  some  of  the  leading  men  who  yet  sur- 
vived, secretly  assembled  at  the  house  of  Mons.  Boeton,  between 
Nismes  and  Montpellier,  to  consult  upon  a  new  attempt  to  extort 
religious  liberty  from  the  government.  The  plan  was  discovered : 
Boeton  was  apprehended,  and  condemned  to  the  horrible  death  of 
being  broken  alive  upon  the  wheel — a  cruel  death,  which  he  bore 
with  a  fortitude  worthy  of  the  primitive  martyrs,  and  which  showed 
that  the  spirit  which  animated  a  Huss,  a  Latimer,  and  a  Ridley,  was 
not  extinct  at  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century.  When 
led  forth  to  execution,  he  never  ceased  to  raise  his  voice  above  the 
rolling  of  the  drums,  to  exhort  the  spectators,  and  especially  such 
as  he  saw  dissolved  in  tears,  to  "  continue  to  remain  firm  in  the 
communion  of  Jesus  Christ."  Incessantly  importuned  by  two 
priests  who  accompanied  him,  and  who  offered  him  pardon  in  the 
name  of  the  King,  if  he  would  abjure  his  religion  and  repent  of  his 
faults,  he  was  seen  to  lift  his  eyes  toward  heaven,  as  if  praying  for 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  G07 

Cruel  martyrdom  of  Boeton.  His  courage  and  piety  to  the  last. 

strength  to  withstand  the  suggestions  of  those  ecclesiastics,  whom 
he  regarded  as  angels  of  darkness  sent  to  seduce  him,  and  for  forti- 
tude to  endure  the  attacks  of  death,  like  a  faithful  soldier  fighting 
in  the  cause  of  God. 

One  of  his  friends,  who  chanced  to  be  out  and  perceived  him 
approaching,  was  so  deeply  pained  by  this  touching  sight,  that  he 
stepped  hastily  and  in  tears  into  a  shop  to  avoid  meeting  him. 
Boeton,  having  observed  him,  asked  permission  to  say  a  word  to 
his  friend.  It  was  granted,  and  he  desired  that  he  might  be  called 
out.  "  What !"  said  he,  "  do  you  shun  me  because  you  see  me 
clothed  in  the  livery  of  Christ!  Why  should  you  weep,  when  he 
grants  me  the  favor  to  call  me  to  himself,  and  to  seal  the  defence 
of  his  cause  with  my  blood  ?"  Sobs  choked  the  utterance  of  his 
friend,  who  was  going  to  embrace  him,  when  the  archers  made 
Boeton  walk  on.  As  soon  as  he  came  in  sight  of  the  scaffold 
erected  on  the  esplanade,  he  exclaimed,  "  Courage.  O  my  soul  !  I 
behold  the  scene  of  thy  triumph.  Soon,  released  from  thy  painful 
bonds,  thou  wilt  be  in  heaven  !" 

Without  a  murmur  he  submitted  to  the  torments  prepared  for 
him.  The  bones  of  his  legs,  thighs,  and  arms,  were  broken  by  the 
blow  of  the  executioner's  club  ;  and  in  this  deplorable  and  mutilated 
condition  he  was  left  fastened  to  the  torturing  wheel,  with  his  head 
hanging  down,  for  five  hours,  which  he  spent  in  singing  hymns,  in 
fervent  prayers  to  God,  and  exhortations  to  those  who  drew  nigh 
to  listen.  His  tormentors  perceiving  from  the  tears  of  the  specta- 
tors, and  their  loud  praises  of  the  constancy  of  the  suffering  mar- 
tyr, that  instead  of  striking  terror  into  the  protestants,  this  specta- 
cle only  tended  to  strengthen  them  in  their  faith,  the  order  was 
given  for  the  executioner  to  terminate  his  work  by  the  coup  de 
grace.  As  he  was  about  to  do  this,  an  archer  on  the  scaffold  ex- 
claimed, in  the  true  spirit  of  Popery,  that  this  Huguenot  ought  to 
be  left  to  die  on  the  wheel,  since  he  would  not  renounce  his  errors. 
Boeton  made  this  reply  to  the  cruel  wretch :  "  You  think,  my 
friend,  that  I  am  in  pain ;  indeed  I  am  :  but  learn  that  He  who  is 
with  me  and  for  whom  I  suffer  gives  me  strength  to  endure  my  suf- 
fering with  joy." 

The  executioner  now  came  to  complete  his  task.  Boeton  made 
a  last  effort ;  raised  his  head,  notwithstanding  the  horrible  state 
to  which  he  was  reduced ;  and,  lifting  his  voice  above  the  drums, 
which  had  never  ceased  beating  during  the  execution,  among  the 
troops  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle  around  the  scaffold,  he  em- 
phatically pronounced  these  his  last  words;  "  My  dearest  brethren, 
let  my  death  be  an  example  to  you  to  maintain  the  purity  of  the. 
Gospel,  and  be  faithful  witnesses  how  I  die  in  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  of  his  holy  apostles,"  and  immediately  expired. 

§  10. — It  is  computed  that  to  the  persecuting  spirit  of  Louis 
XIV.,  not  less  than  three  hundred  thousand  protestants  were 
sacrificed  during  his  reign.  After  his  death  in  1714,  the  French 
protestants   enjoyed    a   temporal-}*   respite    from    their    sufferings, 


008  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 

Popish  clergy  clamor  for  the  execution  of  the  laws  against  heretics    Martyrdom  of  Rochette,  &c,  in  17t>2. 

though  the  edicts  against  them  remained  unchanged,  and  they 
were  still  in  various  ways  exposed  to  the  annoyances  of  their  ene- 
mies. One  of  the  most  serious  of  these  was  the  fact,  that  their 
marriages  were  regarded  as  illegal,  because  not  solemnized  by  a 
papal  priest.  The  children  of  such  parents  were  regarded,  in  the 
eye  of  the  law,  as  illegitimate,  and  the  parents  represented  by  the 
priests  as  living  in  a  state  of  concubinage.  Property  left  to  such 
children  was  in  many  cases  made  over  to  the  nearest  popish  relative, 
and  in  other  instances  confiscated  to  the  crown. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  popish  clergy  clamored  for  the  literal 
execution  of  the  laws  against  heretics.  The  bishop  of  Alais,  in 
reply  to  an  officer  who  was  a  friend  to  tolerance,  wrote — "  The 
magistrates  have  relaxed  the  severity  of  the  ordinances,  and  thus 
caused  all  the  evils  of  which  the  state  has  to  complain."  Another 
popish  prelate,  the  bishop  of  Agen,  having  heard  a  report  that  the 
tolerating  edict  of  Nantes  was  to  be  re-enacted,  wrote  a  pamphlet 
praising  the  piety  of  Louis  XIV.  for  revoking  that  decree,  and  for 
persecuting  the  heretics,  and  expressing  the  hope  that  his  successor 
would  never  undo  the  noble  deed  of  his  predecessor.* 

§  11. — About  the  year  1745,  the  former  cruelties  were  revived,  and 
all  Huguenot  pastors  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  government 
were  put  to  a  cruel  death.  The  apprehension  of  M.  Desubas,  a 
young  pastor,  in  December,  1745,  was  the  cause  of  a  most  cruel  and 
wanton  waste  of  life.  Some  of  his  flock  assembled  unarmed  to 
implore  the  liberation  of  their  beloved  pastor,  and  were  twice 
fired  upon  with  muskets,  by  which  upwards  of  forty  were  killed. 
The  young  pastor  obtained  the  crown  of  martyrdom,  February  1st, 
1746.  Among  those  who  fell  victims  to  this  cruel  persecution  were 
a  venerable  man  of  eighty  years  old,  who  was  condemned  to  be 
hung  for  preaching,  and  went  to  the  gallows  repeating  the  fifty-first 
Psalm,  and  a  youthful  pastor  named  Benezet,  whose  patience,  cou- 
rage, and  joy,  at  the  hour  of  his  martyrdom,  in  January,  1752,  were 
such  as  to  lead  even  the  executioner  to  say  that  he  "  did  not  hang 
a  man,  but  an  angel." 

So  late  as  1762,  a  Huguenot  pastor  named  Francis  Rochette. 
and  three  brothers  named  Grenier,  who  had  made  an  attempt  to 
rescue  their  pastor,  were  executed  at  Thoulouse.  The  eldest  was 
not  twenty-two  years  of  age.  They  had  endeavored  to  release 
their  pastor  from  captivity,  and  were  beheaded  close  to  the  gibbet 
on  which  Rochette  was  hanged.  They  were  offered  their  lives  if 
they  would  abjure  ;  but  their  firmness  did  not  relieve  them  from 
the  obtruding  solicitations  of  four  priests,  who  beset  them  until  the 
fatal  moment.  As  the  crucifix  was  occasionally  presented  to  the 
brothers,  the  eldest  observed :  "  Speak  to  us  of  him  who  died  for 
our  sins  and  rose  again  for  our  justification,  and  we  are  ready  to 
listen  ;  but  do  not  introduce  your  superstitions."  Rochette  was 
forced  to  descend  in  front  of  the  cathedral,  where  he  was  ordered 

*  See  Browning's  History  of  the  Huguenots,  chap.  lxvi. 


chap,  n.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1GS5-1845.  609 


Cessation  oi'  the  persecution.  Remonstrance  of  the  popish  clergy.  The  French  revolution. 

to  make  the  amende  honorable :  but  he  boldly  declared  his  princi- 
ples, refused  to  ask  pardon  of  the  King,  forgave  his  judges,  and  to 
the  last  displayed  a  martyr's  constancy.  The  brothers  Grenier 
were  equally  firm.  After  two  had  suffered,  the  executioner  en- 
treated the  younger  to  escape  their  fate  by  abjuring.  "  Do  thy 
duty,"  was  the  answer  he  received,  as  the  youth  submitted  to  the 
axe.* 

§  12. — Soon  after  this,  the  Jesuits,  the  relentless  enemies  of  the 
Huguenots,  were  suppressed  in  France,  and  the  flowing  of  heretic 
blood  ceased;  though  an  effort  was  made  in  1765  by  the  popish 
clergy  to  resist  the  tendency  to  toleration  by  a  remonstrance  to  the 
King.  "  It  is  in  vain,"  that  body  declares.  "  that  all  public  worship, 
other  than  the  Catholic,  is  forbidden  in  your  dominions.  In  con- 
tempt of  the  wisest  laws,  the  protestants  have  seditious  meetings  on 
every  side.  Their  ministers  preach  heresy  and  administer  the 
Supper ;  and  we  have  the  pain  of  beholding  altar  raised  against 
altar,  and  the  pulpit  of  pestilence  opposing  that  of  truth.  If  the 
law  which  revoked  the  edict  of  Nantes — if  your  declaration  of 
1724  had  been  strictly  observed,  we  venture  to  say  there  would  be 
no  more  Calvinists  in  France.  Consider  the  effects  of  a  tolerance 
which  may  become  cruel  by  its  results.  Restore,  sire  !  restore  to 
the  laws  all  their  vigor — to  religion  its  splendor." 

Similar  presentations  were  made  by  the  papist  clergy  against 
the  protestant  assemblies  so  late  as  1770  and  1772,  thus  afford- 
ing the  most  conclusive  evidence  that  the  persecuting  spirit  of 
Popery  remained  unchanged,  and  that  its  priests,  even  so  late  as 
toward  the  close  of  the  last  century,  would  gladly  have  renewed 
against  the  heretics  of  France  the  massacres,  the  barbarities  and 
outrages  of  1572,  or  of  1G85.  A  few  years  subsequent  to  these 
memorials  against  the  protestants,  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  were 
themselves  exposed,  amidst  the  horrors  of  the  French  revolution, 
to  the  same  sufferings  of  confiscation  and  banishment,  which  they 
thus  earnestly  desired  to  be  inflicted  upon  their  protestant  neigh- 
bors. And  while  we  most  heartily  deprecate  the  atrocities  of  the 
infidel  faction  which  then  ruled  the  destinies  of  unhappy  France, 
and  rejoice  in  the  hospitality  shown  in  England  and  other  pro- 
testant lands,  to  the  banished  Romish  clergy  (among  whom  were, 
doubtless,  some  who  had  joined  in  these  persecuting  petitions 
twenty  years  before),  presenting  as  it  does  so  marked  a  contrast  to 
the  intolerance  and  cruelty  of  these  very  priests  towards  the  pro- 
testants in  their  own  land ;  at  the  same  time,  we  cannot  but  regard 
these  sufferings  as  a  part  of  that  retributive  vengeance  which  will 
not  always  sleep,  and  which  we  learn  from  the  eighteenth  chapter 
of  Revelations,  is  yet  to  fall  more  fearfully  upon  persecuting  and 
apostate  Rome. 

§  13. — The  Inquisition  in  Spain  continued  its  work  of  torture  and 

*  From  the  Toulousaines,  a  series  of  letters  published  in  1763,  cited  by  Brown- 
ing, 273. 


610  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 

The  Inquisition  in  Spain.  Its  suppression.  Still  exists  in  Rome. 

of  blood  through  the  greater  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  so 
late  as  November  7th,  1781,  a  woman  was  burnt  alive  by  the  sen- 
tence of  the  Holy  Oifice  at  Seville,  on  the  charge  of  having  formed 
a  contract  with  the  Devil.  At  the  time  of  the  suppression  of  the 
Inquisition  in  Spain  by  Napoleon,  in  1808,  multitudes  of  unhappy 
victims  were  found  in  a  most  deplorable  condition,  incarcerated  in 
the  horrid  dungeons  of  the  tribunal,  and  restored  by  the  French 
soldiery  to  liberty  and  their  homes.  Upon  the  restoration  of  Fer- 
dinand VII.,  the  Catholic  king  of  Spain,  he  re-established  the  In- 
quisition  by  an  ordinance  dated  July  21st,  1814,  and  appointed  the 
bishop  of  Almeria,  Inquisitor-general,  but  it  only  continued  in  ope- 
ration five  years.  Upon  the  revolution  of  1820,  it  was  finally  sup- 
pressed by  the  Cortes. 

In  the  Papal  States,  the  Inquisition  still  exists,  though  its  opera- 
tions are  conducted  with  much  secresy,  and  are  veiled  as  much 
as  possible  from  the  public  eye.  In  other  countries  the  exercise 
of  inquisitorial  power  is  frequently  entrusted  to  the  popish  prelates. 
The  Roman  tribunal  now  in  existence  is  that  established  by  pope 
Sixtas  V.  in  1588,  which  was  styled  the  "Holy  Roman  and  Uni- 
versal Inquisition."  It  consists  of  twelve  cardinals,  several  pre- 
lates as  assessors,  several  monks  called  consulters,  and  several 
priests  and  lawyers  called  qualificators,  whose  business  is  to  pre- 
pare the  cases.  Persons  at  Rome  are  frequently  imprisoned  for 
not  going  to  confession,  having  in  their  possession  bibles  and  pro- 
testant  books,  and  for  other  offences  against  Popery.  It  is  said  by 
papists  that  the  torture  and  the  punishment  of  death  is  not  now  in- 
flicted by  the  Romish  inquisition.  All  we  know  on  the  subject  is 
that  its  punishments  are  inflicted  with  the  profoundest  secresy,  that 
its  victims  are  no  longer  publicly  burnt  at  the  auto  da  fe,  and  that 
their  sufferings,  in  most  cases,  are  knowYi  only  to  themselves,  their 
persecutors,  and  to  God.  Occasionally,  a  victim  of  Romish  bar- 
barity escapes  to  a  land  of  freedom,  and  publishes  to  the  world  the 
recital  of  his  sufferings,  though  these  narratives  are  invariably  de- 
nounced as  false  by  the  Jesuitical  defenders  of  Rome,  in  accord- 
ance with  their  well  known  principle  of  action  that  frauds  are  holy 
and  lies  are  lawful,  when  told  for  the  good  of  the  church. 

§  14. — One  of  the  most  valuable  recent  narratives  of  this  kind  is 
that  of  a  young  monk,  named  Raffaele  Ciocci,  who  after  being  bar- 
barously treated  in  an  inquisitorial  prison  near  Rome,  in  1842,  till  he 
consented   to   sign  a  recantation,*  escaped  to  England,  where  he 

*  After  Raffaele  had  been  entrapped  into  the  hands  of  his  inquisitorial  persecu- 
tors, many  means  were  employed  by  the  Jesuits  to  subdue  him.  Four  times  a 
day  he  had  to  listen  to  a  long  sermon  against  the  doctrines  of  Protestantism.  To 
all  the  questions  which  he  addressed  to  the  Jesuits,  one  would  reply  :  "  Think  on 
hell,  my  son  !" — a  second  :  "  Think,  my  son.  how  terrible  (he  death  of  a  sinner  !;' 
— a  third  would  exclaim:  "Paradise!  my  son,  Paradise!"  Next,  recourse  was 
had  to  phantasmagory.  to  strike  him  with  terror.  A  skeleton  placed  in  his  cham- 
ber:  a  transparency,  presenting  a  resemblance  of  the  last  judgment  day,  suddenly 
appeared  before  him  during  the  rehearsal  of  terrible  discourses,  or  afterward  cal- 
culated to  affect  him.     At  last,  filth  and  privations  of  every  kind  came  also  to  the 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  611 

Treatment  of  Raffaele  Ciocci  by  the  Roman  Inquisition,  in  1842. 

published  his  thrilling  and  instructive  narrative,  a  production  which 
bears  internal  evidences  of  its  truth,  as  is  well  remarked  by  Sir 

aid  of  the  Jesuits,  in  subduing  their  obstinate  pupil.  When  they  saw  him  suffi- 
ciently shaken,  the  following  declaration  was  offered  to  him  for  his  signature:  "I, 
Raffaele  Ciocci,  a  Benedictine  and  Cistercian  monk,  unskilled  in  theological  doc- 
trines, having  in  good  faith,  and  without  malice,  fallen  into  the  errors  of  the  pro- 
testants,  being  now  enlightened  and  convinced,  acknowledge  my  errors.  1  retract 
them,  regret  them,  and  declare  the  Roman  church  to  be  the  only  true  Catholic 
and  Apostolic  church.  I  bind  myself,  therefore,  to  teach  and  preach  according  to 
her  doctrines,  being  ready  to  shed  my  blood  for  her  sake.  Finally,  I  ask  pardon 
of  all  those  to  whom  my  anti-Catholic  discourses  may  have  been  an  occasion  of 
error,  and  I  pray  God  to  pardon  my  sins."  On  reading  these  lines,  Raffaele 
trembled  with  indignation,  and  immediately^xclaimed  :  "  Kill  me,  if  you  please, 
my  life  is  in  your  power ;  but  as  for  subscribing  this  iniquitous  formulary,  I  shall 
do  so — never  !" 

After  vain  efforts  to  induce  him  to  comply  with  his  wishes,  the  Jesuit  withdrew 

in  a  rage The  following  day  Raffaele  appeared  before  his  persecutors. 

who  again  urged  him  to  sign  the  declaration.  On  his  refusal  Father  Rossini 
spoke  :  "  Your  opinions  are  inflexible  ;  be  it  so  ;  we  are  going  to  treat  you  as  you 
deserve.  Rebellious  son  of  the  church,  in  the  plenitude  of  power  which  she  has 
received  from  Christ,  you  shall  feel  the  holy  rigor  of  her  laws.  She  cannot  per- 
mit the  tares  to  infect  the  soil  in  which  grows  the  good  seed,  nor  suffer  you  to  re- 
main among  her  sons,  and  become  a  stumbling-block  for  the  ruin  of  many.  Aban- 
don the  hope,  therefore,  of  leaving  this  place,  and  of  returning  to  dwell  among 
the  faithful.  Know,  then,  that  all  is  over  with  you."  "  Then,"  continues  Raf- 
faele, "  there  was  a  long  silence  ;  all  the  terrors  which  had  seized  me  during  my 
seclusion  at  once  assailed  me.  The  immovable  countenances  of  the  Jesuits,  who 
in  their  cold  insusceptibility  of  feeling  seemed  alien  from  earth,  convinced  me  that 
all  indeed  was  over  with  me My  courage  failed,  and  trembling  I  ap- 
proached the  table  ;  with  a  convulsive  movement  I  seized  the  pen,  and  wrote 
....  my  shame  !  .  .  .  .  my  condemnation ;  .  .  .  .  God  of  mercy  !  O  may 
that  moment  be  blotted  from  my  life !" 

The  Jesuits  congratulated  him,  and  he  was  permitted  to  return  to  the  convent 
of  San  Bernardo,  in  which,  from  that  time,  he  was  allowed  a  little  more  liberty. 
He  continued,  meanwhile,  to  read  the  Bible,  and  strengthened  himself  more  and 
more  in  his  determination  to  break  definitely  with  the  errors  of  Rome,  and  to  bid 
an  eternal  adieu  to  Italy  and  his  family.  A  circumstance  presented  itself  which 
favored  the  execution  of  this  project.  Two  English  travellers,  whom  Raffaele 
accompanied  one  day  in  the  quality  of  cicerone,  in  the  circus  of  the  baths  of 
Diocletian,  and  to  whom  he  discovered  his  situation,  took  a  strong  interest  in  his 
behalf.  Several  times  they  returned,  had  conversations  with  the  unhappy  monk, 
and  undoubtedly  instructed  him  as  to  the  means  of  escaping  from  his  prison.  In 
fact,  not  long  after  this,  he  embarked  at  Civita-Vecchia,  where,  before  doing  so, 
he  had  the  privilege  of  reading,  posted  up  in  the  church,  a  brief  of  excommuni- 
cation against  "D.  Raffaele  Ciocci,  a  Cistercian  monk,  an  apostate  ;"  and  after 
various  distressing  perplexities,  owing  to  his  inexperience,  he  reached  Marseilles, 
crossed  France,  and  arrived  at  London,  where  he  was  received  with  kind  hospi- 
tality, and  protected  from  the  attempts  of  the  Jesuits  to  seize  once  more  on 
their  prey. 

"  Oh !"  exclaims  he,  "  that  my  companions  in  slavery  in  the  monasteries  of 
San  Bernardo  and  Santa  Croce,  in  Gerusalemme,  could  see  me  as  I  am,  in  a  state 
of  health  and  tranquillity,  while  they  are  taught  to  believe  that  the  excommunica- 
tion has  penetrated  my  bones,  and  that  I  am  wasting  away  like  a  lamp  whose  oil 
is  failing.  Poor  youths  !  seized  with  terror  at  the  funeral  ceremony  performed 
on  occasion  of  the  apostasy  of  any  member  of  the  Order,  they  are  not  aware  that 
it  is  but  a  trick,  calculated  to  expel  from  their  minds  every  thought  of  imitating 
the  example,  and  of  following  the  footsteps  of  the  fugitive." — (CioccVs  Narrative, 
page  137.) 

36 


812  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 

Continued  persecuting  policy  of  Rome.  Exiles  of  Zillerilial.  Bible-burning  at  Champlain. 

Culling  Eardly  Smith,  a  distinguished  protestant  gentleman,  who 
long  resided  in  Rome,  and  is  therefore  well  qualified  to  judge.* 
Not  more  than  two  years  ago  a  severe  decree  against  the  Jews  of 
Ancona  was  issued  by  the  Roman  Inquisition,  dated  from  the 
chancery  of  the  Holy  Office,  June  24th,  1843.  f 

The  persecuting  policy  of  Rome  is  still  carried  out  by  her 
priests  in  the  various  countries  where  they  arc  dispersed,  just  in 
proportion  to  the  power  and  influence  they  possess.  In  thoroughly 
popish  countries  they  continue  openly  and  without  disguise  to  act 
upon  their  ancient  intolerant  and  persecuting  principles,  though  the 
spirit  of  the  age  forbids  them,  as  formerly,  to  sacrifice  at  once 
whole  hecatombs  of  human  yictims  ;  in  semi-papal  lands,  as  in 
France  and  some  other  parts  of  continental  Europe,  where  Pro- 
testantism is  tolerated  by  the  government,  they  exhibit  the  same 
spirit  by  a  system  of  petty  annoyance,  and  attempted  restrictions 
upon  the  freedom  of  a  protestant  press  ;  and  in  protestant  lands,  as 
America  and  England,  in  order  the  more  effectually  to  accomplish 
their  designs,  they  aim,  as  much  as  possible,  to  conceal  the  true 
character  of  their  church,  and  sometimes  even  have  the  bare-faced 
effrontery  to  deny  that  persecution  is  or  ever  has  been  one  of  its 
dogmas.  In  the  first  case,  the  wolf  appears  in  his  own  proper  skin, 
showing  his  teeth,  and  growling  hatred  and  defiance  against  all 
opposers  ;  in  the  second,  with  his  teeth  extracted,  but  with  all  his 
native  ferocity,  showing  that  if  his  teeth  are  gone,  he  can  yet  bruise 
and  mangle  with  his  toothless  jaws;  and  in  the  last,  covered  all 
over  with  the  skin  of  a  lamb,  attempting  to  bleat  out  the  assertion, 
•'  /  am  not  a  wolf,  and  I  never  was,"  and  yet  by  the  very  tones  of 
his  voice  betraying  the  fact  that  though  clothed  in  the  skin  of  a 
lamb,  and  trying  to  look  innocent  and  harmless,  he  is  a  wolf  still ; 
waiting  only  for  a  suitable  opportunity  to  throw  off  his  temporary 
disguise,  and  appear  in  all  his  native  ferocity. 

§  15. — As  a  recent  illustration  of  this  unchanged  spirit  of  Roman- 
ism may  be  mentioned  the  persecutions,  banishment,  and  exile, 
in  the  year  1837,  of  upwards  of  four  hundred  protestants  of  Ziller- 
thal,  in  the  Tyrol,  for  no  other  reason  but  because  they  refused  to 
conform  to  the  Roman  Catholic  church. J 

As  another  instance  of  the  intolerance  of  Popery,  and  its  de- 
termined hatred  to  the  bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  may  be 
mentioned  an  occurrence  still  more  recent,  by  which  the  feelings 
of  protestant  Americans  were  outraged,  viz.,  the  public  burning 
of  bibles,  which  took  place  no  longer  ago  than  October  27th.  1842, 
at  Champlain,  a  village  in  the  State  of  New  York.  The  following 
account  of  this  sacrilegious  outrage  is  from  an  official  statement  of 
facts,  signed  by  four  respectable  citizens  appointed  as  a  committee 
for  that  purpose : — u  About  the  middle  of  October,  a  Mr.  Telmont. 

*  Romanism  in  Italy,  by  Sir  C.  E.  Smith,  page  41.  f  Ibid-,  49,  65. 

\  An  interesting  account  of  the  sufferings  of  these  exiles  for  conscience  sake 
has  been  written  by  Dr.  Rheinwald,  of  Berlin,  and  translated  from  the  German  by 
Mr.  John  B.  Saunders,  of  London. 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  613 

Jesuits  openly  burning  bibles.  Disgraceful  language  of  a  priest  on  the  protectant  bible  (note). 

a  missionary  of  the  Jesuits,  with  one  or  more  associates,  came  to 
Corbeau  in  this  town,  where  the  Catholic  Church  is  located,  and  as 
they  say  in  their  own  account  given  of  their  visit,  '  by  the  direction 
of  the  bishop  of  Montreal.'  On  their  arrival  they  commenced  a 
protracted  meeting,  which  lasted  several  weeks,  and  great  numbers 
of  Catholics  from  this  and  the  other  towns  of  the  county  attended 
day  after  day.  After  the  meeting  had  progressed  several  days, 
and  the  way  was  prepared  for  it,  an  order  was  issued  requiring  all 
who  had  bibles  or  testaments,  to  bring  them  in  to  the  priest,  or  '  lay 
them  at  the  feet  of  the  missionaries.'  The  requirement  was  gene- 
rally complied  with,  and  day  after  day  bibles  and  testaments  were 
carried  in ;  and  after  a  sufficient  number  was  collected,  they  were 
burned.  By  the  confession  of  Telmont,  as  appears  from  the  affi- 
davit of  S.  Hubbell,  there  were  several  burnings,  but  only  one  in 
public.  On  the  27th  of  October,  as  given  in  testimony  at  the  pub- 
lic meeting  held  there,  Telmont,  who  was  a  prominent  man  in  all 
the  movements,  brought  out  from  the  house  of  the  resident  priest, 
which  is  near  the  church,  as  many  bibles  as  he  could  carry  in  his 
arms  at  three  times,  and  placed  them  in  a  pile,  in  the  open  yard,  and 
then  set  fire  to  them  and  burned  them  to  ashes.  This  was  done  in 
open  day,  and  in  the  presence  of  many  spectators."  For  a  pictorial 
illustration  of  this  scene  of  popish  intolerance  and  sacrilege,  see  En- 
graving opposite  page  440. 

In  the  affidavit  of  S.  Hubbell,  Esq.,  above  alluded  to,  who  is  a 
respectable  lawyer  of  the  place,  it  is  stated  that  the  President  of 
the  Bible  Society,  in  company  with  Mr.  Hubbell,  waited  upon  the 
priests,  and  requested  that  inasmuch  as  the  bibles  had  been  given 
by  benevolent  societies,  they  should  be  returned  to  the  donors  and 
not  destroyed  ;  to  which  the  Jesuit  priest,  perhaps  with  less  cun- 
ning than  usually  belongs  to  his  order,  coolly  replied,  that  "  they 
had  burned  all  they  had  received,  and  intended  to  burn  all  they 
could  get."* 

§  16. — A  still  more  striking  illustration  of  the  unchangeably  per- 
secuting spirit  of  Popery  down  to  the  present  time,  remains  yet  to 
be  told.  In  the  Portuguese  island  of  Madeira,  which  is  almost  en- 
tirely under  the  control  of  the  popish  priesthood,  a  violent  persecu- 
tion has  been  lately  carried  on,  chiefly  in  consequence  of  the  suc- 

*  For  a  full  account  of  the  circumstances  connected  with  this  atrocious  act,  see 
"  Defence  of  the  Protestant  Scriptures  against  Popish  Apologists  for  the  Cham- 
plain  Bible-Burners,"  by  the  present  author.  The  above  little  work  was  written 
in  reply  to  a  popish  priest  named  Corry,  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  who  justified  the 
burning  of  the  bibles  upon  the  ground  of  the  alleged  unfaithfulness  of  the  pro- 
testant  version.  Among  other  statements  he  makes  use  of  the  following  dis- 
graceful language  : — "  If,  then,  such  a  version  of  the  bible  should  not  be  tolerated, 
the  question  then  is,  which  is  the  best  and  most  respectful  manner  to  make  away 
with  it.  As  for  myself,  I  icould  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  the  most  respectful  would  be 
to  burn  it,  rather  than  give  it  to  grocers  and  dealers  to  wrap  their  wares  in,  or 
consign  it  to  more  dishonorable  purposes  (!  !)  and  I  hardly  think,  that  there  is 
a  man  of  common  sense,  be  he  Catholic  or  protestant,  that  woil<J  ~t  say  the 
same." 


614  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 

A  woman  sentenced  to  death  for  heresy  in  1644,  by  the  papists  of  Madeira. 


cess  of  the  labors  of  Dr.  Kalley,  a  pious  physician  from  Scotland, 
and  a  British  subject,  resident  on  the  island.  Dr.  Kalley  has  for 
some  time  past  been  in  the  habit  of  reading  and  explaining  the 
scriptures  in  his  own  house  for  the  benefit  of  his  family  and  such 
others  as  chose  to  come  in.  Several  of  these  have  been  convinced 
of  the  errors  of  Popery,  and  have  consequently  exposed  themselves 
to  the  most  cruel  annoyances  and  persecutions.  In  a  letter  from 
Dr.  Kalley,  dated  May  4th,  1844,  and  published  in  the  London 
Record,  he  says  : 

"  Last  Sabbath  two  persons,  when  going  home  from  my  house, 
were  taken  prisoners  and  committed  to  jail,  where  they  now  lie, 
for  not  kneeling  to  the  host  (or  consecrated  wafer)  as  it  passed.  On 
Monday  a  third  was  imprisoned  on  the  same  charge.  On  Wednes- 
day, several  were  mauled  with  sticks,  and  some  taken  by  the  hands 
and  feet  as  in  procession,  and  carried  into  the  church,  and  made  to 
kneel  before  the  images.  On  the  2d  of  May,  a  girl  brought  me 
some  leaves  of  the  New  Testament,  telling  me,  with  tears,  that  her 
own  father  had  taken  two,  and  beaten  them  with  a  great  stick,  and 
then  burnt  them.  On  the  same  day,  Maria  Joaquina,  wife  of 
Manuel  Alves,  who  had  been  in  prison  nearly  a  year,  was  con- 
demned to  death."  (! ! !)  Yes,  condemned  to  death,  in  the  year 
1844,  for  denying  the  absurd  dogma  of  transubstantiation,  refusing 
to  participate  in  the  idolatry  of  worshipping  the  wafer  idol,  and  (in 
the  words  of  the  accusation)  "  blaspheming  against  the  images  of 
Christ  and  mother  of  God  ;"  in  plain  language,  refusing  to  give  that 
worship  to  senseless  blocks  of  wood  and  stone  which  is  due  only 
to  God.  The  same  letter  contains  a  copy  of  the  sentence  of  death 
passed  on  this  poor  woman  by  Judge  Negrao,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing is  an  extract : — 

"  In  view  of  the  answers  of  the  jury  and  discussion  of  the 
cause,  &c,  it  is  proved  that  the  accused,  Maria  Joaquina,  perhaps 
forgetful  of  the  principles  of  the  holy  religion  which  she  received 
in  her  first  years,  and  to  which  she  still  belongs,  has  maintained 
conversations  and  arguments  condemned  by  the  church,  maintain- 
ing that  veneration  should  not  be  given  to  images,  denying  the  real 
existence  of  Christ  in  the  sacred  host  (the  wafer),  the  mystery  of 
the  most  holy  Trinity  ;*  blaspheming  against  the  most  holy  Virgin, 
Mother  of  God,  and  advancing  other  expressions  against  the  doc- 
trines received  and  followed  by  the  Catholic  Apostolic  Roman 
Church,  expounding  these  condemned  doctrines  to  different  persons, 
thus  committing  the  crime  of  heresy  and  blasphemy,  &c. 
*  *  *  #  *  *  *  *  I  condemn  the  ac- 
cused, Maria  Joaquina,  to  suffer  death,  as  declared  in  the  said  law. 

*  Though  the  crime  of  the  papists  would  not  have  been  diminished  in  the 
slightest  degree,  had  this  accusation  been  true,  as  persecution  for  conscience  sake 
is  in  every  case  unjust ;  yet  it  is  due  to  this  victim  of  popish  persecution  to  say. 
on  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Kalley  and  others,  that  she  firmly  believes  the  doctrine  ot 
the  Trinity,  and  is  "  an  intelligent,  clear-minded,  Christian  woman,  quite  willing 
to  die,  if  the  Lord  will." 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  615 

Maria  Joaquina  in  her  dungeon.      Persecution,  not  a  mere  abuse,  but  part  of  the  system  of  Romanism. 

and  in  the  costs  of  the  process,  which  she  shall  pay  with  her  goods. 
Funchal  Oriental,  in  public  court,  2d  of  May,  1843.  Joze  Pereira 
Leito  Pitta  Ortegueira  Negrao." 

The  papists  have  not  yet  dared  to  brave  the  indignation  of  the 
world  by  executing  this  sentence,  and  thus  burning  or  hanging  a 
heretic  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Yet,  the  fact  that 
a  pious  and  respectable  woman,  the  mother  of  seven  children 
(the  youngest  at  the  breast  when  she  was  cast  into  prison), 
should  receive  such  a  sentence  in  the  year  1844,  for  the  crime  of 
heresy,  should  arouse  the  whole  protestant  world  to  the  unchange- 
ably persecuting  character  of  the  apostate  church  of  Rome.  At 
the  last  accounts,  the  poor  woman  was  still  languishing  in  her  dun- 
geon ;  Dr.  Kalley  states  his  opinion  that  "it  is  as  likely  that  she  will 
be  actually  executed,  as  it  was  that  she  should  be  condemned  to 
death."  Of  this,  however,  we  have  doubts.  However  glad  the 
popish  priests  might  have  been  to  burn  a  heretic,  could  they  have 
confined  the  knowledge  of  the  fact  to  their  own  little  island,  they 
dare  not,  and  they  will  not  do  it,  now  their  cruelty  has  been  pub- 
lished abroad,  and  the  pulse  of  the  whole  protestant  world  is  throb- 
bing with  sympathy  for  that  suffering  martyr  of  the  nineteenth 
century  as  she  pines  in  her  lonely  dungeon,  the  persecuted  Maria 
Joaquina. 

§  17. — The  instances  of  persecution  and  intolerance  above  related 
are  not  mere  abuses  of  the  system  of  Romanism,  or  excrescences 
upon  it ;  they  are  a  part  of  the  system  itself,  and  that  Romish 
bishop  who  does  not,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  "  persecute  and 
oppose"  heretics  and  rebels  against  his  Lord,  the  Pope,  is  false  to 
his  most  solemn  oath.  This  will  be  evident  from  the  following 
oath,  which  is  taken  by  every  archbishop  and  bishop,  and  by  all 
who  receive  any  dignity  from  the  Pope.  Let  particular  notice  be 
taken  of  the  sentence  printed  in  capitals. 

Bishops'  Oath  of  Allegiance  to  the  Pope. — "  I,  N.,  elect  of  the  Church 
of  N.,  from  henceforward  will  be  faithful  and  obedient  to  St.  Peter  the  Apostle, 
and  to  the  holy  Roman  Church,  and  to  our  Lord,  the  Lord  N.,  pope  N.,  and  to  his 
successors,  canonically  entering.  I  will  neither  advise,  consent,  nor  do  anything 
that  they  may  lose  life  or  member,  or  that  their  persons  may  be  seized,  or  hands 
in  anywise  laid  upon  them,  or  any  injuries  offered  to  them,  under  any  pretence 
whatsoever.  The  counsel  with  which  they  shall  intrust  me  by  themselves,  their 
messengers,  or  letters,  I  will  not  knowingly  reveal  to  any  to  their  prejudice.  I 
will  help  them  to  defend  and  keep  the  Roman  papacy,  and  the  royalties  of  St. 
Peter,  saving  my  order,  against  all  men.  The  legate  of  the  apostolic  See,  going 
and  coming,  I  will  honorably  treat  and  help  in  his  necessities.  The  rights, 
honors,  privileges,  and  authority  of  the  holy  Roman  Church,  of  our  Lord  the 
Pope,  and  his  aforesaid  successors,  I  will  endeavor  to  preserve,  defend,  increase, 
and  advance.  I  will  not  be  in  any  counsel,  action,  or  treaty,  in  which  shall  be 
plotted  against  our  said  Lord,  and  the  said  Roman  Church,  anything  to  the  hurt 
or  prejudice  of  their  persons,  right,  honor,  state  or  power ;  and  if  I  shall  know 
any  such  thing  to  be  treated  or  agitated  by  any  whatsoever,  I  will  hinder  it  to  my 
utmost,  and  as  soon  as  I  can,  will  signify  it  to  our  said  Lord,  or  to  some  other,  by 
whom  it  may  come  to  his  knowledge.  The  rules  of  the  holy  Fathers,  the  apos- 
tolic decrees,  ordinances,  or  disposals,  reservations,  provisions,  and  mandates,  I 
will  observe  with  all  my  might,  and  cause  to  be  observed  by  others. 


(516  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 

Bishop's  oalh  to  persecute  heretics.  Persecution  as  much  an  article  of  faith  as  the  Mass,  &c. 

"Heretics,  schismatics,  and  rebels  to  our  said  Lord,  or  his  aforesaid 
successors,  I  will  to  my  utmost  PERSECUTE  AND  OPPOSE,  <  Here- 
ticos,  schismaticos,  et  rebelles  eidem  domino  nostro  vel  successoribus  prsedictis  pro 
■posse  persequar  el  oppugnabo.''  I  will  come  to  a  council  when  I  am  called,  unless  I 
be  hindered  by  a  canonical  impediment.  I  will  by  myself  in  person  visit  the 
threshold  of  the  Apostles  every  three  years ;  and  give  an  account  to  our  Lord  and 
his  foresaid  successors  of  all  my  pastoral  office,  and  of  all  things  anywise  belong- 
ing to  the  state  of  my  Church,  to  the  discipline  of  my  clergy  and  people,  and 
lastly  to  the  salvation  of  souls  committed  to  my  trust;  and  will  in  like  manner 
humbly  receive  and  diligently  execute  the  apostolic  commands.  And  if  I  be  de- 
tained by  a  lawful  impediment,  I  will  perform  all  the  things  aforesaid  by  a  certain 
messenger  hereto  specially  empowered,  a  member  of  my  chapter,  or  some  other 
in  ecclesiastical  dignity,  or  else  having  a  parsonage ;  or  in  default  of  those,  by 
a  priest  of  the  diocess  ;  or  in  default  of  one  of  the  clergy  of  the  diocess,  by  some 
other  secular  or  regular  priest  of  approved  integrity  and  religion,  fully  instructed 
in  all  things  above-mentioned.  And  such  impediment  I  will  make  out  by  lawful 
proofs  to  be  transmitted  by  the  foresaid  messenger  to  the  cardinal  proponent  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Church  in  the  congregation  of  the  sacred  council.  The  pos- 
sessions belonging  to  my  table  I  will  neither  sell,  nor  give  away,  nor  mortgage, 
nor  grant  anew  in  fee,  nor  anywise  alienate,  not  even  with  the  consent  of  the 
chapter  of  my  Church,  without  consulting  the  Roman  Pontiff.  And  if  I  shall 
make  any  alienation,  I  will  thereby  incur  the  penalties  contained  in  a  certain  con- 
stitution put  forth  about  this  matter.  So  help  me  God  and  these  holy  Gospels  of 
God." 

The  original  Latin  of  this  oath  may  be  found  in  the  treatise  of 
the  learned  Dr.  Isaac  Barrow,  on  the  papal  supremacy  (works, 
folio  edition,  vol.  i.,  page  553).  It  was  copied  by  Barrow  from 
"  the  Roman  Pontificate,  set  out  by  order  of  pope  Clement  VIII." 
(Antwerp,  anno  1626,  p,  59,  &c.)  After  quoting  the  oath,  Dr. 
Barrow  remarks :  "  Such  is  the  oath  prescribed  to  bishops,  the 
which  is  worth  the  most  serious  attention  of  all  men  who  would 
understand  how  miserably  slavish  the  condition  of  the  clergy  is 
in  that  church,  and  how  inconsistent  their  obligation  to  the  Pope  is 
with  their  duty  to  their  prince  ;"  and  we  may  add,  with  their 
fidelity  and  allegiance  to  any  government  under  which  they  dwell. 

Besides  thus  solemnly  engaging  to  "  persecute  and  oppose  here- 
tics," every  bishop  and  priest,  in  swearing  to  the  creed  of  pope 
Pius  (see  page  539).  professes  to  receive  "  all  things  delivered,  de- 
fined, and  declared  by  the  general  councils,"  including,  of  course, 
the  decrees  of  several  of  those  councils  for  the  extirpation  of  here- 
tics, which  have  been  cited  in  the  progress  of  this  work  (see  pages 
302,  332,  434,  543-545).  Nothing  can  be  more  evident,  therefore, 
than  that  the  right  to  persecute  heretics,  and  the  duty  of  exercising 
this  right  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  is  at  the  present  time  as 
much  an  article  of  faith  of  every  Romish  prelate  and  priest  as  the 
doctrine  of  the  Mass,  of  Purgatory,  or  of  Extreme  Unction. 

§  18. — It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one  which  well  illustrates  the 
unchangeably  persecuting  spirit  of  Popery,  that  a  solemn  curse, 
"  with  bell,  book,  and  candle,"  against  all  heretics,  is  annually  pro- 
nounced by  the  Pope  at  Rome,  and  by  other  ecclesiastics  in  other 
places,  on  the  Thursday  of  passion  week,  the  day  before  Good 
Friday,  the  anniversary  of  the  Saviour's  crucifixion.     This  is  called 


chap,  ii.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  16S5-1845.  617 

Ceremony  of  excommunication  and  cursing  at  Rome  on  Holy  Thursday. 


the  Bull  in  ccena  domini,  or  "  at  the  supper  of  the  Lord."  The  cere- 
monies on  this  occasion  are  well  adapted  to  strike  terror  into  the 
superstitious  multitude.  The  bull  consists  of  thirty-one  sections, 
describing  different  classes  of  excommunicated  persons.  The  fol- 
lowing single  section,  which  includes  all  protestants,  is  given  as  a 
specimen. 

"  In  the  name  of  God  Almighty,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  blessed  Apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  and  by  our  own,  we  excommuni- 
cate and  anathematize  all  Hussites,  Wickliffites,  Lutherans,  Zuinglians,  Calvin- 
ists,  Huguenots,  Anabaptists,  Trinitarians,  and  other  apostates,  from  the  faith  ; 
and  all  other  heretics,  by  whatsoever  name  they  are  called,  or  of  whatever  sect 
they  be.  And  also  their  adherents,  receivers,  favorers,  and  generally  any  de- 
fenders of  them :  with  all  who,  without  our  authority,  or  that  of  the  apostolic 
See,  knowingly  read  or  retain,  or  in  any  way,  or  from  any  cause,  publicly  or  pri- 
vately, or  from  any  pretext,  defend  their  books  containing  heresy,  or  treating  of 
religion  ;  as  also  schismatics,  and  those  who  withdraw  themselves,  or  recede  ob- 
stinately from  their  obedience  to  us,  or  the  existing  Roman  Pontiff." 

§  19. — A  recent  spectator  of  the  ceremony  at  Rome  says  that  after 
the  excommunicated  are  mentioned,  the  curse  proceeds  as  follows : — 
"  Excommunicated  and  accursed  may  they  be,  and  given  body  and 
soul  to  the  devil.     Cursed  be  they  in  cities,  in  towns,  in  fields,  in 
ways,  in  paths,  in  houses,  out  of  houses,  and  all  other  places,  stand- 
ing!! lying  or  rising,  walking,  running,   waking,   sleeping,  eating, 
drinking,  and  whatsoever  things  they  do  besides.     We  separate 
them  from  the  threshold,  and  from  all  prayers  of  the  church,  from 
the   holy  mass,  from  all  sacraments,  chapels,  and  altars,  from  holy 
bread  and  holy  water,  from  all  the  merits  of  God's  priests  and  re- 
ligious men,  from  all  their  pardons,  privileges,  grants,  and  immuni- 
ties, which  all  the  holy  fathers,  the  popes  of  Rome  have  granted ; 
and  we  give  them  utterly  over  to  the  power  of  the  fiend  !     And  let 
us  quench  their  soul,  if  they  be  dead,  this  night  in  the  pains  of  hell- 
fire,  as  this  candle  is  now  quenched  and  put  out  (and  then  one  of 
them  is  put  out),  and  let  us  pray  to  God,  that  if  they  be  alive,  their 
eyes  may  be  put  out,  as  this  candle  is  put  out  (another  was  then 
extinguished)  ;  and  let  us  pray  to  God,  and  to  our  Lady,  and  to 
St.  Peter,  and  St.  Paul,  and  the  holy  saints,  that  all  the  senses  of 
their  bodies  may  fail  them,  and  that  they  may  have  no  feeling,  as 
now  the   light  of  this  candle  is  gone  (the  third  was  then  put  out), 
except  they  come  openly  now,  and  confess  their  blasphemy,  and  by 
repentance,  as  in  them  shall  lie,  make  satisfaction  unto  God,  our 
Lady,  St.   Peter,  and  the  worshipful   company  of  this  cathedral 
church.     And  as  this  cross  falleth  down,  so  may  they,  except  they 
repent,  and  show  themselves."     Then  the  cross  on  which  the  ex- 
tinguished lights  had  been  fixed  was  allowed  to  fall  down  with  a 
loud  noise,  and  the  superstitious  multitude  shouted  with  fear.     This 
terrific  scene  is  represented  by  the  gilt  stamp  on  the  back  of  the 
volume,  as  completely  as  was  possible  in  so  small  a  compass. 

The   impious   farce  of  cursing  is   soon  followed  by  the  Pope's 
blessing  on  all  who   believe,  or  profess  to  believe,  his  own  creed. 


G18  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  be. 


Popery  still  unchanged  with  respect  to  freedom  of  opinion  and  the  press,  &x. 


On  Easter  day  he  says  mass  at  the  high  altar  of  St.  Peter's,  and  at 
its  close  pronounces  his  blessing  on  the  prostrate  multitude  in  the 
square  below,  many  of  whom  are  pilgrims  from  considerable  dis- 
tances. (See  Engraving  opposite  page  430.)  One  thing  is,  how- 
ever, clear  :  he  curses  some  who  are  objects  of  the  Divine  favor  ; 
he  blesses  others  with  whom  God  is  angry  every  day.  In  each 
instance  he  speaks  in  vain,  as  it  regards  them ;  but  in  every  one 
there  is  a  record  against  him  of  presumptuous  sin,  in  the  book  of 
God's  remembrance.* 


CHAPTER  III. 

POPERY  UNCHANGED. MODERN  DOCUMENTARY  EVIDENCE  OF  ITS  HATRED 

TO    LIBERTY    OF    OPINION,  SEPARATION    OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE,  FREE- 
DOM   OF    THE    PRESS,    AND    A    TRANSLATED    BIBLE. 

§  20. — An  impression  is  extensively  prevalent  that  the  Popery 
of  the  present  day  is  something  entirely  different  from  the  Popery 
of  the  dark  ages,  when  amidst  the  gloom  and  the  superstition  of 
the  world's  midnight,  it  reigned  Despot  of  the  World.  Yet  while 
this  change  for  the  better  is  charitably  believed  by  some  lukewarm 
protestants,  who  are  therefore  contented  to  lay  down  their  weapons 
and  forsake  their  watch-tower,  it  is  absolutely  and  unequivocally 
denied  by  the  most  celebrated  champions  of  Rome.  Says  Charles 
Butler,  in  his  Book  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  "  It  is  most  true 
that  Roman  Catholics  believe  the  doctrines  of  their  church  to  be 
unchangeable  ;  and  that  it  is  a  tenet  of  their  creed,  that  what  their 
faith  ever  has  been,  such  it  was  from  the  beginning,  such  it  is  now, 
and  such  it  ever  will  be." 

We  have  already  seen,  in  the  last  chapter,  that  Popery  is  the 
same  as  in  the  dark  ages,  with  respect  to  its  essentially  persecuting 
spirit.  We  shall  now  proceed  by  citations  from  various  authentic 
documents  of  recent  date,  and  by  a  reference  to  the  state  of  Popery, 
as  it  is  at  present  seen  in  popish  countries,  to  show  that  in 
every  important  particular  ;  in  its  hatred  to  the  freedom  of  opinion 
and  of  the  press,  and  to  the  bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue  ;  in  its  hos- 
tility to  the  separation  of  church  and  state ;  in  its  debasing,  super- 
stitious, and  grovelling  idolatry  ;  its  blasphemous  pretended  power 
of  indulgences,  and  its  forged  miracles  and  lying  wonders  ;  in  all 
these  respects,  that  Popery  is  even  now  the  same  that  we  have  seen 
it  throughout  the  career  of  ages,  over  which  our  long  journey  is 
now  nearly  finished. 

*  Spirit  of  Popery,  page  115. 


chap,  m.]         POPERY  JN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  619 

Liberty  of  opinion  still  forbidden.  Pope  opposed  to  separation  of  church  and  state, 

§21. — In  the  last  session  of  the  council  of  Trent,  it  was  decreed 
in  reference  to  certain  doctrines,  "  If  any  one  shall  presume  to 
teach  or  think  (' senserit')  differently  from  these  decrees,  let  him 
be  accursed"  (see  page  534).  Thus  we  see  that  Popery  invades 
the  sanctuary  of  a  man's  most  secret  thoughts,  and  however  con- 
sistently he  may  speak  or  act,  if  he  presumes  only  to  think  differ- 
ently from  her  decrees,  subjects  himself  to  her  curse.  To  show 
that  liberty  of  opinion  is  still  prohibited  in  the  Romish  church,  it 
will  be  sufficient  to  present  a  single  extract  from  a  document  which 
no  Roman  Catholic  will  presume  to  dispute,  emanating  from  the 
Supreme  Pontiff  himself,  of  no  older  date  than  August  15th,  1832. 
It  is  the  famous  Encyclical  letter  of  the  now  reigning  Pope, — 
Gregory  XVI. 

"  From  that  polluted  fountain  of  indifference  flows  that  absurd  and  erroneous 
doctrine,  or  rather  raving,  in  favor  and  in  defence  of  '  liberty  of  conscience, ,  for 
which  most  pestilential  error,  the  course  is  opened  by  that  entire  and  wild  liberty 
of  opinion  which  is  everywhere  attempting  the  overthrow  of  civil  and  religious 
institutions  ;  and  which  the  unblushing  impudence  of  some  has  held  forth  as  an 
advantage  of  religion."  *  *  *  *  "  From  hence  arise  these  revolutions  in  the 
minds  of  men,  hence  this  aggravated  corruption  of  youth,  hence  this  contempt 
among  the  people  of  sacred  things,  and  of  the  most  holy  institutions  and  laws  ; 
hence,  in  one  word,  that  pest  of  all  others  most  to  be  dreaded  in  a  state,  unbridled 
liberty  of  opinion." 

§  22. — It  might  be  expected  that  a  power  which  is  thus  bitterly  hos- 
tile to  liberty  of  opinion,^hould  be  equally  opposed  to  the  separation 
of  church  and  state,  which  has  always  been  regarded  by  every  en- 
lightened friend  of  freedom,  as  one  of  the  surest  safeguards  of  the 
liberty  of  nations.  Accordingly  we  find  pope  Gregory,  in  the 
same  document,  making  use  of  the  following  plain  and  unequivocal 
language : — "  Nor  can  we  augur  more  consoling  consequences  to 
religion  and  to  government,  from  the  zeal  of  some  to  separate  the 
church  from  the  state,  and  to  burst  the  bond  which  unites  the  priest- 
hood to  the  empire.  For  it  is  clear  that  this  union  is  dreaded  by 
the  profane  lovers  of  liberty,  only  because  it  has  never  failed  to  con- 
fer prosperity  on  both." 

The  reason  why  the  Pope  is  in  favor  of  a  union  of  the  state 
with  the  church,  especially  when  the  secular  powers  can  be  held 
in  submission  to  Rome,  is  too  obvious  to  need  remark.  In  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  Gregory's  bull  of  1844,  the  Pope  calls  upon 
his  '•  venerable  brethren "  to  prevent  the  machinations  of  the 
Christian  Alliance,  and  by  exciting  the  jealousy  of  the  sovereigns 
of  Italy,  lest  their  subjects  should  obtain  with  liberty  of  conscience 
political  liberty  also,  he  invokes  their  aid  in  frustrating  these  "  sec- 
tarian combinations." 

"  Moreover,  venerable  brothers,"  says  he,  "  we  recommend  the  utmost  watchful- 
ness over  the  insidious  measures  and  attempts  of  the  Christian  Alliance,  to  those 
who,  raised  to  the  dignity  of  your  order,  are  called  to  govern  the  Italian  churches, 
or  the  countries  which  Italians  frequent  most  commonly,  especially  the  frontiers 
and  ports  whence  travellers  enter  Italy.     As  these  are  the  points  on  which  the 


520  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 


The  Pope's  horror  of  political  liberty.  Bull  agiiinst  the  "  detested  liberty  of  the  press.' 

sectarians  have  fixed  to  commence  the  realization  of  their  projects,  it  is  highly 
necessary  that  the  bishops  of  those  places  should  mutually  assist  each  other, 
zealously  and  faithfully,  in  order,  with  the  aid  of  God,  to  discover  and  prevent 
their  machinations. 

"  Let  us  not  doubt  but  your  exertions,  added  to  our  own,  will  be  seconded  by  the 
civil  authorities,  and  especially  by  the  most  influential  sovereigns  of  Italy,  no  less 
by  reason  of  their  favorable  regard  for  the  Catholic  religion,  than  that  they  plainly 
perceive  how  much  it  concerns  them  to  frustrate  these  sectarian  combinations. 
Indeed,  it  is  most  evident  from  past  experience,  that  there  are  no  means  more  cer- 
tain of  rendering  the  people  disobedient  to  their  -princes  than  rendering  them  indif- 
ferent to  religion,  under  the  mask  of  religious  liberty.  The  members  of  the  Chris- 
tian Alliance  do  not  conceal  this  fact  from  themselves,  although  they  declare  that 
they  are  far  from  wishing  to  excite  disorder ;  but  they,  notwithstanding,  avow 
that,  once  liberty  of  interpretation  obtained,  and  with  it  what  they  term  liberty  of 
conscience  among   Italians    these  last  will   naturally   soon   acquire    political 

LIBERTY." 

Such  has  ever  been  the  horror  of  the  popes,  in  all  countries  sub- 
ject to  their  sway,  lest  the  people  should  obtain  political  liberty. 

§  23. — From  the  decree  of  the  fourth  session  of  the  council  of 
Trent,  as  well  as  the  rules  of  the  congregation  of  the  Index  (see 
above,  pp.  488-499),  we  have  seen  that  the  laws  of  Popery  authori- 
tatively prohibit  the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  decree  certain  heavy 
penalties,  wherever  they  have  the  power  to  enforce  them,  on  all 
who  dare  to  exercise  that  freedom.  That  this  is  still  the  doctrine 
of  Rome  will  be  evident  from  an  additional  extract  or  two  from 
pope  Gregory's  bull  of  1832. 

"  Hither  tends  that  worst  and  never  sufficiently  to  be  execrated  and  de- 
tested liberty  of  the  press  for  the  diffusion  of  all  manner  of  writings,  which 
some  so  loudly  contend  for  and  so  actively  promote." 

Again  :  ';  No  means  must  be  here  omitted,  says  Clement  XIII.,  our  predecessor 
of  happy  memory  in  the  Encyclical  Letter  on  the  proscription  of  bad  books — no 
means  must  be  here  omitted,  as  the  extremity  of  the  case  calls  for  all  our  exertions, 
to  exterminate  the  fatal  pest  which  spreads  through  so  many  works,  nor  can  the 
materials  of  error  be  otherwise  destroyed  than  by  the  flames,  which  consume  the  de- 
praved elements  of  the  evil.  From  the  anxious  vigilance  then  of  the  Holy  Apos- 
tolic See,  through  every  age,  in  condemning  and  removing  from  men's  hands  sus- 
pected and  profane  books,  becomes  more  than  evident  the  falsity,  the  rashness,  and 
the  injury  offered  to  the  Apostolical  See  by  that  doctrine,  pregnant  with  the  most  de- 
plorable evils  to  the  Christian  ivorld,  advocated  by  some,  condemning  this  censure 
of  books  as  a  needless  burden,  rejecting  it  as  intolerable,  or  with 
infamous  effrontery,  proclaiming  it  to  be  irreconcilable  with  the  rights 
of  men,  or  denying,  in  fine,  the  right  of  exercising  such  a  power,  or  the 
EXISTENCE  of  it  in  the  church." 

In  addition  to  the  other  "  bitter  causes  of  solicitude,"  pope  Gregory  proceeds 
to  mention  "  certain  associations,  and  political  assemblies,"  in  which  {horribile 
dicta .')  "  liberty  of  every  kind  is  maintained,  revolutions  in  the  state  and  in 
religion  are  fomented,  and  the  sanctity  of  all  authority  is  torn  in  pieces." 

In  the  above  extracts  from  these  famous  documents  of  pope  Gre- 
gory, the  acknowledged  head  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church, 
there  is  no  ambiguity.  The  doctrine  of  Popery  is  stated  without 
disguise.  Let  the  reader  remember,  that  these  extracts  are  not 
from  a  document  of  the  dark  ages ;  that  they  did  not  proceed  from 
the  pen  of  a  Gregory  VII.,  or  an  Innocent  III.,  but  from  the  present 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  621 

Bunyuu's  giant  Pope  biting  his  nails.  Rome's  hatred  to  the  Bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue. 

reigning  Pope  in  the  nineteenth  century  ;  and  that  in  them  those 
rights  which  Americans  and  freemen  of  every  nation  hold  most 
dear,  liberty  of  opinion,  of  conscience,  and  of  the  press,  are 
fiercely  denounced  as  "absurd  and  erroneous  doctrines ;"  "preg- 
nant with  the  most  deplorable  evils'' — and  "pests  of  all  otliers  most 
to  be  dreaded  in  a  state  ;"  while  such  as  dare  to  "  condemn  this 
censure  of  books  as  a  needless  burden,''  "proclaim  it  to  be  irrecon- 
cilable with  the  rights  of  men"  or  deny  "  the  existence  of  such  a 
power  in  the  church,"  are  charged  with  falsity,  rashness,  and  in- 
famous effrontery  ! ! 

Who  will  deny  that  the  spirit  manifested  in  this  document 
would  prompt  its  author  to  enforce  its  abominable  doctrines  against 
the  friends  of  freedom  of  every  name,  by  the  rack,  the  faggot,  and 
the  stake,  like  his  predecessors,  in  the  palmy  days  when  Popery 
was  in  its  glory,  if  he  did  but  possess  the  power  ?  But,  in  the  words 
of  good  old  John  Bunyan,  though  the  giant  Pope  be  still  alive,  sit- 
ting "  among  the  blood,  bones,  ashes,  and  mangled  bodies  of  pil- 
grims that  had  gone  this  way  formerly,"  yet,  "  by  reason  of  age, 
and  also  of  the  many  shrewd  brushes  that  he  met  with  in  his 
younger  days,  he  has  grown  so  crazy  and  stiff  in  his  joints,  that  he 
can  now  do  little  more  than  sit  in  his  cave's  mouth,  grinning  at 
pilgrims,  as  they  go  by,  and  biting  his  nails,  that  he  cannot  come 
at  them." 

§  24. — With  respect  to  Ro??ie,s  hatred  to  the  bible  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  we  have  seen  that  the  council  of  Trent,  in  the  fourth  rule  of 
the  corgregationof  the  Index  (p.  492),  declares  that  its  indiscriminate 
use  will  be  productive  of  "  more  evil  than  good."  Such  is  still  the 
doctrine  of  Rome.  Within  the  last  thirty  years,  several  papal 
bulls,  or  circulars,  have  been  issued,  condemning  Bible  Societies 
and  the  free  circulation  of  the  scriptures  in  the  vulgar  tongue. 
One  by  pope  Pius  VIL,  in  1816,  one  by  Leo  XII.,  in  1824,  another 
by  Pius  VIII.,  in  1829,  and  two  by  the  present  Pope,  Gregory  XVI., 
in  1832  and  1844.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  give  a  brief  extract  from 
the  circular  of  Pius  VIL,  in  1816,  and  more  copious  extracts  from  the 
bull  of  1844,  which,  on  account  of  its  exhibition  of  the  present 
character  of  Popery,  is  the  most  valuable  of  them  all.  In  a  letter 
addressed  to  the  primate  of  Poland  relative  to  Bible  Societies,  and 
dated  June  26th,  1816,  pope  Pius  VII.  uses  the  following  language: 

"We  have  been  truly  shocked  at  this  most  crafty  device  (Bible  Societies),  by 
which  the  very  foundations  of  religion  are  undermined.  We  have  deliberated 
upon  the  measures  proper  to  be  adopted  by  our  pontifical  authority,  in  order  to 
remedy  and  abolish  this  pestilence,  as  far  as  possible, — this  defilement  of  the  faith 
so  imminently  dangerous  to  souls.  It  becomes  episcopal  duty,  that  you  first  of  all 
expose  the  wickedness  of  this  nefarious  scheme.     It  is  evident  from  experience, 

THAT  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES,  WHEN  CIRCULATED  IN  THE  VULGAR  TONGUE,  HAVE, 
THROUGH  THE  TEMERITY  OF  MEN,  PRODUCED  MORE  HARM  THAN  BENEFIT.      Warn  the 

people  entrusted  to  your  care,  that  they  fall  not  into  the  snares  prepared  far  their 
everlasting  ruin"  (that  is,  as  you  value  your  souls,  have  nothing  to  do  with  Bible 
Societies,  or  the  bibles  they  circulate). 


622  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM  [book  k. 

Gregory's  bull  of  1844.  All  versions  of  the  Scriptures  forbidden  without  popish  notes. 

§  25. — Nothing  but  want  of  space  (as  we  have  already  exceeded 
our  intended  limits)  prevents  us  from  giving  entire  the  last  bull  of 
pope  Gregory  XVI.,  dated  May  8th,  1844;  so  conclusive  is  the  evi- 
dence it  affords  of  Rome's  unchanged  hostility  to  the  Bible.  The 
fallowing  are  the  most  important  portions  : — 

"  Venerable  Brothers,  health  and  greeting  Apostolical : — Among  the  many 
attempts  which  the  enemies  of  Catholicism,  under  whatever  denomination  they 
may  appear,  are  daily  making  in  our  age,  to  seduce  the  truly  faithful,  and  deprive 
them  of  the  holy  instructions  of  the  faith,  the  efforts  of  those  Bible  Societies  are 
conspicuous,  which,  originally  established  in  England,  and  propagated  throughout 
the  universe,  labor  everywhere  to  disseminate  the  books  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
translated  into  the.  vulgar  tongue ;  consign  them  to  the  private  interpretation  of  each, 
alike  among  Christians  and  among  infidels  ;  continue  what  St.  Jerome  formerly 
complained  of — pretending  to  popularize  the  holy  pages,  and  render  them  intelli- 
gible, without  the  aid  of  any  interpreter,  to  persons  of  every  condition — to  the 
most  loquacious  woman,  to  the  light-headed  old  man,  to  the  ivordy  caviller ;  to  all, 
in  short,  and  even  by  an  absurdity  as  great  as  unheard  of,  to  the  most  hardened 
infidels."  The  Pope  then  proceeds  to  remark  that  these  societies  "  only  care 
audaciously  to  stimulate  all  to  a  private  interpretation  of  the  divine  oracles,  to 
inspire  contempt  for  divine  traditions,  which  the  Catholic  Church  preserves  upon 
the  authority  of  the  holy  fathers  ;  in  a  word,  to  cause  them  to  reject  even  the 
authority  of  the  Church  herself." 

The  Pope  then  proceeds  to  eulogize  the  tyrannical  and  bloody  persecutor  of  the 
Waldenses  and  founder  of  the  Inquisition,  for  his  zeal  against  "  Bibles  translated 
into  the  vulgar  tongue."  "  Hence  the  warning  and  decrees  of  our  predecessor 
innocent  III.,  of  happy  memory,  on  the  subject  of  lay  societies  and  meetings  of 
women,  who  had  assembled  themselves  in  the  diocese  of  Metz  for  objects  of  piety 
and  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Hence  the  prohibitions  which  subsequently 
appeared  in  France  and  Spain,  during  the  sixteenth  century,  with  respect  to  the 
vulgar  Bible." 

"  It  became  necessary  subsequently,"  he  adds,  "  to  take  even  greater  precau- 
tions, when  the  pretended  reformers,  Luther  and  Calvin,  daring,  by  a  multiplicity 
and  incredible  variety  of  errors,  to  attack  the  immutable  doctrine  of  the  faith, 
omitted  nothing  in  order  to  seduce  the  faithful  by  their  false  interpretations  and 
translations  into  the  vernacular  tongue,  which  the  then  novel  intention  of  printing 
contributed  more  rapidly  to  propagate  and  multiply.  Whence  it  was  generally 
laid  down  in  the  regulations  dictated  by  the  Fathers,  adopted  by  the  council  of 
Trent,  and  approved  by  our  predecessor  Pius  VII.,  of  happy  memory,  and  which 
(regulations)  are  prefixed  to  the  list  of  prohibited  books,  that  the  reading  of  the 
Holy  Bible,  translated  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  should  not  be  permitted  except  to 
those  to  whom  it  might  be  deemed  necessary  to  confirm  in  the  faith  and  piety. 
Subsequently,  when  heretics  still  persisted  in  their  frauds,  it  became  necessary  for 
Benedict  XIV.  to  superadd  the  injunction  that  no  versions  whatever  should 
be  suffered  to  be  read  but  those  which  should  be  approved  of  by  the 
Holt  See,  accompanied  by  notes  derived  from  the  writings  of  the  Holy 
Fathers,  or  other  learned  and  Catholic  authors. 

"  Notwithstanding  this,  some  new  sectarians  of  the  school  of  Jansenius,  after 
the  example  of  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  feared  not  to  blame  these  justifiable 
precautions  of  the  Apostolical  See,  as  if  the  reading  of  the  Holy  books  had  been  at 
all  I  i /nes,  and  for  all  the  faithful,  useful,  and  so  indispensable  that  no  authority 
could  assail  it. 

"  But  we  find  this  audacious  assertion  of  the  sect  of  Jansenius  withered  by  the 
most  rigorous  censures  in  the  solemn  sentence  which  was  pronounced  against 
their  doctrine,  with  the  assent  of  the  whole  Catholic  universe,  by  two  sovereign 
pontiffs  of  modern  times,  Clement  XI.  in  his  unigenilus  constitution  of  the  year 
1713,  and  Pius  VI.  in  his  constitution  acton  in  fidei,  of  the  year  1794.  Conse- 
quently, even  before  the  establishment  of  Bible  Societies  was  thought  of,  the 
decrees  of  the  Church,  which  we  have  quoted,  were  intended  to  guard  the  faithful 


chap,  in.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  023 

All  preceding  decrees  against  the  Scriptures  in  the  vulgar  tongue  confirmed  by  pope  Gregory. 


against  the  frauds  of  heretics  who  cloak  themselves  under  the  specious  pretext  that  it 
is  necessary  to  propagate  and  render  commonthe  study  of  the  holy  books. 

"  Since  then,  our  predecessor,  Pius  VII.,  of  glorious  memory,  observing  the 
machinations  of  these  societies  to  increase  under  his  pontificate,  did  not  cease  to 
oppose  their  efforts,  at  one  time  through  the  medium  of  the  apostolical  nuncios, 
at  another  by  letters  and  decrees,  emanating  from  the  several  congregations  of 
cardinals  of  the  Holy  Church,  and  at  another  by  the  two  pontifical  tetters  ad- 
dressed to  the  Bishop  of  Gnesen  and  the  Archbishop  of  Mohilif.  After  him, 
another  of  our  holy  predecessors,  Leo  XII.,  reproved  the  operations  of  the  Bible 
Societies,  by  his  circulars  addressed  to  all  the  Catholic  pastors  in  the  universe, 
under  date  May  5,  1824.  Shortly  afterward,  our  immediate  predecessor,  Pius 
VIII.,  of  happy  memory,  confirmed  their  condemnation  by  his  circular  letter  of 
May  24,  1829.  We,  in  short,  who  succeed  them,  notwithstanding  our  great  un- 
worthiness,  have  not  ceased  to  be  solicitous  on  this  subject,  and  have  especially 
studied  to  bring  to  the  recollection  of  the  faithful  the  several  rules  ivhich  have 
been  successively  laid  down  with  regard  to  the  vulgar  versions  of  the  holy  books." 

Alluding  to  the  recently  formed  "society  called  the  Christian  Alliance,  the  Pope 
says  :  "  This  society  strains  every  nerve  to  introduce  among  them,  by  means  of 
individuals  collected  from  all  parts,  corrupt  and  vulgar  Bibles,  and  to  scatter  them 
secretly  among  the  faithful.  At  the  same  time,  their  intention  is  to  disseminate 
worse  books  still(!  !),  or  tracts  designed  to  withdraw  from  the  minds  of  their 
readers  all  respect  for  the  Church  and  the  Holy  See." 

After  referring  with  evident  alarm  to  the  fact  of  the  translation  into  Italian  of 
those  excellent  works,  D'Aubigne  on  the  Reformation,  and  M'Crie's  Reformation 
in  Italy,  the  Pope  proceeds  as  follows  :  "  With  reference  to  works  of  whatsoever 
writer,  we  call  to  mind  the  observance  of  the  general  rules  and  decrees  of  our 
predecessors,  to  be  found  prefixed  to  the  Index  of  prohibited  books  ;  and  we  invite 
the  faithful  to  be  on  their  guard,  not  only  against  the  books  named  in  the  Index, 
but  also  against  those  proscribed  in  the  general  proscriptions. 

_  "  As  for  yourselves,  my  venerable  brethren,  called  as  you  are  to  divide  our  soli- 
citude, we  recommend  you  earnestly  in  the  Lord,  to  announce  and  proclaim,  in 
convenient  time  and  place,  to  the  people  confided  to  your  care,  these  Apostolic 
orders,  and  to  labor  carefully  to  separate  the  faithful  sheep  from  the  contagion  of 
the  Christian  Alliance,  from  those  who  have  become  its  auxiliaries,  no  less  than 
those  who  belong  to  other  Bible  Societies,  and  from  all  who  have  any  communica- 
tion with  them.  You  are  consequently  enjoined  to  remove  from  the  hands  of  the 
faithful  alike  the  Bibles  in  the  vulgar  tongue  which  may  have  been  printed  con- 
trary to  the  decrees  above  mentioned  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs,  and  every  book 
proscribed  and  condemned,  and  to  see  that  they  learn,  through  your  admonition  and 
authority,  what  pasturages  are  salutary,  and  what  pernicious  and  mortal.  .  .  . 
Watch  attentively  over  those  who  are  appointed  to  expound  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
to  see  that  they  acquit  themselves  faithfully,  according  to  the  capacity  of  their 
hearers,  and  that  they  dare  not,  under  any  pretext  whatever,  interpret  or  explain  the 
holy  pages  contrary  to  the  tradition  of  the  Holy  Fathers,  and  to  the  service  of  the 
Catholic  Church." 

After  more  remarks  in  a  similar  strain,  the  Pope  proceeds,  in  the  following 
words,  to  renew  the  condemnation  of  the  Bible  Societies,  and  to  confirm  all  pre- 
ceding decrees  against  the  Scriptures  in  the  Vulgar  tongue  : 

"  Wherefore,  having  consulted  some  of  the  Cardinals  of  the  Holy  Romish 
Church,  after  having  duly  examined  with  them  everything  and  listened  to  their 
advice,  we  have  decided,  venerable  brothers,  on  addressing  you  this  letter,  by 
which  we  again  condemn  the  Bible  Societies,  reproved  long  ago  by  our  predeces- 
sors, and  by  virtue  of  the  supreme  authority  of  our  apostleship,  we  reprove  by 
name  and  condemn  the  aforesaid  society  called  the  Christian  Alliance,  formed 
last  year  at  New  York  ;  it,  together  with  every  other  society  associated  with  it,  or 
which  may  become  so. 

"  Let  all  know,  then,  the  enormity  of  the  sin  against  God  and  his  Church  which 
they  are  guilty  of  who  dare  to  associate  themselves  with  any  of  these  societies, 
or  abet  them  in  any  way.  Moreover,  we  confirm  and  renew  the  decrees  re- 
cited above,  delivered  in  former  times  by  apostolic  authority,  against  the 


624  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 

Four  facts  evident  from  pope  Gregory's  bull. 


publication,   distribution,  reading  and  possession  of   books   of   the  holt 
Scriptures  translated  into  the  vulgar  tongue." 

The  circular  letter  from  which  the  above  copious  extracts  are  transcribed  is 
superscribed  as  follows  :  "  Given  at  Rome  from  the  Basilic  of  St.  Peter,  on  the 
8th  of  May,  in  the  year  1844,  and  the  fourteenth  of  our  Pontificate."  Signed, 
Gregory  XVI.,  S.  P. 

§  26. — The  above  is  a  remarkable  document.  It  shows  conclu- 
sively that  Rome's  hatred  to  the  Bible  remains  unchanged,  and  that 
she  is  just  as  much  opposed  in  the  nineteenth  century  to  "  the  publica- 
tion, distribution,  reading,  and  possession  of  books  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  translated  into  the  vulgar  tongue,"  as  she  was  in  the 
fifteenth  or  sixteenth  centuries,  when  she  burnt  the  heretics  who 
were  guilty  of  these  enormous  crimes,  with  their  Bibles  hanging 
round  their  necks,  or  ransacked  the  grave  of  Wickliff,  the  first 
translator  of  the  New  Testament  into  English,  and  vented  her 
rage  by  burning  his  mouldering  bones  to  ashes. 

In  the  closing  sentence  of  our  quotations  from  the  bull,  pope 
Gregory  confirms  and  renews  the  various  decrees  referred  to  in 
his  circular,  including,  of  course,  the  decree  of  pope  Benedict 
XIV.,  which  he  cites,  forbidding  the  reading  of  all  versions,  ex- 
cept "  those  which  should  be  approved  by  the  Holy  See,  and  accom- 
panied by  notes,  derived  from  the  writings  of  the  Holy  Fathers, 
or  other  learned  and  Catholic  authors." 

Among  the  other  decrees  confirmed  and  approved  in  this  letter 
of  pope  Gregory  are  the  decree  and  rules  in  relation  to  pro- 
hibited books,  adopted  by  the  council  of  Trent,  and  approved  by 
pope  Pius  VII.,  of  happy  memory — the  bull  Unigenitus  of  pope 
Clement  XI.,  in  1713,  condemning  the  New  Testament  of  Father 
Quesnel,  and  the  circulars  or  bulls  of  popes  Pius  VII.;  Leo  XII., 
and  Pius  VIII.,  against  Bible  Societies,  issued  successively  from 
Rome  in  1816,  1824,  and  1829. 

From  the  extracts  we  have  given  from  this  bull  of  pope  Gre- 
gory, four  facts  are  manifestly  evident.  First,  That  the  Pope, 
and  of  course  all  true  pap;sts,  are  still  opposed  to  the  "distribution, 
reading,  and  possession  of  books  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  the  vul- 
gar tongue."  Second,  That  tradition  is  still  regarded  as  of  equal 
authority  with  the  inspired  word  of  God.  Third,  That  private  in- 
terpretation of  the  Scriptures  is  still  absolutely  prohibited  ;  that  is, 
that  the  Romanist  does  not  believe  the  Bible  means  what  it  says,  but 
what  the  church  says  it  means.  Fourth,  That  all  bibles  in  the 
vulgar  tongue  are  positively  prohibited  to  the  people,  unless  accom- 
panied by  popish  notes,  for  the  purpose,  of  course,  of  persuading 
the  credulous  multitude  that  where  they  depict  the  character  and 
the  doctrines  of  the  papal  anti-Christ,  they  do  not  mean  what  they 
say. 

We  accordingly  find  that  this  rule  is  followed  in  America,  and 
wherever  Popery  prevails.  Romish  priests  do  not  even  dare  to 
circulate  the  Douay  version,  without  popish  notes,  for  fear  that  the 
people  might  learn,  even  from  that,  if  published  without  note  or 


chap,  in.]         POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  625 

Burning  of  Roman  Catholic  Testaments  in  South  America,  because  without  notes. 


comment,  that  the  Pope  is  anti-Christ,  and  that  the  Romish  church 
is  the  great  predicted  Apostasy  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is  per- 
fectly safe  to  challenge  the  Roman  Catholic  world  to  produce  a 
Douay  Bible  without  popish  notes.  It  cannot  be  done.  There  are 
none  in  existence,  and  were  our  Bible  Societies  to  publish  them, 
they  would  be  hunted  up  and  burned  by  Romish  priests  with  as 
much  zeal  as  they  have  recently  displayed  in  collecting  and  burn- 
ing copies  of  the  protestant  version. 

§  27. — As  a  proof  of  this  remark,  the  following  account  of  an  auto 
da  fe  of  Spanish  New  Testaments  of  the  Roman  Catholic  version  in 
Chili,  South  America,  a  few  years  ago,  may  be  worthy  of  record. 
The  Testaments  had  been  printed  by  the  American  Bible  Society, 
without  note  or  comment,  and  the  letter  was  from  a  worthy  agent 
of  that  Society  to  the  secretary. 

"  My  dear  Sir, — Soon  after  my  arrival  in  this  place,  some  persons  informed 
me  that  the  New  Testament  had  been  taken  from  them  as  a  proscribed  book,  and 
that  several  copies  were  to  be  burned  in  the  public  square  on  the  following  Sab- 
bath. Letters  had  been  received,  I  was  further  informed,  from  the  Pope  himself, 
cautioning  the  bishops  and  priests  against  spurious  editions  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment printed  in  England,  and  circulated  gratuitously  in  South  America,  for  the 
purpose  of  creating  divisions  and  heresies  in  the  church.  In  order  to  obviate  mis- 
apprehensions of  this  kind,  I  have  repeatedly  presented  your  edition  of  the  New 
Testament  to  the  clergy  for  their  inspection,  requesting  them  to  compare  it  with 
their  own  copies  of  Scio,  at  the  same  time  offering  to  give  up  all  the  books  in  my 
possession  (for  I  had  Testaments  only)  in  case  there  should  be  discovered  the 
slightest  discrepancy  between  them.  As  the  comparison  has  uniformly  resulted 
in  our  favor,  the  clergy  have  resorted  to  the  old  objection,  that  all  editions  of  tlie 
Bible  and  Testament  without  notes  are  prohibited  by  a  decree  of  the  Council  of 
Trent. 

"  On  Sabbath  evening,  the  time  fixed  for  the  sacrilegious  conflagration,  a  pro- 
cession was  formed,  having  the  curate  at  the  head,  and  conducted  with  the  usual 
pomp,  the  priest  kneeling  a  few  moments  at  each  corner  of  the  square,  and  placing 
a  large  crucifix  upon  the  ground.  During  the  afternoon  a  fire  had  been  kindled 
for  the  purpose,  I  was  told  by  several  bystanders,  of  burning  heretical  books 
which  ridiculed  the  mass  and  confession  ;  and  among  the  number  was  mentioned 
the  New  Testament.  A  guard  of  soldiers  prevented  me  from  examining  them 
separately,  but  I  stood  sufficiently  near  to  discover  that  the  greater  part  were 
copies  of  the  New  Testament  issued  by  the  American  Bible  Society.  As  the 
flame  ascended,  increasing  in  brightness,  one  of  the  clergy  shouted  '  Viva  Deos ' 
(Let  God  reign),  which  was  immediately  echoed  by  the  loud  acclamations  of  a 
large  concourse  of  people.  For  the  time  1  forgot  what  a  late  writer  says,  '  We 
must  always  remember  that  South  America  is  a  Christian  and  not  a  heathen  land.' 
The  outrage  was  public,  and  instead  of  being  disowned,  was  openly  defended,  and 
done,  it  was  said,  in  compliance  with  the  decree  of  an  infallible  council." 

The  Scriptures  burned  were  of  the  approved  Spanish  version,  translated  from 
the  Vulgate  by  a  Spanish  Roman  Catholic  bishop.  They  were  New  Testaments 
too,  so  the  plea  that  the  Apocrypha  was  excluded  could  not  be  urged.  They 
were  portions  of  their  own  acknowledged  word  of  God,  because  in  the  vulgar 
tongue  and  without  popish  notes,  solemnly  committed  to  the  flames  ! ! 


626 


CHAPTER  IV. 

POPERY  AS    IT    NOW  IS. TESTIMONY    OF    EYE-WITNESSES. ITS    MODERN 

PIOUS  FRAUDS  AND  PRETENDED  MIRACLES. 

§  28. — Not  only  does  Romanism  remain  unchanged,  as  we  have 
shown  in  the  preceding  chapter,  in  its  essentially  persecuting,  intole- 
rant, and  enslaving  principles  ;  but  in  thoroughly  popish  countries, 
it  is  still  distinguished  by  the  same  grovelling  superstitions,  senseless 
mummeries,  pretended  miracles,  and  lying  wonders,  as  marked  its 
history  in  those  dark  ages,  when  it  held  the  nations  of  Europe  in 
the  gloom  of  an  intellectual  and  moral  midnight. 

To  see  Popery  as  it  is,  it  is  not  enough  to  contemplate  the  opera- 
tion of  the  system  as  it  is  seen  in  America  and  other  protestant 
lands.  The  priests  of  Rome  are  too  cunning  to  allow  the  most  re- 
pulsive features  of  Romanism  to  be  displayed,  except  where  the 
people  are  firmly  bound  in  their  slavish  vassalage;  and  thus,  how- 
ever unchanging  its  principles,  yet  with  respect  to  its  outward  mani- 
festation, it  changes  its  hue,  like  the  chameleon,  with  the  country  in 
which  it  is  exhibited.  There  is  one  kind  of  Romanism  to  be  ex- 
hibited in  protestant  lands,  and  another  and  a  widely  different  kmd 
in  Italy,  Spain,  and  other  popish  lands,  where  it  reigns  in  its  glory. 
To  understand  Romanism  as  it  is,  in  its  true  character,  it  must  be 
seen  in  those  countries  ;  because,  as  it  is  there,  so  it  will  be  in 
America,  England,  or  anywhere  else,  when  it  shall  obtain  that  as- 
cendency and  universal  prevalence  after  which  it  is  grasping. 

It  could  scarcely  be  credited,  that  in  the  nineteenth  century,  the 
priests  of  Rome  should  be  able  to  impose  on  the  inhabitants  of  Italy, 
Austria,  Spain,  and  even  France,  their  plenary  indulgences,  mi- 
raculous medals,  fictitious  relics,  and  pretended  miracles,  were  not 
the  facts  attested  by  the  united  voice  of  all  intelligent  travellers. 

§  29. — Though  it  would  be  easy  to  quote  from  many  recent  tra- 
vellers in  proof  of  this  assertion,  I  prefer  to  insert  the  following 
brief  but  interesting  letter  from  a  clerical  and  literary  friend,  the 
Rev.  Robert  Turnbull  of  Boston,  who  recently  spent  some  months 
in  the  tour  of  Europe,  in  company  with  the  Rev.  Rollin  H.  Neale, 
of  the  same  city  : 

"  While  in  France  and  Italy,  I  saw  upon  many  Catholic  churches,  such  adver- 
tisements— in  large,  staring  capitals — as  the  following — Indvlgeniia  Plenaria — 
Indulgentia  lolies  et  quoties — Indulgentia  Quotidiana,  Indvlgeniia  pro  litis  >t 
is.  These  indulgences  are  promised,  for  pecuniary  benefactions,  to  benevo- 
lent objects,  such  as  Missions  to  the  United  Slates,  for  pilgrimages  to  particular 
places,  tor  assistance  in  religious  professions,  and  so  forth.  For  example,  I  saw 
at  Lyons,  on  the  day  of  the  festival  of  John  the  Baptist — usually  called  the  Fete. 
Dieu — indulgences  promised  to  those  who  should  take  part  in  the  procession  on 
that  occasion,  avec  piete,  as  it  was  expressed,  signed  Baron,  Vicar-General.  In 
Rome  and  in  all  other  Italian  and  Catholic  cities,  innumerable  indulgences  are 
granted  daily.     They  are  not  exactly  bought — so  say  the  priests,  and  so  the  people 


chap  iv.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  627 

Testimony  of  an  eye-witness  on  the  superstitions  of  Rome,  &c. __^ 

also  affirm — but  they  are  generally  given  in  connection  with  the  payment  of  money 
from  the  recipients.  Thev  are  often,  nearly  always,  secured  by  relatives,  for  the 
dying.  No  matter  what  their  character,  if  they  will  only  confess,  take  the  eucha- 
rist,  and  submit  to  extreme  unction,  they  can  always  have  the  benefit  of  a  priestly 
indulgence,  which  covers  at  once  the  past  and  the  future.  Nay,  the  dead  them- 
selves may  enjoy  the  benefit,  provided  their  relatives  and  friends  comply  with  the 
requisite  conditions. 

"  I  was  much  struck,  both  in  France  and  in  Italy,  but  particularly  in  Italy,  with 
the  extreme  superstition  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Accounts  of  miracles  the  most 
grotesque  and  absurd  are  retailed  by  the  priests  and  circulated  among  the  people. 
The  most  of  these  are  performed  by  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  is  the  presiding  ge- 
nius, and,  one  may  say,  the  goddess  of  the  Catholics.  Her  image  is  to  be  seen 
everywhere,  in  churches  and  in  private  houses.  It  is  worn  as  an  amulet  by  priests 
and  people,  and  the  most  extravagant  things  are  said  of  her  glory  and  power,  and 
the  most  marvellous  accounts  given  of  the  miracles  performed  by  her  agency.  I 
read  several  of  these  stories  in  Italian  pamphlets  or  tracts,  and  heard  many  of 
them  from  the  lips  of  apparently  intelligent  priests.  Relics  of  dead  saints,  known 
only  to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  even  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  are  to  be  seen 
in  many  of  the  Catholic  churches,  and  many  wonderful  stories  are  told  of  their 
miraculous  powers. 

"In  the  church  of  San  Gennaro,  or  St.  Januarius,  in  Naples,  the  blood  of  the 
patron  saint  is  kept  in  a  vial,  and  liquified  once  or  twice  a  year,  to  the  great  edifi- 
cation and  delight  of  the  faithful.  A  picture  in  miniature  of  the  Virgin  Mary  is 
shown  in  the  church  of  the  Augustines  (I  think  that  is  the  name)  in  Bologna, 
painted  by  Si.  Luke !  It  is  said  that  the  brazen  serpent,  or  a  piece  of  it,  is  shown 
in  the  church  of  St.  Ambrose  at  Milan  ;  and  a  gentleman  informed  me,  that  even 
in  the  church  of  St.  John  Lateran,  in  Rome,  they  show  the  table  on  which  our 
Lord  partook  of  the  Last  Supper. 

"  The  holy  stairs,  visited  by  so  many  pilgrims,  and  which  they  ascend  on  their 
knees,  are  composed,  according  to  the  Catholics,  of  the  steps  up  which  our  Sa- 
viour walked  to  Pilate's  judgment  hall,  and  the  pilgrims  are  often  seen  kissing 
the  spots  said  to  be  '  blessed'  with  the  sweat  of  his  sacred  feet.  The  water 
which  flows  from  the  rock  in  the  dungeon  of  the  Carcere  Mamertina,  in  which 
Paul  and  Peter  are  said  to  have  been  confined,  is  sold  to  pilgrims,  as  possessing 
most  marvellous  properties.  Mr.  Neale  and  I  drank  of  the  water,  having  paid 
the  requisite  sum.  Tradition  says  it  was  miraculously  brought  from  the  rock, 
before  dry,  by  the  Apostle  Peter  ;  hence  its  great  value.  Large  sums  of  money 
are  made  annually  by  the  sale  of  such  holy  water,  and  in  other  ways  which  appeal 
directly  to  the  grossest  superstition  of  the  people. 

"  You  frequently  see  persons  prostrate  before  images,  and  in  a  state  of  the  great- 
est apparent  devotion,  even  if  those  images  are  formed  out  of  materials  taken 
from  heathen  temples.  At  Pisa  I  saw  several  females  prostrate  before  the  statues 
of  Adam  and  Eve,  which  are  exhibited  in  a  state  of  almost  entire  nudity.  The 
celebrated  statue  of  St.  Peter,  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  the  toe  of  which 
is  almost  literally  kissed  away,  was  originally  a  statue  of  Jupiter,  taken  from  the 
Capitol.  Many  of  the  altars,  ornaments,  and  so  forth,  in  the  churches,  are  entirely 
heathen  in  their  origin  and  appearance.  Naked  forms  in  marble  abound  in  all  the 
churches.  Many  of  the  vases  used  for  baptismal  purposes,  and  those  containing 
the  holy  water,  were  anciently  used  for  similar  purposes  in  the  days  of  heathenism. 
Nothing  struck  me  with  more  force  than  incidental  circumstances  like  these,  as 
indicating  the  gross  ignorance,  credulity,  superstition  and  dishonesty  abounding  in 
the  Catholic  church." 

§  30. — The  allusion  in  the  above  letter  to  the  connection  of  Roman- 
ism with  Heathenism  (a  topic  which  has  been  treated  at  large  in  the 
early  part  of  this  work),  may  suitably  introduce  the  following 
striking  parallel  between  the  system  of  modern  heathenism,  called 
Bhoodism  and  Popery,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  Rev.  Euge- 
37 


028  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 

Rev.  Mr.  Kincaid's  parallel  between  Bhoodism  and  Romanism. 

nio  Kincaid,  who  has  spent  thirteen  years  as  a  most  successful  mis- 
sionary in  Burmah,  and  who  kindly  furnished  me  with  the  following, 
in  reply  to  my  inquiries  to  him  on  this  topic.  The  titles  in  italics, 
by  which  the  various  parts  of  the  letter  are  distinguished,  I  have 
myself  prefixed. 

"  Bhoodism,"  says  Mr.  Kincaid,  "  prevails  over  all  Burmah,  Siam,  the  Shan 
Principalities,  and  about  one-third  of  the  Chinese  empire.  Gaudama  was  the  last 
Bhood,  or  the  last  manifestation  of  Bhood,  and  his  relics  and  images  are  the  ob- 
jects of  supreme  adoration  over  all  Bhoodist  countries.  In  passing  through  the 
great  cities  of  Burmah,  the  traveller  is  struck  with  the  number  and  grandeur  of 
the  temples,  pagodas  and  monasteries,  as  also  with  the  number  of  idols  and  sha- 
ven-headed priests. 

Worship  of  images,  relics  and  saints. — "  Pagodas  are  solid  structures  of  ma- 
sonry, and  are  worshipped  because  within  their  bare  walls  are  deposited  images  or 
relics  of  Gaudama.  The  temples  are  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Gaudama ;  in 
them  thrones  are  erected,  on  which  massy  images  of  Gaudama  are  placed ;  in 
some  of  the  larger  temples  are  the  images  of  five  hundred  primitive  disciples  who 
were  canonized  about  the  time  or  soon  after  the  death  of  Gaudama. 

Bhoodist  monasteries. — "  The  monasteries  are  the  abode  of  the  priests,  and  the 
depositaries  of  the  sacred  volumes,  with  their  endless  scholia  and  commentaries. 
These  monasteries  are  the  schools  and  colleges  of  the  empire.  They  are  open  to 
all  the  boys  of  the  kingdom,  rich  and  poor.  No  provision  is  made  for  the  educa- 
tion of  girls. 

Bhoodist  monks  with  shaven  heads.  Vow  of  celibacy,  <$-c. — "  Priests  are  monks, 
as  monasticism  is  universal ;  they  take  the  vow  of  poverty  and  celibacy — their 
heads  shaved  and  without  turbans,  and,  dressed  in  robes  of  yellow  cloth,  they  retire 
from  society,  or,  in  the  language  of  their  order,  retire  to  the  wilderness.  Hence- 
forth, they  are  always  addressed  as  lords  or  saints,  and  over  the  entire  population 
they  exert  a  despotic  influence.  Priests,  dead  and  alive,  are  worshipped  the  same 
as  idols  and  pagodas,  because  they  are  saints,  and  have  extraordinary  merit. 

Bhoodist  Rosaries.  Prayers  in  an  unknown  tongue. — "  All  devout  Bhoodists, 
whether  priests  or  people,  male  or  female,  use  a  string  of  beads,  or  rosary,  in  the 
recitation  of  their  prayers — and  their  prayers  are  in  the  unknown  tongue,  called 
Pali,  a  language  that  has  ceased  to  be  spoken  for  many  hundred  years,  and  was 
never  the  vernacular  of  Burmah. 

Acts  of  merit.  "  The  frequent  repetition  of  prayers  with  the  rosary,  fasting, 
and  making  offerings  to  the  images  are  meritorious  deeds.  Celibacy  and  voluntary 
poverty  is  regarded  as  evidence  of  the  most  exalted  piety.  To  build  temples,  pa- 
godas and  monasteries,  and  purchase  idols,  are  meritorious  acts. 

Burning  of  wax  candles  in  the  day  time. — "  The  burning  of  wax  tapers  and 
candles  of  various  colors,  both  day  and  night,  around  the  shrines  of  Gaudama,  is 
universal  in  Bhoodist  countries,  and  is  taught  as  highly  meritorious.  Social 
prayer  is  unknown — each  one  prays  apart,  and  making  various  prostrations  before 
the  images,  deposits  upon  the  altar  offerings  of  fruit  and  flowers. 

The  Bhoodist  Lent.  Priests  confessing  each  other. — "  The  priests  are  required 
to  fast  every  day  after  the  sun  has  passed  the  meridian  till  the  next  morning.  Be- 
sides this,  there  is  a  great  fast  once  a  year,  continuing  four  or  five  weeks,  in  which 
all  the  people  are  supposed  to  live  entirely  on  vegetables  and  fruits.  During  this 
great  fast,  the  priests  retire  from  their  monasteries,  and  live  in  temporary  booths 
or  tents,  and  are  supposed  to  give  themselves  more  exclusively  to  an  ascetic  life. 
At  a  certain  time  in  the  year,  the  priests  have  a  practice  of  confessing  and  exorcis- 
ing each  other.  This  takes  place  in  a  small  building  erected  for  the  purpose  over 
running  water. 

The  Bhoodist  priesthood  and  Pope. — "  There  are  various  grades  of  rank  in  the 
priesthood,  and  the  most  unequivocal  submission  in  the  lower  to  the  higher  orders 
is  required.  Tha-iha-na-bing  is  the  title  of  the  priest  who  sits  on  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  throne  in  the  empire  (and  thus  corresponds  to  the  Pope  among  Ro- 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE-A.  D.  1685-1845.  629 

Resemblance  of  Bhoodist  anil  Romish  worship.  The  blood  of  !?t.  Januarius  commanded  to  liquefy. 

manists).  He  is  Primate,  or  Lord  Archbishop  of  the  realm — receives  his  appoint- 
ment from  the  Kino;,  and  from  the  Tha-tha-na-bing  (or  Pope)  emanate  all  other  ec- 
clesiastical appointments  in  the  kingdom  and  its  tributary  principalities.  He  lives 
in  a  monastery  built  and  furnished  by  the  King,  which  is  as  splendid  as  gold  and 
silver  can  make  it. 

Bhoodist  defences  against  idolatry  the  same  as  the  excuses  <f  Romanists  for  llie 
worship  of  images. — "  I  should  observe  that  intelligent,  learned  Bhoodists  (like 
some  Romanists)  deny  that  they  worship  the  images  and  relics  of  Gaudama,  but 
only  venerate,  them  as  objects  that  remind  them  of  Gaudama,  the  only  object  of 
supreme  adoration — but  the  number  of  Bhoodists  who  make  this  distinction  is  very 
small. 

Striking  resemblance  between  the  worship  of  a  Bhoodist  temple  and  a  Roman 
Catholic  Cathedral. — "  Often,"  says  Mr.  Kincaid,  "  when  standing  in  a  great 
Burman  temple,  and  looking  round  upon  a  thousand  worshippers  prostrating  them- 
selves before  images,  surrounded  by  ivax  candles,  uttering  prayers  in  a  dead  lan- 
guage, each  one  with  a  rosary  in  hand,  and  the  priests  with  long,  flowing  robes  and 
shaven  heads,  I  have  thought  of  what  I  have  witnessed  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
Cathedral  in  Montreal,  and  it  has  required  but  a  very  small  stretch  of  the  imagi- 
nation to  suppose  myself  transported  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  globe,  looking  not 
upon  the  ceremonies  of  an  acknowledged  heathen  temple,  but  upon  the  Christian- 
ized heathenism  of  Rome." 

§  31. — One  of  the  most  amusing,  and  at  the  same  time  bare- 
faced impostures  performed  in  Italy  by  Romish  priests  at  the  pre- 
sent day  is  the  pretended  liquefaction  of  the  blood  of  St.  Januarius, 
referred  to  in  the  letter  of  Mr.  Turnbull.  The  following  amusing 
account  of  the  effect  of  the  injunctions  of  one  of  Napoleon's  offi- 
cers upon  the  Saint,  when  he  appeared  reluctant  to  perform  his 
accustomed  miracle,  is  taken  from  the  recent  work  of  Dr.  Giustiniani 
(Papal  Rome,  p.  258)  :— 

"  St.  Januarius  is  the  protector  of  Naples  in  Italy  ;  his  blood  is  preserved  in  a 
small  bottle  at  the  altar  of  the  church  of  the  same  name.  It  is  believed  by  every 
Neapolitan,  that  the  liquefaction  of  that  blood  is  an  indication  of  grace  and  mercy 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  city,  as  well  as  to  private  individuals,  who  approach  in 
faith  to  the  saint.  At  the  time  when  Napoleon  invaded  Italy,  suppressing  the 
convents  and  nunneries,  carrying  the  priests  and  their  riches  to  France,  the  few 
who  remained  were,  as  a  matter  of  course,  not  very  loyal  to  the  Emperor  ;  they 
agitated  in  secret,  whispered  in  the  confessionals,  into  the  ears  of  the  Lazza- 
roni,  that  '  St.  Januarius  is  displeased  with  the  conduct  of  the  invaders,  that  his 
blood  did  not  boil  during  the  whole  time  the  ungodly  French  soldiers  occupied  the 
kingdom  of  Naples.'  On  the  day  of  the  celebration  of  high  mass,  the  blood  of 
Januarius  was  exposed  to  the  adoration  of  the  people  ;  but  it  would  not  boil,  not. 
even  liquefy.  The  spies  of  the  French  immediately  informed  the  commander  of 
the  troops  of  the  imminent  danger  of  the  rising  of  the  populace,  who  without  delay 
gave  orders  that  the  whole  army  should  occupy  the  principal  streets  of  the  city; 
two  cannon  were  planted  before  the  door  of  the  church  of  St.  Januarius,  and  at  the 
different  corners  of  the  streets  with  lighted  matches,  and  a  special  order  to  the 
Vicar  of  the  bishops,  who  celebrated  the  mass  :  '  That  if  in  ten  minutes  St.  Janu- 
arius should  not  perform  his  usual  miracle,  the  whole  city  would  be  reduced  to 
ruins;''  and  in  five  minutes  the  saint  was  pacified,  his  blood  was  liquefied  and 
boiled.  The  '  gloria  in  excelsis'  was  sung,  the  shouts  of  joy  re-echoed  in  the  air, 
and  the  French  rejoiced  with  them,  but  not  the  disappointed  priests." 

What  a  comment  upon  the  power  of  Popery,  to  blind  the  under- 
standing and  degrade  the  intellect  of  its  victims,  that  the  periodical 
performance  of  this  foolish  and  barefaced  piece  of  imposture  is  still 


630  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 

Our  Lady  of  Loretto.         Journey  of  the  holy  house  through  the  air.  Mother  "Goose"  come  true. 

actually  credited  by  multitudes  of  the  deluded  votaries  of  Rome  as 
a  veritable  miracle  ! 

§  32. — But  a  still  more  ridiculous  and  contemptible  piece  of 
priestly  imposture  is  the  Santissima  Casa,  or  holy  house  of  the 
Virgin,  at  Loretto,  a  small  town  in  the  Pope's  dominions  in  Italy. 
The  popish  priests  pretend  that  this  is  the  house  in  which  the  Virgin 
Mary  was  born,  and  was  earned  by  angels  through  the  air,  from 
Nazareth  to  Loretto  (!)  some  centuries  ago  ;  and  that  the  Virgin 
Mary  herself  appeared  to  an  old  man  to  reveal  to  him  the  wonder- 
ful fact.  They  also  show  the  Santissima  Scodella,  or  holy  •porrin- 
ger, in  which,  they  gravely  assert,  the  pap  was  made  for  the  infant 
Jesus  (!  !)  The  pilgrims  who  visit  this  laughable  imposture,  regard 
it  as  a  special  favor  to  obtain  a  chaplet  or  a  rosary  that  has  been 
shaken  in  this  wonderful  porringer,  duly  certified  by  the  priests,  or  an 
inch  square  of  the  Virgin's  old  veil,  which  is  changed  every  year  ; 
and  if  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  them,  they  sacredly  preserve 
these  treasures,  which  they  regard  as  preservatives  against  witch- 
craft and  other  calamities.  The  holy  house  and  image  are  hung 
around  with  votive  offerings,  some  valuable,  such  as  golden  hearts, 
chains  with  precious  stones,  silver  and  gilt  angels,  &c,  which  have 
been  contributed  by  rich  devotees,  besides  multitudes  of  other  offer- 
ings, the  gifts  of  the  poorer  pilgrims. 

This  ridiculous  fable  of  the  journey  through  the  air  of  the  Santa 
Casa,  porringer  and  all,  irresistibly  reminds  one  of  the  famous  feat, 
recorded  by  Mother  Goose,  about  "the  cow  that  jumped  over 
the  moon,"  and  *'  the  dish  that  ran  off  with  the  spoon  ;"  and  the 
mental  imbecility  which  can  credit  the  one,  is  scarcely  equalled  by 
the  childish  simplicity  which  believes  the  other.  And  yet,  incre- 
dible as  it  may  seem,  the  great  body  of  Romanists,  amidst  the  light 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  profess  actually  to  believe  this  most  ab- 
surd of  all  impostures ;  and  a  regular  establishment  of  priests 
is  maintained,  with  an  annual  revenue  of  many  thousand  dollars, 
the  proceeds  of  the  exhibition.  A  small  pebble  picked  up  in  the 
house,  duly  certified,  has  been  sold  for  ten  dollars,  and  an  unfortunate 
mouse  that  had  concealed  itself  under  the  Virgin's  dress,  for  as  much 
as  would  purchase  an  ox,  and  afterward  embalmed  by  the  purchaser, 
and  kept  as  a  preservative  against  diseases  and  accidents.  The 
Litany  to  the  "  Lady  of  Loretto"  may  be  found  in  the  "  Garden  of 
the   Soul"  (page  288),  and  in  most  other  Romish  prayer-books. 

§  33. — It  is  not  uncommon  for  the  apologists  of  Popery,  when 
we  refer  to  the  stigmata  or  miraculous  wounds  of  St.  Francis  or 
St.  Catherine,  and  to  other  pious  frauds  of  Romanism  in  the  middle 
ages,  to  attribute  them  to  the  general  ignorance  and  darkness  which 
then  prevailed  ;  but  we  are  prepared  to  relate  similar  instances  of 
blasphemous  imposture,  that  have  been  contrived  by  a  cunning  and 
designing  priesthood,  and  imposed  upon  the  credulous  multitude 
in  the  very  times  in  which  we  live.  However  strange  it  may  ap- 
pear, no  longer  ago  than  1841,  the  cunning  Roman  priests  exhibited 


chap,  iv.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1G85-1845.  631 

Outrageous  imposture.  Two  women  receiving  the  miraculous  wounds  of  Christ  in  1841. 

two  wonderful  "  Virgins  of  the  Tyrol,"  who  professed  to  have 
miraculously  received  the  five  wounds  of  Christ,  from  which  the 
blood  is  said  frequently  to  flow,  "  without  staining  the  sheets,"  and 
much  more  copiously  on  the  "  Friday,"  the  day  of  the  Saviour's 
crucifixion  ;  and  they  were  successful  in  imposing,  among  others, 
upon  a  weak-minded  and  gullible  English  papist,  called  the  Earl  of 
Shrewsbury,  who  published  a  most  marvellous  pamphlet  concern- 
ing his  visit  to  these  two  prodigies,  whom  he  styles  "  the  Ecstatica 
of  Caldaro,  and  the  Adolorata  of  Capriana."  This  silly  story 
has  been  republished  and  extensively  sold  to  the  poor  deluded 
papists  of  America  ;  and  the  reality  of  the  miracle  of  the  wounds 
is  doubtless  by  many  of  them  believed  as  a  positive  fact  (!)  And 
this  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Can  any  one  deny  that  the 
lying  impostures  of  Romanism  are  unchanged,  and  that  its  power 
to  debase  and  degrade  the  human  intellect  remains  the  same 
as  ever  ? 

§  34. — Nothing  has  been  more  common  in  popish  countries  than 
the  pretence  of  images  of  the  Virgin  Mary  miraculously  winking 
the  eyes,  shedding  tears,  &c,  and  these  impositions  have  been 
the  more  frequent  from  the  facility  with  which  the  priests  have 
learned  to  manage  them.  At  the  corner  of  the  Via  Paganica,  in 
Rome,  there  exists  at  this  moment  a  picture  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
with  her  title  Mater  Providential  (mother  of  Providence),  and  un- 
derneath it  a  statement,  that  "  in  September,  1790,  this  adorable 
image,  by  sundry  winkings  of  its  eyes,  refreshed  the  praying 
crowds  with  its  benign  countenance ;"  and  every  evening  at  sun- 
set devotees  may  be  seen  kneeling  before  this  miraculous  image, 
repeating  a  litany  to  it,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  two  hundred  days' 
indulgence,  promised  to  such  service  by  the  Pope.  The  imposi- 
tions of  the  priests  with  these  miraculous  images  have  frequently 
been  detected;  yet,  among  papists,  multitudes  are  found  simple 
enough  to  devour  with  greediness  every  fresh  instance  of  impos- 
ture. One  will  be  related  as  a  specimen  of  hundreds  of  similar 
cases.  It  is  taken  from  the  recently  published  life  of  Ramon  Mon- 
saltvage,  a  converted  Spanish  monk  (page  48). 

"In  1835,  the  Liberal  Government  of  Spain,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Queen 
Christina,  since  the  death  of  Ferdinand  VII.,  in  1833,  was  unable  any  longer  to 
withstand  the  insurgents,  and  ordered  that  all  the  monastic  communities  should  be 
dispersed,  and  their  convents  destroyed,  which  was  done  in  many  places.  The 
6th  of  July  was  the  day  appointed  for  the  formal  suppression  of  our  convent  at 
Olot,  where  I  was  then  studying.  The  Justicia,  or  civil  officers,  presented  them- 
selves, and,  in  the  name  of  the  Queen,  declared  the  community  to  be  dissolved, 
and  delivered  to  each  monk  a  passport  to  return  to  his  native  place.  But  before 
we  had  time  to  leave  the  convent  the  leaders  of  the  insurgents  of  Olot  rushed  in, 
and  began  their  work  of  destruction.  The  crowd  soon  hastened  to  the  chapel, 
and  tore  down  the  pictures  and  the  altars,  which  had  so  long  been  the  objects  of 
blind  adoration. 

"  There  was  there  an  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  which  had  the  miraculous  pro- 
perty of  weeping.  Many  a  time  have  I  seen  it,  with  the  big  tears  trickling  down 
its  cheeks,  and  I,  as  did  all  others,  believed  it  to  be  unquestionably  a  miracle. 
When  the  insurgents  penetrated  into  the  chapel,  as  I  have  above  stated,  they  tore 


);;{.j  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 


The  miraculous  medal  and  its  wonderful  miracles. 

the   image  down  from  its  niche,  and  discovered  hehind  its  head  small  tubes  con- 
ducting from  a  basin  in  which  water  was  poured;  and  thus  the  image  wept." 

§  35. — Another  glaring  instance  of  popish  knavery  and  imposture 
is  in  the  recent  invention  and  pretended  wonders  achieved  by  the 
miraculous  medal.  A  book  was  published  at  Rome,  in  1835,  giving 
a  minute  account  of  these  wonders,  by  the  Abbe  Le  Guillon.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Abbe,  the  origin  of  the  medal  was  as  follows  : — 

'•Toward  the  end  of  the  year  1830,  a  well-born  young  female,  a  noviciate  in 
one  of  those  conservatories  which  are  dedicated  in  Paris  to  the  use  of  the  poor 
and  the  sick,  *  *  *  *  whilst  in  the  midst  of  her  fervor  during  her  prayers, 
saw  a  picture  representing  the  most  Holy  Virgin  (as  she  is  usually  represented 
under  the  title  of  the  Immaculate  Conception),  standing  with  open  and  extended 
arms:  there  issued  from  her  hands  rays  of  light  like  bundles,  of  a  brightness 
which  dazzled  her:  and  amidst  those  bundles,  or  clusters  of  rays,  she  distin- 
guished that  some  of  the  most  remarkable  fell  upon  a  point  of  the  globe  which 
was  under  her  eye.  In  an  instant  she  heard  a  voice,  which  said,  '  These  rays  are 
symbolical  of  the  graces  which  Mary  obtains  for  men,  and  this  point  of  the  globe 
on  which  they  fall  most  copiously  is  France.'  Around  this  picture  she  read  the 
following  invocation,  written  in  letters  of  gold  : — '  O  Mary,  conceived  without  sin, 
pray  for  us  who  have  recourse  to  you.'  Some  moments  after,  this  painting  turned 
round,  and  on  the  reverse  she  (the  Estatica)  distinguished  the  letter  M,  sur- 
mounted by  a  little  cross,  and  below  it  the  most  sacred  hearts  of  Mary  and  Jesus. 
After  the  young  girl  had  well  considered  the  whole,  the  voice  said,  '  A  medal 
must  be  struck,  and  the  persons  who  wear  it,  and  who  shall  say  with  devotion  the 
inscribed  short  prayer,  shall  enjoy  the  very  special  protection  of  the  Mother  of 
God.' " 

Accordingly,  by  direction  of  the  archbishop  of  Paris,  the  medal 
was  struck,  and  a  large  supply  was  ready  against  the  invasion  of 
the  cholera,  and  this  wonder-working  medal  has  since  been  in- 
troduced in  immense  numbers  into  all  popish  countries,  and  also 
into  England  and  America,  and  sold  at  a  most  extravagant  price 
to  the  multitudes  of  the  ignorant  and  deluded  papists. 

The  Boston  Pilot,  a  Roman  Catholic  paper  in  Boston,  has  al- 
ready had  advertisements,  offering  these  "  silcer  miraculous  medals  " 
for  sale.  In  the  work  of  Abbe  Le  Guillon,  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pages  are  occupied  with  accounts  of  the  cures  effected  by  the 
medal,  and  various  other  wonders  it  had  wrought,  which  very 
much  resemble  the  testimonies  of  wonderful  cures  which  we  fre- 
quently see  appended  to  the  advertisement  of  some  famous  quack 
medicine.  Were  my  intention  to  excite  the  risible  faculties  of  my 
readers,  I  would  transcribe  some  of  these  prodigies,  but  as  my 
space  will  not  permit  of  that,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  remark  that 
they  are  worthy  of  the  darkest  .ages  of  Romish  imposture.  We 
shall  close  our  brief  notice  of  this  impudent  piece  of  religious 
quackery,  written  by  an  officiating  priest,  and  gravely  sanctioned 
with  the  imprimatur  of  the  episcopal  censors  at  Rome,  in  an  Italian 
translation,  by  an  additional  extract: — 

"  Finally,"  says  the  Abbe", ';  from  all  parts  we  hear  the  most  con- 
soling facts.  Priests  full  of  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  tell  us.  that 
these  medals  are   reviving    religious  feeling  in  cities  as  well  as 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  633 

The  holy  coat  of  the  Saviour  at  Treves.  Present  position  of  Romanism  in  Italy. 

country  places.  Vicars-General,  who  enjoy  a  well-merited  con- 
sideration, as  well  for  their  piety,  and  even  distinguished  bishops, 
inform  us  that  i  they  have  reposed  every  confidence  in  these  medals, 
and  they  regard  them  as  a  means  of  Providence  for  awakening  the 
faith  which  has  slept  so  long  in  this  our  age.'  " 

But  the  grossest  and  most  notorious  instance  of  recent  priestly 
imposture,  and  one  which  is  likely  to  be  most  pregnant  in  its  con- 
sequences to  the  Romish  church,  is  the  exhibition,  within  the  past 
few  months,  of  the  pretended  coat  of  the  Saviour  at  Treves,  in  Ger- 
many, by  the  popish  Bishop  qf  that  city.  An  account  of  the  immense 
sensation  that  has  been  created  in  Europe  by  the  fearless  remon- 
strance against  this  imposture,  made  by  John  Ronge,  a  second  Lu- 
ther, who  has  arisen  to  complete  the  deliverance  of  his  country  from 
the  thraldom  of  Rome,  will  be  reserved  for  the  next,  which  is  the 
concluding  chapter  of  our  history. 


CHAPTER  V. 

RECENT       EVENTS. DISCONTENT      IN      ITALY. PUSEYISM. THE       HOLY 

COAT,    AND     THE     PRIEST    RONGE. JESUITS    IN    SWITZERLAND. STA- 
TISTICS.  CONCLUSION. 

§  36. — The  position  of  the  Romish  church  and  government  in 
Italy  for  some  years  past,  has  been  striking  and  peculiar,  and  the 
hopes  or  the  fears  of  its  friends  have  been  alternately  excited  by 
a  succession  of  favorable  or  adverse  events.  Within  the  last 
half  century,  the  power  of  the  Pope  has  been  alternately  shaken 
and  revived  in  several  of  the  kingdoms  of  Europe.  The  Pope 
himself  has  been  a  captive  in  a  foreign  land,  and  restored  again  to 
his  throne ;  yet  ever  since,  feeling  that  throne  shaking  beneath 
him,  at  the  aroused  spirit  of  liberty  which  has  been  awakened  in 
the  breasts  of  the  enlightened  and  the  patriotic,  among  the  men  of 
Italy.  The  interposition  of  Austria  has  alone  prevented,  long  ere 
this,  the  prostration  of  the  throne  of  anti-Christ  in  Italy,  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  Papal  States  from  the  monarchies  of  Europe,  and 
the  entire  destruction  of  the  political,  if  not  of  the  spiritual  power 
of  the  popes  in  the  land  where  they  so  long  reigned  as  Despots  of 
the  World,  and  hurled  their  thunders  at  the  thrones  of  the  mightiest 
of  earth's  monarchs  and  rulers. 

In  the  year  1831,  an  insurrection  broke  out  in  the  Papal  States, 
under  the  lawyer  Vicini,  who  established  his  head-quarters  at 
Bologna.  The  Pope  and  the  cardinals  in  their  terror  and  weak- 
ness besought  the  aid  of  Austria,  and  an  army  of  twelve  thousand 


634  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 

ThTPope's  dread  of  political  liberty.  Extract  from  bull  of  1844. 

men  sent  in  compliance  with  their  petition,  defeated  the  revolu- 
tionists, and  thus  perpetuated  for  a  few  years  longer  the  crumbling 
dominion  of  the  Pope  in  Italy. 

The  spirit  of  liberty  was  checked  by  the  bloody  executions 
which  followed,  but  not  crushed.  In  spite  of  the  Pope  and  his 
minions,  the  San-fedists  (so  called  from  la  santa  fede,  the  holy 
faith),  that  spirit  has  been  kept  alive  by  the  societies  of  liberalists. 
whose  object  is  the  restoration  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  called 
Carbonari,  in  various  parts  of  the  papal  dominions. 

Every  effort  is  made  by  the  Pope  to  suppress  these  combina- 
tions. Persons  suspected  of  liberalism  are  subjected  to  the  sur- 
veillance of  the  papal  police,  and  these  suspected  persons  are  com- 
pelled regularly  to  transmit  to  the  police  a  certificate  that  they  have 
confessed  and  communed,  after  three  days'  retirement  in  a  convent 
designated  by  the  Bishop,  under  penalty  of  three  years'  hard  labor  ! 
No  wonder  that  the  enlightened  among  the  Italians  groan  under 
such  a  system  of  slavery,  and  long  to  be  delivered  from  it. 

The  Pope  understands  full  well  that  his  tyrannical  reign  must 
end,  so  soon  as  the  people  become  enlightened  ;  and  hence  his 
jealousy  of  every  attempt  to  diffuse  religious  knowledge,  and  above 
all,  the  translated  Bible  among  the  thousands  who  groan  beneath 
his  oppressive  government.  This,  without  doubt,  was  one  chief 
cause  of  his  alarm  at  the  formation  of  the  Christian  Alliance,  as 
exhibited  in  his  bull  of  1844,  against  that  Society,  from  which 
copious  citations  have  already  been  made.  Who  can  mistake  the 
feeling  of  alarm  for  the  security  of  his  throne,  which  prompted  the 
following  language  from  the  same  document : — 

"  Among  the  sectarians  of  whom  we  are  speaking,  deceived  in  their  hopes,  and 
in  despair  at  the  immense  sums  which  the  publication  of  their  Bible  costs 
them,  without  producing  any  fruit,  some  have  been  found  who,  giving  another 
direction  to  their  manoeuvres,  have  betaken  themselves  to  the  corruption  of  minds, 
not  only  in  Italy,  but  evenin  our  own  capital.  Indeed,  many  precise  advices  and 
documents  teach  us  that  a  vast  number  of  members  of  sects  in  New  York,  in 
America,  at  one  of  their  meetings,  held  on  the  4th  of  June,  last  year,  have 
formed  a  new  association,  which  will  take  the  name  of  the  Christian  Alliance, 
a  league  composed  of  individuals  of  every  nation,  and  which  is  to  be  farther  in- 
creased in  numbers  by  other  auxiliary  societies,  all  having  the  same  object,  viz., 
to  propagate  among  Italians,  and  especially  Romans,  'the  principles  <>f  Christian 
liberty,''  or,  rather,  an  insane  indifference  to  all  religion." 

Ao-ain — "This  is  whv,  determined  to  afford  all  people  '  liberty  of  conscience  (or 
rather,  it  should  be  said",  liberty  to  err),  from  which,  according  to  their  theory, 
must  flow,  as  from  an  inexhaustible  source,  public  prosperity  and  political  liberty, 
they  think  they  should  before  all  things  win  over  the  inhabitants  of  Rome  and 
Italy,  in  order  to  avail  themselves  after,  of  their  example  and  aid  in  regard  to 
other  countries." 

§  37. — In  England,  and  chiefly  in  connection  with  the  University 
of  Oxford,  a  movement  has  recently  taken  place  which  has  afforded 
the  Pope  some  cause  of  consolation,  amidst  the  turbulent  complaints 
of  his  rebellious  subjects,  and  the  diminution  of  his  influence  in  Spain, 
France,  Austria,  Prussia,  Germany  and  other  parts  of  continental 
Europe. 


chap,   v.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  G35 

Rise  of  I'ii--.  \  i  ;n  ui  aid  of  Popery  at  Oxford.    Character  of  this  system.    Second  German  reformation. 

This  movement  has  generally  obtained  the  designation  of  Pusey- 
ism,  from  the  name  of  one  of  the  leaders,  Dr.  Pusey,  who,  in  con- 
nection with  Rev.  Mr.  Newman  and  some  others,  commenced, 
about  ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  the  publication,  at  Oxford,  of  a 
scries  of  "  Tracts  for  the  Times,"  advocating  the  equality  of  tradi- 
tion with  the  bible,  lineal  tactual  apostolical  succession,  baptismal 
regeneration,  the  real  material  presence  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist ; 
the  observance  of  saints'  days,  reverence  of  relics,  use  of  crosses, 
wax  candles,  &c,  and  nearly  all  the  anti-Christian  doctrines  and 
superstitious  mummeries  of  Popery,  with  the  single  exception  of 
the  supremacy  of  the  pope  of  Rome.  This  insidious  form  of  anti- 
Christian  error,  though  opposed  with  a  giant's  strength  by  a 
Whately,  and  other  faithful  protestants,  has  wormed  itself  into  the 
very  frame-work  of  Episcopacy  in  Great  Britain  ;  and  in  America, 
notwithstanding  the  faithful  expostulations  of  such  men  as  Milnor, 
and  M'llvaine,  and  Hopkins,  and  Tyng,  has  made  considerable  pro- 
gress in  that  branch  of  the  same  church  which  exists  in  the  United 
States.  The  Pope  and  his  priesthood  have  looked  calmly  on, 
contemplating  with  satisfaction  the  efforts  of  the  Puseyites  to  dis- 
seminate principles  which  inevitably  lead  towards  Rome,  and  in 
following  which  principles,  several  have  already  thrown  themselves 
at  the  feet  of  his  Holiness,  and  taken  refuge  in  Holy  Mother 
Church. 

What  is  to  be  the  eventual  result  of  this  semi-papal  movement, 
time  alone  can  reveal.  If  the  expectation  of  the  Pope  shall  be 
realized,  and  all  who  embrace  the  Tractarian  views  shall,  in  con- 
sistency with  their  creed,  go  where  they  properly  belong,  into  the 
bosom  of  the  Romish  church,  the  communion  which  they  leave 
may  indeed  be  diminished  in  numbers,  but  what  is  lost  in  numbers 
shall  be  more  than  gained  in  strength  and  efficiency  ;  and  the  faith- 
ful men  who  shall  be  left  standing  at  their  post  (for  there  are  yet 
hundreds  of  such),  shall  again  be  left  untrammelled  to  show  them- 
selves worthy  of  the  name  of  protestants,  and  to  carry  on  the 
conflict  with  the  Devil  and  with  Rome,  in  the  spirit  of  their  fathers 
of  the  same  church,  a  Latimer,  a  Chillingworth  and  a  Jewel. 

§  38. — The  advantage  gained  to  Rome  by  the  spread  of  Pusey- 
ism  in  England  and  America  has  been  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  a  recent  important  movement  in  Germany,  which  threatens 
speedily  to  prostrate,  perhaps  to  annihilate  the  remains  of  Popery, 
in  the  various  German  principalities,  if  not  in  other  nations  of  con- 
tinental Europe. 

This  second  German  reformation,  like  that  of  Luther,  has  been 
caused  by  the  base  imposture  and  insatiable  cupidity  of  the  priests 
of  Rome.  In  the  German  reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  pious  zeal  of  the  monk  of  Wittemberg  was  aroused  by  the 
shameless  traffic  of  John  Tetzel  in  indulgences  for  sin  ;  in  that  of 
the  nineteenth,  the  equally  shameless  cupidity  of  Arnold,  bishop  of 
Treves,  in  exhibiting  a  piece  of  old  cloth  as  the  holy  coat  of  the 
Saviour,  endowed  with  miraculous  powers,  for  the  purpose  of  en- 


03(3  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 

Exhibition  by  popish  priests  of  the  pretended  holy  coat  of  our  Saviour  at  Treves.  Immense  throng. 

riching  the  coffers  of  the  church,  has  awakened  the  energies  of 
John  Ronge  to  protest  against  the  impostures  and  abominations 
of  Rome.  I  quote  from  the  account  furnished  in  an  eloquent  letter 
of  Professor  G.  de  Felice,  dated  Montauban,  November  24th,  1844. 

"  It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  anything  more  scandalous,  more  disgusting, 
more  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  than  the  popish  farce  recently  enacted  at 
Treves,  a  city  of  Germany,  belonging  now  to  the  kingdom  of  Prussia.  The  clergy 
of  Treves  pretend  to  have  in  their  hands  the  seamless  coat  of  Jesus  Christ  (John 
xix.  23,  24),  and  they  made  a  formal  exhibition  of  it,  from  the  8th  of  August  last 
to  the  6th  of  October,  inviting  all  Romanists  to  come  and  see  and  touch  this  pre- 
cious relic.  Some  journals  say  that  eleven  hundred  thousand  pilgrims  responded  to 
this  call.  The  most  moderate  computation  makes  the  number  of  visitors  at  least 
five  hundred  thousand. 

"What  a  striking  proof  that  the  church  of  Rome  shows  ever  the  same  spirit,  the 
same  conduct,  the  same  contempt  of  the  common  sense  of  mankind,  and  the  same 
inclination  to  deceive  miserably  the  consciences  of  men  !  In  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, in  the  heart  of  civilized  Europe,  by  the  side  of  the  flourishing  literary  insti- 
tutions of  Germany,  when  a  thousand  periodical  journals  are  daily  relating  all  the 
news,  are  priests  who  dare,  in  the  face  of  heaven  and  earth,  to  exhibit  an  old  bit 
of  cloth  which  they  call  our  Saviour's  coat !  and  they  promise  a  plenary  indul- 
gence to  all  who  will  come  to  view  it !  and  they  assert  that  this  relic  will  work 
miracles  !  and  a  million  of  men  are  found  flocking  from  all  parts  to  countenance  this 
absurd  sacrilege.  Oh  !  let  us  not  be  so  proud  of  what  we  call  the  intelligence  of 
our  age.  Gross  darkness  still  covers  the  people.  There  are  still  thousands,  mil- 
lions of  unhappy  men,  who  are  the  dupes  of  ambitious  and  greedy  priests. 

"  If  we  were  told  that  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  the  degraded  natives  prostrated 
themselves  before  a  fetish,  or  that,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  a  blind  multitude 
sought  the  pardon  of  their  sins  by  worshipping  idols,  it  would  seem  credible  to  us, 
because  these  poor  creatures  have  never  heard  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  But 
that  in  a  church  pretending  to  be  Christian,  and  even  more  Christian  than  all 
others,  such  idolatries  should  occur ;  that  they  should  be  sanctioned  by  bishops, 
cardinals,  the  Pope  himself,  would  seem  incredible  at  first  view  ;  we  should  re- 
quire most  authentic  evidence  to  admit  the  fact ;  and  now  we  ask,  How  can  rea- 
sonable and  intelligent  men  still  remain  in  a  church  which  has  sunk  so  low  ? 
Will  not  a  sense  of  shame  force  them  to  disavow  a  clergy  who  speculate  so  impu- 
dently upon  the  stupidity  of  the  mass  of  the  people  ? 

li  Cicero  said  that  two  soothsayers  of  Rome  could  not  meet  without  smiling.  I 
presume  it  is  so  with  the  priests  of  Treves.  No,  they  would  not  dare  to  affirm, 
with  their  hands  upon  their  hearts,  that  they  believe  this  bit  of  old  cloth  to  be  the 
real  coat  of  Jesus  Christ !  Be  this  as  it  may.  the  invitation  was  made  to  all 
faithful  Romanists,  and  on  the  18th  of  August  the  bishop  of  Treves  performed 
mass  in  his  pontifical  robes,  and  afterwards  exhibited  the  seamless  coat.  All  the 
parishes  in  the  city  made  a  pompous  procession.  The  civil  and  military  authori- 
ties, the  students  of  college,  the  school  children,  the  mechanics,  tradesmen,  all 
attended.  In  the  evening  the  houses  were  illuminated.  The  soldiers  were  led 
by  their  officers  before  the  relic,  with  their  colors  lowered.  Three  hundred  prison- 
ers asked  leave  to  visit  the  holy  garment,  and  they  came  with  great  gravity  and 
compunction.  During  the  whole  exhibition,  the  cathedral  was  open  from  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning  till  eight  o'clock  at  night,  and  it  was  constantly  filled  with 
an  immense  crowd. 

"  Pilgrims  came  from  all  countries,  chiefly  from  Germany  and  the  eastern  fron- 
tiers of  France.  They  were  for  the  most  part  peasants,  who,  with  their  vicar  at 
their  head,  flocked  to  this  pagan  spectacle.  The  city  of  Treves  presented  during 
the  exhibition  a  lively  scene.  In  all  the  streets  and  public  places,  processions 
were  continually  passing.  Ordinarily  the  pilgrims  marched  two  and  two,  and 
chanted  a  monotonous  litany.  All  the  hotels  were  crowded.  Extensive  wooden 
barracks  were  erected  at  the  gates  of  the  city  ;  and  there,  for  a  penny  or  two  a 


cii.vp.  v.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  C37 

Procession  in  the  Cathedral  to  touch  the  holy  coat.  Immense  gain  of  money  to  the  priests. 

head,  the  pilgrims  found  a  little  straw  to  lie  upon.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning 
the  noise  began  again,  and  continued  till  a  very  advanced  hour  of  the  night. 
Play  actors  of  all  sorts  established  themselves  at  Treves ;  every  day  several  thea- 
tres were  opened  to  amuse  the  strangers.  There  were  panoramas,  dioramas, 
menageries,  puppet  shows,  all  the  diversions  which  are  found  in  France  at  fairs. 
Everywhere  mirth  and  revelry  abounded,  wholly  unlike  the  composed  and  pious 
feelings  inspired  by  the  performance  of  a  religious  duty. 

"  Let  us  now  accompany  the  pilgrims  to  the  cathedral.  At  the  bottom  of  the 
nave,  on  an  altar  brilliantly  lighted,  is  the  relic  in  a  golden  box.  Steps  placed  at 
each  side  lead  to  it.  The  pilgrims  approach,  mount  the  steps,  and  pass  their 
hand  through  an  oval  aperture  in  the  box,  to  touch  the  coat  of  the  Lord.  Two 
priests  seated  near  the  relic  receive  the  chaplets,  medals,  hoods,  and  other  articles 
of  the  faithful,  and  put  them  in  contact  with  the  marvellous  coat,  because  mere 
contact  is  a  means  of  blessing.  Objects  which  have  thus  touched  the  relic  are 
consecrated,  sanctified ;  they  then  become  holy  chaplets,  holy  medals,  &c.  ;  and 
after  this  ceremony,  the  pilgrims  go  away  rejoicing,  thinking  they  have  acquired 
the  remission  of  all  their  sins.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  exhibition  was  dis- 
tinguished by  numerous  miracles.  Has  not  Rome  miracles  always  at  her  service  / 
Is  not  her  whole  history  filled  with  striking  prodigies  ? 

"  This  exhibition  of  course  brought  a  great  deal  of  money  to  the  priests.  This  is 
the  true  explanation  of  the  riddle.  It  is  estimated  that  the  offerings  of  the  faithful 
amounted  to  500,000  francs  ($100,000),  in  the  space  of  six  weeks,  without  reck- 
oning the  80,000  medals  of  the  Virgin  which  were  sold,  and  the  profits  from  the 
sale  of  chaplets  and  other  objects  of  devotion.  Even  now,  in  all  the  towns  of 
France,  the  priests  employ  persons,  particularly  women,  to  sell  at  an  exorbitant 
price  a  thousand  petty  articles  which  have  touched  the  holy  coat !  such  as — rib- 
bons, bits  of  cloth,  cotton  and  silk,  some  of  which  are  shaped  like  the  coat ;  be- 
sides crucifixes  and  images,  in  wood  or  in  glass.  The  clergy  have  monopolized  all 
the  old  rags  of  the  neighborhood  of  Treves  and  sell  them  for  their  weight  in  gold, 
and  they  find  dupes  weak  enough  to  purchase  these  amulets  !  The  product  of 
this  traffic,  added  to  the  offerings  of  the  pilgrims,  will  be  perhaps  from  one  to  two 
millions  of  francs. 

"  We  mention,  however,  one  honorable  exception  among  the  Romish  clergy.  A 
German  priest,  named  John  Ronge,  has  published  a  letter  addressed  to  the  bishop 
of  Treves,  which  has  produced  much  sensation.  Fifty  thousand  copies  of  this 
letter  were  sold  in  a  few  days.  All  Germany  exulted,  as  if  she  heard  the  voice  of 
a  new  Luther  !  It  is  said  that  this  bold  and  conscientious  priest  has  been  sum- 
moned before  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  and  is  to  be  deposed. 

"  I  give  you  some  extracts  from  this  protest :  '  What  would  have  seemed  till 
now,'  says  John  Ronge,  '  a  fable,  a  fiction,  bishop  Arnold  of  Treves  presenting 
to  the  adoration  of  the  faithful,  a  garment  called  the  coat  of  Christ ;  you  have 
heard  it,  Christians  of  the  nineteenth  century ;  you  know  it,  men  of  Germany  ; 
you  know  it,  spiritual  and  temporal  governors  of  the  German  people  ; — it  is  no 

longer  fable  or  fiction,   it  is  a  real  fact Truly  may  we  here  apply  the 

words  :  Whoever  can  believe  in  such  things  without  losing  his  reason,  has  no  reason 
to  lose., 

"  The  author  of  the  protest  then  points  out  the  dangers  to  which  pilgrims  were 
exposed  who  visited  this  relic.  '  This  anti-Christian  spectacle,'  he  says,  '  is  but 
a  snare  laid  for  superstition,  formalism,  fanaticism,  to  plunge  men  into  vicious 
habits.  Such  is  the  only  benefit  which  the  exhibition  of  the  holy  coat,  whether 
genuine  or  not,  could  produce.  And  the  man  who  offers  this  garment,  a  human 
work,  as  an  object  of  adoration  ;  who  perverts  the  religious  feelings  of  the  cre- 
dulous, ignorant,  and  suffering  multitudes  ;  who  thus  opens  a  door  to  superstition 
and  its  train  of  vices ;  who  takes  the  money  and  the  bread  of  the  poor,  starving 
people  ;  who  makes  the  German  nation  a  laughing-stock  to  all  other  nations.  .  . 
this  man  is  a  bishop,  a  German  bishop  ;  bishop  Arnold  of  Treves! 

" '  Bishop  Arnold  of  Treves  !  I  turn  to  you  and  I  conjure  you,  as  a  priest,  as  a 
teacher  of  the  people,  and  in  the  name  of  her  rulers ; — I  conjure  you  to  put  an 
end  to  this  pagan  exhibition  of  the  holy  coat,  to  take  away  this  garment  from  pub- 
lic view,  and  not  to  let  the  evil  become  greater  than  it  is  already. 


038  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM  [book  ix. 

Ronge's  expostulation  with  the  bishop-showman  of  the  holy  coat.      A  new  church  formed.      Articles. 

"  :  Do  you  not  know — as  a  bishop  you  must  know,  that  the  founder  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  left  to  his  disciples  and  his  successors  sot  his  coat,  but  his  spirit. 
I  lis  coatj  bishop  Arnold  of  Treves,  was  given  to  his  executioners ! 

'• '  Do  you  not  know, — as  a  bishop  you  ought  to  know,  that  Christ  has  said,  God 
is  it  spirit,  and  they  that  icorship  Him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth?  .   . 

■•  •  Do  you  not  know, — as  a  bishop  you  ought  to  know,  that  the  Gospel  forbids 
expressly  the  adoration  of  images  and  relics  of  every  kind  ;  that  the  Christians  of 
the  apostolic  age  and  of  the  first  three  centuries,  would  never  suffer  an  image  or 
a  relic  in  their  churches  ;  that  it  is  a  pagan  superstition,  and  that  the  Fathers  of 
the  first  three  centuries  reproached  the  pagans  on  this  account  ? 

"'Be  not  misled  by  the  great  concourse  of  visitors.  Believe  me,  while  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  pilgrims  go  to  Treves,  millions  of  others  groan  in  anger 
and  bitterness  over  the  indignity  of  such  an  exhibition.  And  this  anger  exists 
not  in  this  or  that  class,  this  or  that  party  only  ;  it  exists  among  all,  and  every- 
where, even  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  Catholic  clergy,  and  the  judgment  will 
come  sooner  than  you  think.  Already  history  takes  her  pen  ;  she  holds  up  your 
name,  Arnold  of  Treves,  to  the  contempt  of  the  present  age  and  posterity,  and 
stigmatizes  you  as  the  Tetzel  of  the  nineteenth  century  !'  " 

In  a  subsequent  letter  addressed  to  the  Romanists  of  Germany 
and  dated  on  the  New  Year  of  1845,  Ronge  mentions  a  fact 
which  sets  this  gross  popish  imposture  in  the  most  ludicrous  point 
of  light,  and  challenges  his  opponents  to  deny  it — that  pilgrims  to 
this  marvellous  piece  of  old  cloth,  have  been  heard  in  numbers  to 
use  this  prayer,  "  Holy  coat  !  pray  for  us  !"  Think  of  that, 
Americans.  Amidst  the  intelligence  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
"  Holy  coat  !    pray  for  us  !" 

§  39. — As  might  be  expected,  the  faithful  and  fearless  man  who 
could  thus  rebuke  the  avarice  and  imposture  of  a  Romish  bishop, 
was  soon  degraded  from  the  priesthood  and  excommunicated.  God 
designs,  however,  in  this  to  make  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him. 
Churches,  independent  of  Rome,  have  already  been  established, 
consisting  of  the  followers  of  this  second  Luther,  at  Breslau  (of 
which  Ronge  is  pastor),  Berlin,  Elberfeld,  Magdeberg,  Offenbach, 
Dresden,  Leipsic,  &c.  The  independent  community  at  Breslau 
have  published  their  confession  of  faith,  from  which,  as  will  be  seen 
from  the  following  summary  of  the  principal  articles,  all  the  dis- 
tinctive doctrines  of  Popery  are  utterly  excluded  ;  and  thus  it 
appears  that  though  styled  the  German  Catholic  Church  of  Breslau, 
the  doctrines  of  the  church  are  such  as  are  held  by  the  great 
body  of  protestants. 

Article  I.  "  The  foundation  of  Christian  faith  must  be  solely  and  exclusively 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  interpreted  by  sound  reasoning. 

II.  "  The  church  adopts  the  creed  of  the  Apostles  for  its  confession  of  faith. 

IV.  "The  church  avows  the  principle  of  free  inquiry. 

VI.  "  The  church  admits  but  two  sacraments,  baptism  and  the  holy  supper,  be- 
cause, from  the  testimony  of  Scripture,  they  are  the  only  ones  instituted  by  Jesus 
Christ. 

X.  "  Transubstanliation  is  rejected,  because  it  cannot  be  defended  from  the 
gospel. 

XIII.  "  The  celibacy  of  the  priests  is  rejected,  because  it  is  not  founded  on  the 
gospel,  because  it  cannot  be  supported  by  reason,  and  is  a  mere  popish  contrivance 
to  strengthen  the  Romish  hierarchy. 

XIV.  "  The  church  rejects  the  supremacy  of  the  Romish  pope. 


chap,  v.l  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  G3I) 

Recent  proceedings  of  the  Jesuits  in  Switzerland.  Social  worship  forbidden  through  their  means. 

XV.  "  It  abolishes  auricular  confession. 

XVI.  "  It  employs  in  its  worship  only  the  vernacular  language. 

XVII.  "  It  rejects  all  invocation  of  saints,  all  worship  rendered  to  relics  and  to 
images. 

XVIII.  "  It  rejects  alike  fasts,  pilgrimages  and  indulgences. 

XXII.  "The  church  claims  its  former  privilege  of  choosing  its  own  pastors  and 
guides.     It  is  represented  by  the  pastor  and  elders." 

Thus  in  the  nineteenth  century  has  God  seen  fit  to  overrule  the 
priestly  imposture,  which  could  exhibit  an  old  piece  of  rotten  cloth 
to  the  gaping  multitude  as  the  genuine  coat  of  the  Saviour,  in  order 
to  fleece  the  deluded  people  of  their  money  (as  he  overruled,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  outrageous  imposition  of  Tetzel  in  selling 
his  pretended  indulgences) ;  for  the  purpose  of  raising  up  a  new 
set  of  reformers  to  complete,  in  the  native  land  of  Luther,  the 
glorious  reformation  from  Popery,  which  was  begun  by  the  re- 
former of  Wittemberg  three  centuries  ago. 

§  40. — While  these  stirring  events  have  been  transpiring  in  Ger- 
many, the  land  of  Luther; Switzerland,  the  land  of  Zwinglius,  has 
been  shaken  to  its  very  centre,  by  a  movement  of  a  different  kind, 
but  no  less  calculated  to  awaken  the  people  to  the  anti-Christian 
character  and  insidious  designs  of  Popery  than  was  the  exhibition 
of  the  pretended  holy  coat  of  our  Saviour  by  the  bishop  of  Treves. 
I  refer  to  the  recent  violent  efforts  of  the  Jesuits  to  regain  their 
lost  power,  and  to  obtain  the  exclusive  control  of  education  in 
several  of  the  cantons  of  Switzerland,  which  constitute  so  instruc- 
tive a  chapter  in  the  history  of  Popery  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

These  iniquitous  proceedings  of  the  Jesuits  in  that  beautiful  but 
now  distracted  country,  which  have  resulted  in  bringing  upon  it  all 
the  horrors  of  a  civil  war,  commenced  in  the  year  1843.  Toward 
the  close  of  that  year,  the  people  of  the  Upper  Valais,  constituting 
the  illiterate  mountaineers  in  complete  subjection  to  the  popish 
clergy,  suddenly  attacked  the  citizens  of  the  Lower  Valais,  who 
are  more  intelligent,  and  many  of  whom  are  pious  protestants, 
chiefly  such  as  have  come  from  the  canton  of  Vaud  to  pursue 
their  peaceful  occupations. 

This  attack  was  successful.  The  priests  triumphed,  and  at  once 
took  advantage  of  their  victory.  Many  honorable  citizens  were 
thrown  into  prison,  and  others  forced  to  leave  their  country. 
Special  courts  were  instituted  to  try  summarily  those  whom  they 
called  rebels,  and  the  most  iniquitous  sentences  were  passed  upon 
men  who  had  committed  no  other  fault  than  that  of  resisting  the 
usurpations  of  the  clergy.  A  reign  of  terror  existed  in  the  whole 
canton,  and  the  Jesuits  hastened  to  establish  a  new  political  consti- 
tution, while  the  general  panic  prevented  good  citizens  from  lifting 
their  voice  in  opposition.  It  is  needless  to  add,  that  this  constitution 
was  cunningly  contrived  to  give  the  preponderance  to  the  priests 
and  their  friends. 

The  Jesuits  even  proceeded  so  far,  in  imitation  of  the  ancient  in- 
tolerance of  Popery,  as  to  cause  the  passage  of  a  law  in  the  can 


040  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  ix. 


The  Jesuits  in  Switzerland.  Law  against  the  social  meetings  of  protectants.  Civil  war. 

ton  of  Valais,  forbidding  to  the  protestants  the  right  to  assemble 
for  the  worship  of  God.  "  A  few  members  of  the  council  of  state," 
according  to  an  able  and  accurate  writer,  "  proposed,  with  some 
feeling  of  shame  left,  to  forbid  only  public  worship  by  protestants, 
but  to  allow  them  to  celebrate  social  or  family  worship.  Even 
this  was  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  religious  worship;  it  was 
gross  intolerance;  but  the  priests,  the  Jesuits,  and  their  adherents, 
judged  that  the  provisions  of  the  bill  did  not  reach  far  enough.  So 
they  demanded  that  social  worship  itself  should  be  forbidden  to  pro- 
testants ;  and,  in  consequence,  the  majority  of  the  representative 
council  being  the  mere  tools  of  the  clergy,  sanctioned  this  exorbi- 
tant and  iniquitous  law.  Thus,  in  the  canton  of  Valais, — do  not 
forget  it,  American  citizens  !  do  not  forget  it,  Christians  of  all  de- 
nominations ! — protestants  have  no  right  to  celebrate  even  social 
worship;  they  have  no  right  to  read  the  Bible  with  a  pastor  and 
their  brethren  in  their  own  houses.  Here  we  have  the  acts  of 
Jesuits  and  the  true  spirit  of  Popery."* 

§  41. — In  the  canton  of  Lucerne,  the  Jesuits  soon  after  obtained 
the  passage  of  a  law  by  which  all  the  colleges,  schools,  and  other 
institutions  of  learning  were  to  be  solely  directed  by  them.  This 
was  accomplished  through  the  address  of  the  cunning  disciples  of 
Loyala,  in  intriguing  with  the  poor  and  ignorant  peasantry  in  the 
remote  parts  of  the  canton.  The  intelligent  and  educated  in- 
habitants of  Lucerne,  the  capital,  and  other  cities,  were  very  gene- 
rally opposed  to  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  and  used  their  utmost 
efforts  to  defeat  the  law.  After  passing  the  legislative  body,  the 
laws  of  the  canton  required  an  enactment  of  this  description  before 
it  could  go  into  operation,  to  be  ratified  by  a  numerical  majority  of 
the  citizens.  The  city  of  Lucerne  rejected  the  law  consigning  the 
education  of  their  children  to  the  absolute  control  of  the  Jesuits,  by 
a  majority  of  more  than  three  to  one.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this, 
the  influence  of  the  Jesuits  was  such  in  the  country  places,  that 
they  obtained  a  majority  of  the  citizens  of  the  entire  canton,  and 
thus  the  iniquitous  enactment  became  a  law,  and  the  Jesuits  were 
constituted  the  only  legal  professors  and  teachers  of  the  canton. 
The  result  of  these  proceedings  was  that  thousands  of  the  people 
arose  in  their  might,  and  demanded  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits 
from  Switzerland.  In  the  civil  war  which  ensued,  the  Jesuit  party 
were  victorious.  Many  of  the  insurgents  (as  they  were  called) 
who  had  arisen  in  defence  of  their  right  to  appoint  their  own  in- 
structors for  their  children  were  slain ;  many  respectable  citizens 
of  Lucerne  were  imprisoned  ;  the  freedom  of  the  press  was  de- 
stroyed ;  the  printing  offices  of  two  liberal  journals  at  Lucerne 
were  closed  at  the  instance  of  the  Jesuits,  and  the  editors  forbidden 
hereafter  to  publish  their  papers. 

*  See  an  article  on  "  the  late  popish  movement  in  Switzerland  "  in  the  Pro- 
testant Quarterly  Review  for  April,  1845,  chiefly  taken  from  the  valuable  corres- 
pondence of  the  Rev.  Professor  Gustavus  de  Felice,  D.D.,  of  France,  the  able 
European  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Observer. 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  G41 

Efforts  of  the  Pope  and  European  papists  to  spread  Popery  in  America.        Sums  for  Romish  missions. 

It  remains  yet  to  be  seen  what  will  b«  the  result  of  this  contest, 
and  whether  in  any  of  the  Western  States  of  our  own  America 
the  efforts  of  the  Jesuits  (as  active  there  as  in  Switzerland,  though 
in  a  more  secret  manner)  shall  be  attended  with  similar  results. 

§  42. — It  is  the  general  opinion  of  enlightened  and  observing 
protestants  that  the  influence  of  Romanism  among  the  nations  of 
continental  Europe  is  gradually  but  surely  diminishing,  that  the 
throne  of  the  triple-crowned  tyrant  in  Italy  is  tottering  to  its  fall, 
and  that  the  long  reign  of  papal  despotism,  which  has  kept  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  countries  of  the  world  at  least  two  centuries  be- 
hind the  age  in  the  march  of  civilisation  and  improvement,  is  rapidly 
drawing  to  a  close.  It  is  shrewdly  suspected  that  even  the  Pope  and 
the  cardinals  are  themselves  aware  of  this  fact,  and  while  they  feel 
the  pillars  of  their  Italian  empire  shaking  around  them,  are  anxiously 
looking  abroad  for  a  site  to  re-erect  their  throne  in  some  other 
country,  perhaps  in  another  hemisphere,  when  they  shall  be  compelled 
to  fly  from  the  ruins  of  that  which  they  have  so  long  occupied. 

Hence,  it  is  easy  to  comprehend  the  motives  for  the  herculean 
efforts  recently  put  forth  by  the  emissaries  of  Rome,  and  the  vast 
sums  of  money  that  are  sent  from  Europe,  and  poured  forth  like 
water  in  disseminating  the  doctrines  of  Popery  and  extending 
the  dominions  of  the  Pope,  especially  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  As  our  limits  will  not  permit  extended  comments  upon 
the  efforts  of  Romish  missionaries  in  America,  we  must  content 
ourselves  with  a  few  statistical  facts.  Besides  the  Propaganda  at 
Rome,  devoted  to  popish  missions  in  all  lands,  there  are  two  socie- 
ties in  Europe  whose  principal  object  is  to  reduce  America  to  sub- 
mission to  the  Pope,  viz.,  the  Leopold  Foundation  in  Austria,  and 
the  Society  of  St.  Charles  Borromeo,  in  Lyons.  The  society  at 
Lyons  alone  transmitted  to  the  United  States  in  1840,  $163,000, 
and  in  1842,  8177,000.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  annals 
of  these  societies  of  the  appropriation  of  a  portion  of  their  funds 
to  different  missionary  stations  in  America.  The  sums  are  stated 
in  francs,  about  five  to  a  dollar. 

Paid  to  Lazarists,  for  missions  to  Missouri  and  Illinois,  the  seminary 

and  the  college  of  St.  Marie  des  Barriens,     -  7,000  fr. 

Outfit  of  missionaries  who  left  in  1839  to  join  those  missions,     -        -  9,333,30 

To  the  Jesuits,  for  missions  in  Missouri  and  New  Orleans,         -         -  15,000 

T'o  the  Jesuits  in  Kentucky,     -----...  6,000 

j.'j  my  lord  Eccleston,  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,         ....  7,327 

f  o  my  lord  S&rus,  Bishop  of  Dubuque,     ------  52,627 

To  my  lord  Purcell,  Bishop  of  Cincinnati,  -  39,827 

To  my  lord  Kenrick,  Bishop  of  Philadelphia,     -----  20,327 

To  my  lord  Fenwick,  Bishop  of  Boston,    ------  20,327 

To  my  lord  Hughes,  acting  Bishop  of  New  York,      -  831,50 

To  my  lord  Miles,  Bishop  of  Nashville,     ------  26,807 

To  my  lord  Fluget,  Bishop  of  Bardstown,  -  21,409 

To  my  lord  Hailandiere,  Bishop  of  Vincennes,  -  65,827 

To  my  lord  Rasati,  Bishop  of  St.  Louis,  ----._  20,327 

To  my  lord  Blane,  acting  Bishop  of  Natchez,    -----  10,827 

To  my  lord  England,  Bishop  of  Charleston,       -  13,827 

Outfit  of  missionaries  to  Detroit,       ----.._  4,000 

341,823.80 


642 


HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM. 


[book  IX. 


Statistics  of  Popery  in  the  United  Stab  9. 


§  43. — Fifty  years  ago  there  was  but  one  bishop,  twenty-five 
priests,  and  a  few  scattered  Romish  churches  in  the  United  States; 
now  there  are  twenty-one  bishops,  more  than  sev<  n  hundred  priests, 
and  over  a  million  of  papists.  The  following  table  is  taken  from 
the  Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanack  and  Laity's  Directory  for 
1845,  and  is  a  general  summary  of  the  Romish  Church  in  the 
United  States. 


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Baltimore,-     -    - 

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37 

5 

56 

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90,000 

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11 

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6 

160,000 

Louisville,      -    - 

40 

85 

31 

24 

3 

9 

3 

4 

11 

4 

40,000 

Boston,  -    -    -    - 

32 

15 

34 

3 

- 

— 

1 

_ 

1 

1 

65,000 

61 

6 

49 

3 

7 

1 
1 

30 
20 

4 

1 

1 

6 

4 
15 

New  York,      -    - 

110 

75 

96 

1 

3 

200,000 

Charleston,    -     - 

20 

50 

19 

o 

1 

4 

1 

2 

2 

6 

10,000 

Richmond,   -    -    - 

10 

15 

10 

1 

1 

10 

1 

_ 

1 

2 



Cincinnati,  -    -    - 

70 

50 

57 

10 

2 

19 

1 

2 

2 

5 

65,000 

St.  Louis,  -    -    - 

33 

25 

31 

29 

3 

25 

1 

4 

8 

6 



Mobile,  -    -    -    - 

12 

30 

10 

2 

1 

7 

1 

1 

4 

7 

11.000 

Detroit,      -    -    - 

12 

31 

15 

— 

- 

— 

- 

- 

1 

— 

40,000 

Vincennes,  -    -    - 

40 

30 

33 

6 

1 

19 

2 

1 

5 

5 

25,000 

Dubuque,    -    -    - 

13 

9 

12 

— 

- 

— 

1 

1 

2 

— 

5,800 

Nashville,      -     - 

3 

33 

8 

— 

1 

3 

1 

- 

1 

1 

. 

5 

16 

6 

Pittsburg,  -    -    - 

41 

24 



_ 

8 

1 

1 

2 

4 

30,000 

2 

6 

2 

1 

2 

Chicago,      -    -    - 

38 

58 

20 

2 

1 

— 

1 

1 

50,000 

Hartford,  -    -    - 

10 

— 

7 

— 

— 

— 

— 

- 

— 

— 



Milwaukee,     -    - 

18 

— 

9 

— 

- 

— 

1 

- 

1 

— 

20,000 

Ap.  Yic.  Or.  T.  - 

16 

- 

— 

1 

2 

Dioc.  21,  V.  Ap.     1 

675 

592 

572 

137 

22 

■_'2<> 

26 

28 

63 

94 

811,800 

To  the  above  table  is  appended  the  remark  that  the  aggregate 
population  of  the  dioceses  not  marked,  is  probably  about  200,000. 
making  a  total  of  1,071,800  as  the  entire  Romish  population  at  pre- 
sent in  the  United  States.  To  show  the  probable  increase  of  Roman- 
ism in  future  years,  which,  by  the  way,  is  chiefly  by  immigration 
from  popish  countries  in  Europe,  the  following  comparative  statis- 
tics of  their  increase  in  the  past  ten  years  are  given  from  the  same 
source. 


Dioceses, 

in  1835,  13 

in 

1840, 

16; 

in 

1845, 

21 

Bishops, 

"      14 

<( 

17; 

« 

26 

Churches, 

"    272 

« 

454; 

ci 

675 

Priests, 

"    327 

<( 

482; 

« 

709 

Eccles.  Seminaries. 

"       12 

K 

16; 

U 

22 

Colleges, 

9, 

(( 

ii; 

>< 

15 

chap  v.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  643 


Designs  of  the  Pope  and  his  adherents  in  America.  Plain  avowal  of  a  popish  editor  {note). 

During  the  same  ten  years  the  total  number  of  Roman  Catho- 
lics in  the  United  States,  like  the  number  of  churches,  has  more 
than  doubled,  and  with  the  addition  of  at  least  100,000  popish 
immigrants  every  year,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  will  double 
again  in  less  than  the  same  time.  The  ratio  of  increase  of  the 
whole  population  of  the  United  States,  is  about  34  per  cent,  for 
ten  years. 

§  44. — There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Pope  and  his  adherents  have 
formed  the  deliberate  design  of  obtaining  the  ascendency  in  the 
United  States.  Popish  pnests  and  editors  make  no  secret  of  this 
design,  and  expect  its  realization  at  no  distant  day.*  The  rapidity 
with  which  they  arc  carrying  forward  their  operations  in  the 
Western  States  may  be  gathered  from  the  statistics  of  a  single  city. 
At  the  last  census,  St.  Louis  contained  about  36,000  inhabitants,  of 
whom  probably  15,000  are  papists,  though  the  priests  claim  one 
half  the  population.  From  the  St.  Louis  Directory,  recently  pub- 
lished, we  gather  the  following  particulars,  furnished  by  the  priests 
themselves. 

They  have,  including  the  cathedral  and  the  chapel  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  Jesus,  which  is  attached  to  the  Convent,  now  built  and 
building,  seven  churches,  five  of  which  are  of  the  largest  size  and 

*  The  following;  language  of  Orestes  A.  Brownson,  who  is  just  now  a  flaming 
Roman  Catholic,  in  the  number  of  his  Quarterly  Review  for  April,  1845,  would 
be  of  very  little  consequence  from  the  chamelion  character  of  the  writer  or  editor, 
who,  it  has  justly  been  remarked,  "  is  everything  by  turns,  and  nothing  long  to- 
gether," were  it  not  believed  that  the  paragraphs  relative  to  the  designs  of 
Popery  in  America  are  published  "  under  authority." 

"  '  But  would  you  have  this  country  come  under  the  authority  of  the  Pope  ?' 
Why  not  ?  '  But  the  Pope  would  take  away  our  free  institutions  !'  Nonsense. 
But  how  do  you  know  that  ?  From  what  do  you  infer  it  ?  After  all  do  you  not 
commit  a  slight  blunder  ?  Are  your  free  institutions  infallible  ?  Are  they  founded 
on  divine  right  ?  This  you  deny.  Is  not  the  proper  question  for  you  to  discuss, 
then,  not  whether  the  Papacy  be  or  be  not  compatible  with  republican  government. 
but,  whether  it  be  or  be  not  founded  in  divine  rigid!  If  the  Papacy  be  founded 
in  divine  right,  it  is  supreme  over  whatever  is  founded  only  in  human  right,  and 
then  your  institutions  should  be  made  to  harmonize  with  it,  not  it  with  your  insti- 
tutions. .  .  .  The  real  question,  then,  is,  not  the  compatibility  or  incompatibility 
of  the  Catholic  Church  with  Democratic  institutions,  but,  is  the  Catholic  Church  the 
Church  of  God  ?  Settle  this  question  first.  But,  in  point  of  fact,  Democracy  is  a 
mischievous  dream,  wherever  the  Catholic  Church  does  not  predominate,  to  inspire 
the  people  with  reverence,  and  to  teach  and  accustom  them  to  obedience  to  author- 
ity. The  first  lesson  for  all  to  learn,  the  last  that  should  be  forgotten,  is,  to  obey. 
You  can  have  no  government  where  there  is  no  obedience  ;  and  obedience  to  law, 
as  it  is  called,  will  not  long  be  enforced,  where  the  fallibility  of  law  is  clearly 
seen  and  freely  admitted.  .  .  .  But  '  it  is  the  intention  of  the  Pope  to  possess 
this  country.'  Undoubtedly.  '  In  this  intention  he  is  aided  by  the  Jesuits,  and 
all  the  Catholic  prelates  and  priests.'  Undoubtedly,  if  they  are  faithful  to  their 
religion." 

After  the  above  plain  avowal  and  additional  remarks  in  a  similar  strain,  Mr.  B. 
comes  to  the  following  conclusion  : — "  That  the  policy  of  the  Church  is  dreaded 
;ind  opposed,  and  must  be  dreaded  and  opposed,  by  all  protestants,  infidels,  dema- 
gogues, tyrants,  and  oppressors,  is  also  unquestionably  true.  Save,  then,  in  the 
dscharge  of  our  civil  duties,  and  in  the  ordinary  business  of  life,  there  is,  and 

(AN    BE,    NO   HARMONY    BETWEEN    CATHOLICS    AND    PROTESTANTS." 

38 


644  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  [book  rx. 

Statistics  of  Popery  in  Great  Britain  and  throughout  the  world. 


the  most  durable  construction.  They  have  a  University  contain- 
inf  one  hundred  and  fifty  students,  under  charge  of  the  Jesuits  ; 
an  extensive  hospital,  and  a  Convent  in  charge  of  the  Sisters  of 
Charity.  They  have  two  large  orphan  asylums,  also  under  the 
charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  ;  four  free  schools,  two  of  them 
with  five  teachers  each,  one  containing  two  hundred  and  fifty,  and 
the  other  three  hundred  and  fifty  pupils,  besides  two  female  acade- 
mies, under  the  care  of  the  Ladies  of  the  Visitation. 

§  45. — Extraordinary  efforts  have  also  recently  been  made  for 
the  propagation  of  Popery  in  Great  Britain.  The  following  statis- 
tics of  the  Romish  church  in  that  kingdom  are  taken  from  the 
Catholic  Directory  for  1845  : — 

The  total  number  of  Roman  Catholic  chapels  in  England  is  501,  in  Wales 
8,  in  Scotland  73  besides  27  stations  where  divine  service  is  performed,  making  a 
grand  total  for  Great  Britain  of  582.  Of  the  chapels  in  England,  there  are  in 
Lancashire  98,  in  Yorkshire  58,  Staffordshire  32,  Middlesex  25,  Northumberland 
22,  Warwickshire  22,  Durham  17,  Leicestershire  15,  Cheshire  14,  Hampshire, 
Somersetshire,  and  Worcestershire  13  each,  Kent  and  Lincolnshire  12  each,  and 
Cumberland,  Derby,  and  Shropshire  9  each.  Of  the  chapels  in  Scotland,  there 
are  in  Invernesshire  17,  in  Banffshire  and  in  Aberdeenshire  10.  In  England  there 
are  10  Catholic  colleges,  in  Scotland  1.  In  England  there  are  31  convents  and  3 
monasteries.  The  number  of  missionary  priests  in  England  is  666,  in  Scotland 
91,  making  a  grand  total  of  757. 

An  intense  excitement  has,  within  the  present  year,  been  pro- 
duced in  England  by  a  Parliamentary  grant — produced  chiefly 
through  the  agency  of  Sir  Robert  Peel — of  a  large  endowment  to 
Maynooth  Roman  Catholic  college  in  Ireland,  near  Dublin,  where 
about  450  students  are  preparing  for  the  Romish  priesthood. 

§  46. — The  total  number  of  the  Roman  Catholic  population 
throughout  the  world  at  the  present  time  is  variously  estimated 
from  one  to  two  hundred  millions.  The  Metropolitan  Catholic 
Almanac  for  1844,  gave  the  number  of  "the  faithful,"  160,842,424, 
though  it  is  to  be  remembered  the  entire  population  of  many 
papal  countries  are  included,  whatever  may  be  their  religious 
views ;  and  it  is  well  known  that  multitudes  in  Italy  and  elsewhere 
enumerated  in  the  census  of  "  the  faithful."  are  infidels.  The  entire 
number  of  popish  priests  cannot  be  less  than  500,000,  probably 
more.  Among  these,  according  to  the  Catholic  Almanac,  are  one 
Pope,  147  archbishops,  584  bishops,  71  vicars  apostolical,  9  pre- 
fects, 3  apostolicals,  and  3,207  missionary  priests. 

If  such  are  the  strength  and  numbers  of  the  Romish  church  at 
the  present  time,  it  may  be  asked,  why  we  have  entitled  this  closing 
portion  of  our  history"  Popery  in  its  Dotage."  To  this  we  reply, 
that  its  apparent  increase  in  some  countries  is  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  its  rapid  decrease  in  others,  as  well  in  number  as  in 
influence  and  in  power.  The  one  hundred  thousand  annually  swell- 
ing, by  immigration,  the  Romish  ranks  in  America,  are  only  a  trans- 
fer of  so  many  from  the  old  and  priest-ridden  countries  of  Europe  ; 
and  if  it  is  true  that  the  foundations  of  the  throne  of  the  papal  anti- 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  645 

Popery,  upon  the  whole,  gradually  diminishing  in  influence  and  strength.  It  is  in  its  Dotage. 

Christ  are  being  laid,  broad  and  deep,  on  these  western  shores,  still 
it  is  cause  of  joy  and  gratitude  to  the  friends  of  truth,  that  in 
Europe  that  throne  is  tottering  to  its  fall.  The  blows  which  Popery- 
has  received  within  a  year  past,  in  continental  Europe,  from  the 
sturdy  arms  of  John  Ronge  and  his  noble  coadjutors  in  Germany, 
more  than  outweigh,  in  the  estimate  of  its  aggregate  strength,  its 
apparent  and  boasted  successes  in  the  western  world  ;  and  while  it 
behoves  America  to  be  watchful  against  the  advances  of  that 
dangerous  and  insidious  power  which  is  aiming  to  control  her  des- 
tinies, still  it  is  consoling  to  reflect  that  the  strength  and  influence 
of  the  papal  anti-Christ  is,  upon  the  whole,  gradually  yet  certainly 
diminishing ;  and  that  it  has  been  growing  weaker  and  weaker, 
with  each  succeeding  century,  from  the  time  when  a  Gregory,  an 
Innocent,  or  a  Boniface,  by  the  force  of  their  spiritual  thunders, 
hurled  monarchs  from  their  thrones,  or  an  Alexander  VI.,  by  a 
single  dash  of  his  pen,  granted  to  the  Catholic  king  of  Spain  the 
whole  continent  of  America,  North  and  South,  and  all  beyond  "  a 
line  drawn  a  hundred  leagues  west  of  the  Azores,  and  extending 
from  the  South  to  the  North  Pole."* 

Most  heartily,  then,  do  we  again  join  in  the  eloquent  words  of 
Hallam  : — "  A  calm,  comprehensive  study  of  ecclesiastical  history, 
not  in  such  scraps  and  fragments  as  the  ordinary  partisans  of  our 
ephemeral  literature  obtrude  upon  us,  is  perhaps  the  best  antidote  to 
extravagant  apprehensions.     Those   who   know  what  Rome  has 

ONCE  BEEN,  ARE  BEST  ABLE  TO  APPRECIATE  WHAT    SHE   IS  ;    THOSE  WHO- 
HAVE    SEEN   THE    THUNDERBOLT  IN    THE  HANDS    OF  THE  GrEGORIES   AND 

the  Innocents,  will   hardly  be   intimidated  at  the  sallies  op 

DECREPITUDE,  THE  IMPOTENT  DART  OF  PrIAM  AMID  THE  CRACKLING 

ruins  of  Troy  !"f 

Yes !  in  spite  of  its  spasmodic  efforts  for  enlargement,  Popery  is 
in  its  dotage  !  It  is  not,  and  never  again  can  be,  what  it  once  was  ; 
and  compared  with  the  Popery  of  the  middle  ages,  notwithstanding 
its  boasted  and  frequently  exaggerated  numbers,  it  is  a  Pigmy 
compared  with  a  Giant.  Popery  is  in  its  dotage  !  and  therefore  all 
its  struggles  to  regain  its  former  power  shall  prove  only  like  the 
convulsive  throes  of  a  dying  man ;  for,  sure  as  the  unerring  word 
of  prophecy,  anti-Christ  is  destined  to  fall,  and  the  signs  of  the  times 
indicate  that  the  day  cannot  be  very  far  distant,  when  the  shout  of 
joy  and  exultation  shall  be  heard — "  Babylon  the  Great  is  fallen, 

IS  FALLEN  !" 

Let  the  Protestants  of  the  present  age  only  be  vigilant,  active, 
persevering  and  prayerful  !  let  them  sleep  not  while  the  enemy  is 
sowing  his  tares,  and  some  of  their  children  may  yet  live  to  see  the 
day  when  the  Romish  Babylon  shall  be  destroyed,  and  to  join 
in  the  shout  of  triumph  which  shall  burst  from  a  disenthralled  and 
regenerated  world  over  its  final  downfall  and  destruction  ! 

*  See  Irving's  Life  and  Voyages  of  Columbus,  book  v.,  chap.  8,  el  supra,  428. 
f  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  page  304,  el  supra,  355. 


646 


CONCLUDING    REMARKS. 


§  47. — Thus  have  we,  at  length,  arrived  at  the  close  of  our  long 
journey  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  centuries,  from  the  dawn  of  papal 
corruptions  down  to  the  present  time.  The  result  of  our  examin- 
ation is  the  solemn  conviction — strengthened  the  more  attentively 
we  study  the  subject — that  the  Romish,  so  far  from  being  the 
true  church,  is  the  bitterest  foe  of  all  true  churches  of  Christ — that 
she  possesses  no  claim  to  be  called  a  Christian  church — but,  with 
the  long  line  of  corrupt  and  wicked  men  who  have  worn  her  triple 
crown,  that  she  is  ANTI-CHRIST  ; — the  original  of  that  apostate 
power  whose  character  was  sketched  eighteen  hundred  years  ago 
by  the  pen  of  inspiration,  "  whose  coming  is  after  the  working  of 
Satan,  with  all  deceivableness  of  unrighteousness,"  and  "  whom  the 
Lord  shall  consume  with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth,  and  destroy  with 
the  brightness  of  his  coming."    (2  Thess.  ii.,  8-10.) 

If  this  is  so,  if  Popery  is  not  Christianity,  but  a  system  of  cor- 
ruption, error,  and  falsehood,  that  has  usurped  that  venerable  name, 
then  it  is  evident  that  Christianity  is  not  chargeable  with  the  atro- 
cious vices  and  horrible  cruelties  of  which  her  corrupt  and  wicked 
hierarchy  have  been  guilty  through  so  many  centuries,  of  perse- 
cution, of  shame,  of  pollution  and  guilt,  and  the  history  of  which 
has  been  given  in  the  preceding  pages. 

Let  not  the  infidel,  therefore,  after  perusing  the  detail  of  the 
enormities  of  anti-Christian  Rome,  close  tne  book  with  a  scowl  of 
contempt  at  the  New  Testament,  and  say — "  this  then  is  your 
Christianity."  No  !  Popery  is  not  Christianity ;  it  is  not  the  re- 
ligion of  the  New  Testament ;  it  is  as  far  from  it  as  light  from 
darkness,  as  heaven  from  hell,  as  Christ  from  anti-Christ.  And  it 
would  be  just  as  rational  to  brand  Christianity  with  the  cruelties 
and  enormities  of  the  idol  temples  of  Juggernaut  or  of  Kalee,  or 
with  the  atrocities  of  the  infidel  actors  in  the  French  revolution, 
as  to  lay  at  the  door  of  the  religion  of  HIM  who  was  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart,  and  who  came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to 
save  them — the  crimes,  the  murders,  the  burnings,  the  massacres, 
the  obscenities,  the  impostures,  the  lying  wonders — which  have 
marked  the  career  of  apostate  Rome,  at  every  stage  of  her  pol- 
luted and  blood-stained  history. 

If  Popery  were  a  just  exhibition  of  Christianity,  it  would  be  a 
religion  unworthy  of  a  Being  of  infinite  holiness,  purity,  and  be- 
nevolence, and  were  it  not  that  prophecy  has  foretold  its  history 
and  described  its  character,  the  existence  of  such  a  system  for  so 
many  centuries  under  the  name  of  Christianity,  would  be  the 
strongest  prop  of  Infidelity.  This  difficully>however,  immediately 
vanishes,  and  Popery  is  transformed  into  an  eloquent  argument 
for  the  truth  of  the  bible  when  we  remember  that  its  whole  history 
and  character  are  fully  delineated  in  the  prophetical  scriptures  ;  that 


chap,  v.]  POPERY  IN  ITS  DOTAGE— A.  D.  1685-1845.  647 

Men  who  have  advocated  the  identity  of  Rome  with  anti  Christ.  Can  a  Roman  Catholic  be  saved  ? 

it  is  that  great  anti-Christian  power,  described  by  Daniel,  in  his 
seventh  chapter  (verse  25),  under  the  emblem  of  a  little  horn,  as 
"  wearing  out  the  saints  of  the  Most  High  ;"  by  John  in  the 
Revelations,  as  a  beast  "making  war  with  saints,"  and  "open- 
ing his  mouth  in  blasphemy  against  God"  (xiii.,  5,  6,  7),  and  as 
"  Babylon  the  great,  mother  of  harlots,  and  abominations  of  the 
earth,"  "  a  woman  drunken  with  the  blood  of  the  saints  and  the 
martyrs  of  Jesus"  (xvii.,  5,  6),  and  by  Paul  in  his  first  epistle  to 
Timothy  as  "  a  departure  from  the  faith,  giving  heed  to  seducing 
spirits  and  doctrines  of  devils  (iv.,  1),  and  in  his  second  epistle  to 
Thessalonians  as  "  a  falling  away,"  or  apostasy,  as  the  revelation  of 
that  "  Man  of  Sin,"  that  "  Son  of  perd.tion  who  opposeth  and 
exalteth  himself  above  all  that  is  called  God  or  is  worshipped"  (ii., 
3,  4).  In  these  prophetic  scriptures,  the  character  of  the  papal 
anti-Christ  is  drawn,  with  an  unerring  precision,  which  is  sufficient 
alone  to  prove  that  these  holy  men,  Daniel,  Paul  and  John,  "  spake 
as  they  were  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

This  identity  of  papal  Rome  with  anti-Christ  was  maintained  by 
Luther,  Melancthon,  Calvin,  and  all  the  continental  reformers  ;  by 
Latimer,  Ridley,  Cranmer,  and  all  the  British  reformers:  by  the 
illustrious  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Mede,  Whiston,  Bishop  Newton, 
Lowth,  Daubuz,  Jurieu,  Vitringa,  Bedell,  and  a  host  of  equally 
pious,  illustrious  and  learned  names.  The  same  testimony  has  been 
borne  in  the  authorized  doctrinal  standards  of  the  Episcopal,  Pres- 
byterian, Lutheran,  Methodist,  Baptist,  and  other  churches  both  of 
Europe  and  America.  The  same  doctrine  is  still  taught  in  the  theo- 
logical school  of  Geneva  by  the  illustrious  D'Aubigne  and  Gaussen, 
and  with  but  here  and  there  a  solitary  exception,  by  all  the  most 
learned  professors  and  clergymen  of  the  present  day,  connected 
with  the  various  evangelical  denominations  of  protestant  Christians. 

§  48. — Here  the  inquiry  naturally  presents  itself,  'if  the  Romish 
is  not  a  true  church  of  Christ,  but  only  an  apostate  anti-Christian 
power,  is  it  possible  for  any  one  to  be  saved  who  dies  in  her  com- 
munion V  To  this  we  reply,  that  the  salvation  of  a  man  depends 
not  upon  what  visible  Church,  whether  true  or  false,  he  is  connected 
with,  but  upon  the  question,  whether  he  has  been  "  born  again"  (John 
hi.,  3),  whether  he  has  truly  repented  of  his  sins  before  God  (Luke 
xiii.,  3),  and  believed  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  (Acts  xvi.,  31  ;  John 
iii.,  16,  36).  If  any  man  be  thus  reconciled  to  God  through  faith  in 
Christ,  he  is  a  "  new  creature  •,  old  things  are  passed  away  ;  behold,  all 
things  are  become  new"  (2  Cor.  v.,  17) ;  and  he  who  is  thus  called 
and  justified  shall  most  assuredly  be  glorified  (Rom.  viii.,  30),  what- 
ever visible  church  he  belong  to,  or  if  he  belong  to  none  at  all.  It 
is  not  the  connection  with  any  particular  church  that  saves  a  man 
(though  it  is  the  duty  of  every  converted  man  to  become  a  member 
of  a  church  of  Christ),  but  it  is  his  union  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
by  a  sanctifying  and  saving  faith ;  and  if  this  is  wanting,  then  all 
the  confessions,  and  absolutions,  and  indulgences  and  extreme  unc- 
tions of  a  priest  can  confer  no  benefit ;  but  if  he  possesses  this  sav- 


648  HISTORY  OF  ROMANISM.  LB00K  = 


Some  of  God'a  believing  people  probably  in  Babylon.  All  exhorted  to  come  out  of  her. 

ing  faith  in  Christ,  then  while  these  popish  practices  can  do  him  not 
a  particle  of  good,  they  shall  not  avail  to  shut  him  out  of  heaven. 
The  great  danger  of  these  popish  observances  is,  that  they  have 
led  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  to  trust  not  in  the  atonement 
and  righteousness  of  Christ,  but  in  them  for  salvation,  while  the  ab- 
solute necessity  of  the  new  birth,  and  the  new  heart  and  the  new 
life  (•'  hid  with  Christ  in  God")  has  been  kept  out  of  sight,  till  it  was 
too  late;  and  thus  are  the  skirts  of  the  Romish  priesthood  covered 
all  over  with  the  blood  of  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
whom  they  have  led  blindfolded  to  hell. 

Still  it  is  a  thought  calculated  to  relieve  in  some  degree  the  pain- 
ful feelings  produced  by  this  bitter  reflection,  to  remember  that  a 
Fenelon,  a  Kempis,  a  Pascal,  a  Bourdaloue,  and  perhaps  thousands 
more  who  once  held  an  external  connection  with  the  church  of 
Rome,  have,  in  spite  of  such  connection,  and  the  hindrance  it  offers 
to  that  personal  application  to  and  reliance  on  Christ,  without  which 
none  can  be  saved,  become  penitent  believers  in  Jesus,  and  are  now 
in  glory.  O  it  is  pleasing  to  hope  that  many  a  poor  monk,  like 
Luther  in  his  monastery  at  Erfurth,  may  have  found  out,  within  the 
walls  of  his  solitary  cell,  that  "  the  just  shall  live  by  faith,"  and 
that  salvation  is  to  be  obtained,  not  by  pilgrimages,  and  penances, 
and  indulgences  and  extreme  unction,  but  through  faith  in  the  blood 
and  righteousness  of  Christ ;  and  thus  discovered  the  way  to 
heaven,  though  he  may  never  have  renounced  his  external  connec- 
tion with  Rome. 

That  there  may  be  some,  even  in  the  Romish  Babylon,  who  are 
the  "  children  of  God  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ"  (Gal.  hi.,  26),  seems 
to  be  intimated  by  the  warning  cry,  "  Come  out  of  her,  my  people  /" 
If  there  were  none  of  God's  people  in  Babylon,  they  could  hardly 
be  called  upon  to  come  out  of  her.  To  such,  therefore,  in  the  com- 
munion of  Rome,  who,  though  (like  Luther  in  the  sixteenth,  and 
Ronge  in  the  nineteenth  century,)  nominally  connected  with  the 
Romish  Babylon,  have  discovered  her  errors  and  mourned  over 
her  corruptions,  I  would  say,  Come  out  of  her  !  like  Luther  and  the 
thousands  of  holy  men  who  have  trodden  in  his  footsteps.  Come  out 
of  her ! — if  you  would  not  be  instrumental,  by  your  influence  and 
example,  in  leading  souls  from  Christ  to  trust  for  salvation  in  the 
foolish  mummeries  of  Popery  which  your  souls  despise-— Come 
out  of  her!  finally,  if  you  would  escape  the  calamities  which  pro- 
phecy declares  are  yet" to  fall  upon  her,  hear  the  voice  from  heaven 
(Rev.  xviii.,  4,  5),  wrhich  says — Come  out  of  her,  my  people  !  that 

YE  BE  NOT  PARTAKERS  OF  HER  SINS,  AND  THAT  YE  RECEIVE  NOT  OF 
HER  PLAGUES  ;  FOR  HER  SINS  HAVE  REACHED  UNTO  HEAVEN,  AND  GoD 
HATH  REMEMBERED  HER  INIQUITIES  ! 


FINIS. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


OF    POPES,    GENERAL    COUNCILS,    AND    REMARKABLE    EVENTS    IN    THE 
HISTORY    OF    ROMANISM. 

In  the  following  table,  the  list  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  up  to  606,  and  the  popes  after 
that  (taken  "chiefly  from  Bower),  is  printed  in  capitals  with  a  cross  f  ;  the  kings 
of  England,  after  the  conquest,  with  an  asterisk  * :  and  oilier  famous  sovereigns 
in  the  same  characters,  without  any  mark.  _ 

In  reference  to  the  General  Councils,  it  is  well  known  that  Romanists  are  divided 
among  themselves,  into  fiercely  contending  sects  and  parties,  as  to  which  of  the 
councils  possess  a  claim  to  that  character.  In  compiling  the  complete,  list  of  the 
General  Councils  embodied  in  the  following  table,  we  have  adopted  the  most  popu- 
lar and  generally  received  list  among  Romanists,  as  given  by  Father  Gahan  in 
his  popular  manual  of  Roman  Catholic  Church  History.  At  the  same  time,  we 
have  mentioned  some  other  Councils  which  have,  by  some  Romish  authors,  been 
regarded  as  General. 


65.  Martyrdom  of  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul. 
Note.— Peter  is  asserted  by  Romanists  to  have  I 
been  the  first  Pope  of  Rome.     Of  this,  how- 
ever, there  is  not  a  particle  of  evidence.     Dif-  | 
ferent  and  opposing  lists  are  given  of  his  sup- 
posed  immediate  successors,  which  have  been 
mentioned  in  this  work  (page  48,  note),  but  as  '■ 
Romish  writers  disagree  among  themselves,  we 
shall  commence  our  chronological  catalogue  of 
the  bishops  of  Rome,  witb  Victor,  who  is  the 
first  of  whom  anything  of  importance  is  cer 
tainly  known.    The  names  previous  to  Victor, 
generally  inserted  in  the  catalogues  by  apos 
tolic   secessionists,  sometimes   in  one  order 
and  sometimes  in  another,  are  Linus.  Cletus,  or 
Anacletus  (sometimes  one  and  sometimes  two 
persons),  Clement,  Evaristus,  Alexander,  Six- 
tus,  Telesphorus,  Hyginus,  Pius,  Anicetus,  So- 
ter,  and  Eleutherius. 

100.  Death  of  the  apostle  John,  the  last  of  the 
apostles. 

192.  t  VICTOR,  bishop  of  Rome.  In  the  dispute 
with  the  eastern  Christians  about  the  time  of 
observing  Easter.  Victor  excluded  them  from 
fellowship  with  the  church  of  Rome.  This 
is  the  first  instance  on  record  of  this  kind  of 
Romish  tyrannv  and  assumption.  His  excom- 
munication of  the  eastern  Christians  was  re- 
garded by  them  as  of  no  authority  whatever. 
(See  p.  32.) 

201.  tZEPHYRINUS. 

219    tCALIXTUS. 

223.  fURBANUS. 

230.  jPONTIANUS. 

235.  t  ANTERIUS. 

236.  tFABIANUS. 

•250  Paul  the  hermit,  during  the  persecution  of 
Decius,  betakes  himself  to  the  deserts  of  Egypt, 
where  he  lives  for  upwards  of  90  years. 

251.  t  CORNELIUS. 

252.  t  LUCIUS. 

253.  t  STEPHEN. 

256.  Council  of  Carthage  relative  to  the  baptism 
of  heretics.  St.  Cvpiian  excommunicated  by 
Stephen,  bishop  of  Rome,  for  deciding  con- 
trary to  his  opinion  in  this  council.  His  ex- 
communication regarded  as  of  no  authority, 


which  is  a  proof  that  papal  supremacy  was 
not  yet  establishsd 

257.  fSIXTUS  II. 

258.  Martyrdom  of  Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage. 

259.  t  DIONYSIUS. 

269.  t  FELIX. 

270.  About  this  time,  Anthony,  an  Egyptian,  the 
founder  of  Monasticism,  retires  to  the  deserts, 
where  he  continued  till  his  death  in  356,  at  the 
aae  of  105. 

275.  fEUTYCHIANUS. 
2-i3.  tCAlUS. 
296.  tMARCELLINUS. 
308.  tMARCELLUS. 

310.  tEUSEBIUS. 

311.  fMELCIUADES. 

312.  Supposed  miraculous  conversion  of  the  em- 
peror Constantine.  He  takes  Christianity  un- 
der the  patronage  of  the  State. 

314.  t  SYLVESTER. 

314.  Ministers  forrJidden  to  marry  after  ordination 

at  the  council  of  Ancyra. 
325.  First  General  Council  at  Nice.     Arian- 

jsm  condemned,  and  the  Nicene  creed  framed. 

336.  tMARK. 

337.  t  JULIUS 

347.  Council  of  Sardis  -Hows  of  appeals  to 
Rome.  One  of  the  first  steps  toward  papal 
supremacy. 

352.  tLlBERIUS. 

356.  Death  of  Anthony  the  hermit,  aged  105. 

363.  Attempt  of  Julian  the  apostate  to  rebuild  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem  frustrated. 

366.  DAMASUS.  Bloody  contest  between  Da- 
masus  and  Ursicinus,  his  rival  competitor  for 
the  See  of  Rome.  137  persons  killed  in  the 
church  itself. 

372.  Law  of  Valentinian,  empowering  the  bishops 
of  Rome  to  judge  other  bishops. 

381.  Second  Gkneral  Council,  first  of  Con- 
stantinople. T  iedi3tincl  personality  and  deity 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  declared,  in  opposition  to 
the  tenets  of  Macedonius. 


650 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


384.  fSIRlCIUS.  The  first  bishop  of  Rome  who 
issued  decrees  enjoining  celibacy  on  the  clergy. 

386.  St.  Ambrose  professes  miraculously  to  dis- 
cover the  bodies  of*two  saints,  as  he  could  not 
consecrate  the  church  at  Milan  without  relics. 

395.  Jerome  translates  the  bible  into  the  Latin 
Vulgate. 

398.  f  ANASTASITJS. 

402.  f  INNOCENT. 

410.  Koine  besieged  and  sacked  by  Alaric,  king 
of  the  Goths. 

417.  tZOSIMUS. 

417.  Appeal  of  Apiarius.  a  presbyter  of  Africa,  to 
Zosimus,  bishop  of  Rome.  The  decree  of 
Zositntis  in  his  favor  rejected  by  (he  African 
bishops,  and  their  own  independence  asserted, 
proving  that  papal  supremacy  was  not  yet  es- 
tablished. 

419.  1  BONIFACE. 

422.  fCELESTINE 

430.  Death  of  Augustine,  bishop  of  Hippo. 

431.  Third  General  Council,  at  Ephesus,  con 
demns  Nestorius  for  refusing  to  apply  to  the 
Virgin  Mary,  the  title  of '■  Mother  of  God." 
The  result  of  this  controversy  contributes  much 
toward  originating  the  idolatrous  worship  of 
the  Virgin.  Opinions  ol  Pelagius  also  con- 
demned. 

432.  fSlXTUS  HI. 

440    tLEO  THE  GREAT. 

451.  Fourth  General  Council  at  Ckaleedon. 
The  opinions  of  Eutyches  condemned,  relative 
to  the  nature  of  Christ.  This  council  decrees 
the  same  rights  and  honors  to  the  bishop  of 
Constantinople  as  to  the  bishop  of  Rome. 

452.  Leo,  bishop  of  Rome,  visits  the  camp  of  the 
ferocious  Attila,  king  of  the  Huns,  and  pre- 
vails upon  him  to  retire  fiom  Italy. 

454.  Rome  taken  and  pillaged  by  Genseric,  ki»g 
of  the  Vandals. 

461.  jHILARIUS. 

461.  Death  of  Symeon  Stylites,  the  pillar  saint, 
aged  69,  after  spending  47  years  on  tops  of  dif- 
ferent columns;  the  last  of  which  was  60  feet 
high. 

467.  fSIMPLlClUS. 

476.  End  of  the  Western  empire.  Augustul us  de- 
posed and  banished  by  Odoacer,  the  Gothic 
conqueror,  king  of  the  Heruli. 

483.  f  FELIX  II. 

492.  fGELASIUS. 

496.  t  ANAVTASIUS  II. 

496  Dec.  25,  Clovis,  king  of  the  Franks,  baptized 
with  3000  of  his  subjects. 

493.  tSYMMACHUS. 

500.  Fierce  and  bloody  schism  at  Rome  between 
the  rival  bishops  Symmachus  and  Laurentius. 
514.  tHORMlSDAS. 
523.  t-JOHX. 
526.  t  FELIX. 

529.  Benedict  founds  the  order  of  Benedictine 
monks,  and  builds  his  monastery  on  Mount 
Cassino.  The  monks  of  t'lugni,  the  Carlhu-  I 
sians,  the  Cistercians,  and  the  Celestines,  es- 
tablished in  after  ages,  were  regarded  as  dif- 
ferent branches  of  the  Benedictine  order. 

530.  t  '  ONIFACE  II.  Another  disgraceful 
schism  at  Rome  between  Boniface  II.  and  Di- 
oscurus. 

532.  tJOHN  II. 

535.  t  AGAPETUS. 

536.  tSIEVERHTS. 

537.  t  VIGILIUS,  who  succeeds  Silvering,  after 
intriguing  with  the  Emperor  to  drive  him  from 
his  See.  I 


553.  Fifth  General  Council,  second  of  Con- 
stnntinuple.  The  opinions  of  Origen  con- 
demned. 

555.  t  PELAGIUS. 

560.  tJOHN   III. 

574.  t  BENEDICT. 

578.  t  PELAGIUS  II. 

590.  fGREGORY  THE  GREAT. 

591.  Gregory  Btrenuously  opposes  the  title  of 
Universal  Bishop,  which  had  been  assumed 
by  the  bishop  of  Constantinople,  and  pro- 
nounces him  who  accepts  it  to  have  the  pride 
and  character  of  anti-Christ.  In  opposition  to 
it,  hypocritically  adopts  for  himself  the  title 
1  Srrvus  Servorum  I)i  i ' — "  Servant  of  the  ser- 
vants   of  God.". 

596.  Augustin  the  monk  lands  in  Kent,  England, 
as  a  missionary  from  Rome  Ten  thousand 
baptized  on  Christmas  day. 

G01.  Gregory  orders  that  images  should  be  used 
in  churches,  but  not  worshipped. 

602.  Phocas,  a  centurion,  cruelly  murders  the  em- 
peror Mauritius,  his  wife  and  children,  and 
usurps  his  throne 

605.  tSABINIAN. 

606.  fPOPF,  BONIFACE  III.  EPOCH  OF  THE 
PAPAL  SUPREMACY.  Birth  of  Popery  pro- 
per. Boniface  obtains  from  the  tyrant  and 
murderer  Phocas  the  title  of  Universal 
Bishop,  and  the  Pope  is  thus  proved  to  be 
anti-Christ,  Saint  Grrrrory  being  witness. 
Boniface,  properly  speaking,  was  the  first  of 
the  popes. 

608.  t  BONIFACE  IV. 

615.  fDEUSDEDIT. 

619.  f  BONIFACE  V. 

622.  Era  of  the  Hegira,  or  flight  of  Mahomet 
from  Mecca  to  Medina. 

625.  tHONORIUS. 

634.  Commencement  of  the  Monothelite  contro- 
versy. 

636.  Jerusalem  taken  by  the  Saracens  under 
Omar,  who  retain  it  429  years,  till  taken  by 
the  Turks  in  1065. 

638.  jSEVERINUS. 

610.  tJOHN  IV. 

642.  t THEODORE. 

619.  f  MARTIN,  who  was  banished  by  the  em- 
peror Constans  II.  to  Taurica  Chersonesus, 
where  he  died. 

656.  fEUGENIUS. 

657.  t  VITALIANUS. 

607.  The  Pope  by  his  sole  authority  appoints  Theo- 
dore, archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  is  de- 
tained three  months  at  Rome  to  have  his  head 
Bhnved  wiih  the  Romish  tonsure. 

672.  t  ADEODATUS. 

676.  t  DON  US. 

678.  fAGATHO. 

fr'O.  Sixth  General  Council,  third  of  Constan 

tinople,  condemns  Monothelitism  and  anathe 

matizi's  pope  Honorius  for  heresy. 
682.  |LEO  II. 

684.  jBKNEDICT  II..  who  obtains  a  decree 
ftom  the  emperor  Constantine  IV.,  permitting 
tht  election  of  popes  wilhoul  imperial  con- 
firmation. Revoked  by  Justinian  two  years 
a  tier. 

685.  tJOHN  V. 

686.  fCONON. 
687    tSERGIUS. 

692.  The  council  at  Con«tnntinop]o  called  Quini- 
s'it.  because  rcLr;mlril  as  supplementary  to 
the  fifth  and  sixth  general  councils.  Causes 
great  contention  between  the  East  and  West 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


G5I 


701.  fJOH.V  VI. 

115.  tJOHN   VII. 

708.  tSISINNIOS. 

708.  f  CONST ANTINJS. 

710.  The  emperor  Justinian  kisses  the  feet  of  pope 

Constantine,  while  on  a  visit  to  Constantinople. 

Supposed  to  be  the  origin  of  the  custom  of 

kissing  the  Pope's  feet. 
715.  t  GREGORY  II. 
726.  Commencement  of  the  great  controversy  on 

image  worship.    The  emperor  Leo  issues  lus 

first  decree  against  image-worship 
730.  Leo"s  second  decree  enjoining  the  removal  or 

destruction   of   images,   occasions   tumults   at 

Constantinople  and  Rome. 
732.  t GREGORY  III. 

734.  The  Emperor  sends  a  fleet  against  the  re- 
fractory Romans,  which  is  lost  at  sea. 

740.  Luitprand,  king  of  the  Lombards,  invades 
and  lays  waste  the  papal  territories,  and  the 
Pope  applies  fur  help  to  Charles  M artel,  mayor 
of  the  palace  in  France. 

741.  Death  of  the  emperor  Leo,  the  great  opposer, 
and  pope  Gregory,  the  great  advocate  of 
image  worship,  and  also  of  Charles  Martel,  all 
in  the  same  year. 

741.  fZACHARY. 

751.  PEPIN  of  France,  son  of  Martel.  encouraged 
by  pope  Zachary,  dethrones  king  Childeric 
III.  of  France,  and  usurps  his  place. 

752.  | STEPHEN  II. 

754.  Council  at  Constantinople,  called  hy  the  em- 
peror Constantine  V.,  condemns  image-wor- 
ship. The  Greek  church  claims  this  as  the 
seventh  general  council.  The  Romish  church 
denies  it. 

756.  EPOCH  OF  THE  POPES'  TEMPORAL 
SOVEREIGNTY.  Pepin  of  France  compels 
Aistulphus,  king  of  the  Lombards,  to  yield  up 
the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  to  the  See  of  Rome, 
which  thus  becomes  a  temporal  monarchy. 

757.  fPAUL. 

767.  t  STEPHEN  III. 

772.  f  ADRIAN. 

772.  CHARLEMAGNE  of  France,  son  of  Pepin. 

774  Charlemagne  visits  Rome,  and  confirms  and 
enlarges  the  donation  of  Pepin. 

781.  Charlemagne  visits  Rome  a  second  time,  and 
causes  his  son  Carloman  to  be  crowned  king 
of  Lombardy,  and  Lewis,  king  of  Aquitaine. 

787.  Seventh  General  Council.  The  infamous 
empress  Irene  convenes  the  second  council  of 
JYj'ce,  called  by  the  Latins  the  seventh  general 
council,  which  establishes  fh*  worship  of 
images. 

794.  The  body  of  Albanus,  the  proto-martyr  of 
Britain,  said  to  be  revealed  to  Offa,  king  of 
Mercia,  who  build  St.  Alban's  monastery. 

795.  jLEO  III. 

800.  Charlemagne    crowned    emperor    of    the 

Romans  by  pope  Leo,  at  Rome 
817.  t  PASCHAL. 
824.  t  EUGENIUS  II. 
827.  t  VALENTINE. 

827.  *  EGBERT  of  England,  who  unites  the  se- 
ven kingdoms  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy  into 
one  kingdom. 

828.  t  GREGORY  IV. 

831.  Paschasius  Radhert,  the  inventor  of  Transub- 
stantiation,  publishes  his  treatise  on  that  sub- 
ject. 

841.  tSERGIUS  II.  This  pope  changed  his 
original  name  of  Os  Porci,  upon  the  pretext  of 
imitating  the  Saviour,  who  altered  Simon  to 
Peter.  This  is  the  origin  of  the  custom  that 
has  ever  since  been  followed  of  every  pope 
assuming  anew  appellative  after  his  election. 


847.  Rabanus  Maurus  writes  in  opposition  to  Pan 
chasius,  against  the  newly  invented  doctrine 
of  Transubslantialion. 

855.  t  BENEDICT  III. 

858.   f  NICHOLAS. 

863.  t  Fatal  schism  between  the  Latin  and  the 
Greek  churches.  Pope  Nicholas  excommuni- 
cates Photius,  who  had  been  appointed  patri- 
arch of  Constantinople  by  the  emperor  Michael, 
in  the  place  of  Ignatius,  upon  the  appeal  of  the 
latter  to  Nicholas.  The  exconjnuu  ication  is 
disregarded,  and  Photius  in  his  turn  excommu- 
nicates the  Pope. 

867.  t  ADRIAN  II. 

*:G'.i.  Eighth  General  Council,  the  fourth  of 
Constantinople.  At  this  council  the  legates  of 
pope  Adrian  presided;  Photius,  the  patriarch 
of  Constantinople,  was  deposed,  and  the  ban- 
ished patriarch  Ignatius  appointed  in  his  stead, 
who  had  been  recalled  from  bis  exile  by  the 
emperor  Basil,  the  murderer  of  his  predecessor. 
This  proceeding  partially  healed  the  schism 
between  the  Latin  and  Greek  churches. 

872.  fJOHN  VUL 

872.  *  ALFRED  THE  GREAT,  of  England. 

875.  CHARLESTHE  BALD,  grandson  of  Charle- 
magne, after  a  fierce  contest  with  other  de- 
scendants of  Charlemagne,  crowned  Emperor 
al  Rome  on  Christmas  day,  by  pope  John  VIII., 
who  was  rewarded  by  Charles  with  many 
costly  presents.  From  this  time,  the  popes 
claimed  the  right  of  confirming  the  election  of 
the  emperors. 

882.  fMARINUS. 

884.  1  ADRIAN  III. 

885.  f  STEPHEN  V. 
891.  tFORMOSUS. 
896.  f  BONIFACE  VI. 

896.  f  STEPHEN  VI. 

897.  t  ROM  ANUS. 

898.  t  THEODORE  II. 
898.  fJOHN  IX. 

900.  f  HENEDICF  IV 
903.  tLEO  V. 

903.  f  CHRISTOPHER. 

904.  tSERGIUS  III.  At  this  time  a  notorious 
prostitute  named  Theodora  and  her  two  equal- 
ly infamous  daughters,  Theodora  and  Marozia, 
ruled  at  Rome,  and  appointed  popes  by  their 
influence.  Pope  Sergius  had  a  bastard  son  by 
Marozia,  who  was  afterward  made  pope 
(John  XI  ),  through  the  influence  of  his  mother. 

911.  fANASTASIUS  III 

913.  jLANDO. 

914.  fJOHN  X. 
929.  t  LEO  VI. 

929.  f  :-TEPHEN  VII. 

931.  JOHN  XI.    He  was  the  bastard  son  of  the 

harlot  Marozia,  by  pope  Sergius  III. 
936.  jLEO  VII. 
939.  t  STEPHEN  VIII. 

941.  Dunstan,  the  English  monk,  made  abbot  of 
Glastonbury. 

942.  fMARINUS  II. 
946.  t  AGAPETUS  II. 
956.  fJOHN  XII. 

960.  Dunstan  made  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
963.  fLEO  VIII. 
965.  tJOHN  XIII. 

968.  Custom  of  baptizing  bells  introduced  by  pope 
John  XIII.,  who  places  a  new  bell  in  the  Late- 
ran,  which  he  baptizes  by  the  name  of  John. 

969.  A  commission  granted  by  king  Edgar  to 
Dunstan  against  the  married  clergy  of  Englar.d. 

972.  t  BENEDICT  VI. 


052 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


974.  tDONUS  II. 

975.  t  BENEDICT  VII. 

984.  t  JOHN  XIV. 

985.  fJOHN  XV. 
988.  Death  of  Saint  Dunstan. 
993.  Pope   John    XV.  canonizes  Saint  Udalric. 

This  is  the  first  time  a  pope  exercised  alone 
the  prerogative  of  saint-making.  In  tins  year 
the  feast  of  Ail  Souls  was  established,  through 
the  inttuence  of  Odilo,  abbot  of  Clugni. 

996.  t  GREGORY  V. 

999.  t  SILVESTER  II. 

1000.  About  this  time  a  wide-spread  panic  pre- 
vailed relative  to  the  expected  conflagration 
of  the  earth. 

1003.  fJOHN  XVII. 

1003.  fJOHN  XVIII. 

1009.  fSERGIUS  IV. 

1012.  t  BENEDICT  VIII. 

1024.  tJOHN  XIX. 

1033.  t  BENEDICT  IX. 

1045.  Berenger  of  Tours  publicly  opposes  Transub- 
stantiation. 

1045.  f  GREGORY  VI. 

1046.  t  CLEMENT  VI. 

1047.  tDAMASUS  II. 

1048.  fLEO  IX. 
1051-  The  schism  between  the  Greek  and  Latin 

churches  made  irreparable.    Vehement  dispute 
between  the  patriarch  Michael  Cerularius  and 
pope   Leo  IX.    Three   papal    legates  sent  to 
Constantinople,  who,  before  their  return,  pub- 
licly excommunicate  Cerularius  and  all  his  ad- 
herents; who  afterward  excommunicates  the 
legates  and  their  followers,  and  burns  the  act 
of  excommunication    they    had    pronounced 
against  the  Greeks. 
1053.  t  VICTOR  II.    The  monk  Hildebrand,  after- 
ward pope  Gregory  VII.,  empowered  to  goto 
Germany,  and  select  a  pope.     Nominates  Vic- 
tor II.,  who  is  chosen. 
1056.  HENRY  IV.,  emperor  of  Germany. 
105:    t  STEPHEN  IX. 
1058.  f  BENEDICT  X. 
1058.  t NICHOLAS  II. 

1659  Origin  of  the  college  of  Cardinals.  Pope 
Nicholas  issues  a  decree  confining  the  elec- 
tion of  future  popes  to  the  college  of  Cardinals. 
and  granting  to  the  great  body  of  the  clergy 
and  the  Roman  people,  who  had  heretofore 
had  a  vote  in  the  elections,  only  a  negative 
power.  This  negative  power  was  annulled  a 
century  later  under  pope  Alexander  III. 
1061.  \  ALEXANDER  II. 

1065.  Jerusalem  taken  by  the  Turks  from  the  Sara- 
cens. 
1066    *  WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR.     Con- 
quest of  England,  under  the  sanction  of  the 
Pope,  by  William  of  Normandy. 
1073.  t GREGORY  VII.,  or  HILDEBRAND. 
1075.  Commencement  of  the  controversy  between 
the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  relative  to  investi- 
tures of  bishops. 

1077.  The  tmperor  Henry  TV.  excommunicated 
and  deposed  by  pope  Gregory  VII.,  and  bis 
subjects  absolved  from  their  allegiance.  Sub 
mits  to  the  Pope,  and  stands  three  days  in  the 
court  of  the  Pope's  palace  before  admitted  to 
his  presence. 

1078.  Berenger  compelled  to  renounce  his  opinions 
against  Transubstantiation. 

1086.  f  VICTOR  III. 

1087.  *  WILLIAM  II.  (Rufus)  of  England. 

1088.  t  URBAN  II. 
1089    Berenger  dies  persisting  in  his  opinions  against 


Transubstantiation,  and  bitterly  repenting  hia 
dissimulation. 

1091.  Under  pope  Urban,  the  ceremony  of  sprink- 
ling the  lOrehead  with  ashes  on  Ash-Wednes- 
day  is  established,  in  a  council  at  Benevento. 

1095.  First  invention  of  rosaries  to  pray  by. 

1095.  Crusades  to  the  Holy  Land  resolved  on  in 
the  council  of  Clermont,  under  pope  Urban. 
first  Crusade  under  Peter  the  hermit. 

1098.  Council  at  Rome,  in  which  pope  Urban  ar- 
gues against  clerical  homage  to  kings,  because 
to  priests  it  is  granted  "to  create  God,  the 
Creator  of  all  tilings." 

1009.  t  PASCHAL  II. 

1099.  Jerusalem  taken  by  the  Crusaders. 

1100.  *  HENRY  I.,  of  England. 

1109.  Death  of  Anselm,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
alter  a  fierce  contest  with  king  Henry,  who  is 
in  no  haste  to  appoint  a  successor. 

1113.  Knights  of  John  of  Jerusalem  associated. 

1118.  fGELASIUS  II. 

1118.  Order  of  Kniahts  Templars  formed. 

1119.  tCALIXTUS  II. 

1122.  Ninth  General  Council.  First  in  the 
Lateran  palace  at  Rome  chiefly  on  the  subject 
of  investitures.  Plenary  indulgence  granted 
to  crusaders  to  Palestine. 

1124.  fHONORIUS  II. 

1126.  The  Pope  grants  a  commission  to  his  legate, 
cardinal  Crema,  against  the  married  clergy  of 
England,  who  is  himself  detected  in  the  gross- 
est licentiousness,  the  night  after  the  national 
council. 

1130.  t  INNOCENT  II. 

1135.  *  STEPHEN  (of  Blois),  king  of  England. 

1139.  Tenth  General  Council,  second  of  Late- 
ran, relative  to  a  schism  in  the  papacy,  caused 
by  the  claims  of  Peter  Leo,  called  by  his  ad- 
herents Anacletus  II.  The  doctrines  of  Arnold 
of  Brescia  condemned,  who  had  maintained 
that  the  Pope  and  thepriestlioi.il  should  only 
possess  a  spiritual  authority,  and  be  supported 
by  the  voluntary  offerings  of  the  people. 

1143.  t  CELESTINE  II. 

1144.  t  LUCIUS  II. 
1115.  tEUGENIUS  in 

1147.  Second  crusade,  excited  by  St.  Bernard. 
1152.  FREDERICK  (Barbarossa),  of  Germany. 

1152.  Gratian's  papal  decretals  collected. 

1153.  fANASTASIUS  IV. 
1I.-.4.  r ADRIAN  IV. 

1 154.  *  HENRY  II.  (Plantagenet),  king  of  England. 

1155.  Arnold  of  Brescia  burnt. 

1155.  King  Henry  receives  Ireland  as  a  gift  from 
pope  Adrian.  Commencement  of  the  contest 
between  t*ie  popes  and  the  emperor  Frederick 
Barbarossa. 

1159.  t  ALEXANDER  III. 

1159.  Thirtv  dissenters  from  Popery  are  persecuted 
to  death  in  England.  First  instances  of  death 
for  heresy  in  that  country. 

1159.  Peter  Waldo  preaches  against  the  corruptions 
of  Popery. 

1161.  Kings  Henry  II.  of  England,  and  Louis  VII. 
of  France,  lead  together  the  Pope's  horse  at 
the  castle  of  Toici  on  the  Loire. 

1163.  Beginning  of  the  dispute  between  the  king 
of  England  and  Thomas  a  Becket 

1171.  Murder  of  Becket,  who  is  soon  after  canon- 
ized. 

1177.  Frederick  Barbarossa  leads  the  Pope's  mule 
through  St.  Mark-  Square. 

1179.  Eleventh  General  Council,  third  of 
I.alirnn.  Pope  Alexander  issues  a  violent 
and  cruel  edict  against  the  Albigenses,  or  V\  al- 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


653 


denses.  At  this  council  it  was  ordained  that  a 
two-thirds  vote  of  the  cardinals  should  in  fu- 
ture be  necessary  to  the  election  of  a  pope. 

1131.  f  LUCIUS  III. 

1184-  Pope  Lucius  issues  a  cruel  edict  against  the 
Waldensian  heretics. 

1185.  t  URBAN  III. 

1187.  t  GREGORY  VIII. 

1187.  Jerusalem  re-taken  by  Saladin. 

1188.  t  CLEMENT  III. 

1189.  *  RICHARD  II.  (Coeur  de  Lion),  of  England. 
1189.   Third  crusade,  under  king  Richard  of  Eng- 
land, and  Philip  Augustus  of  France. 

1191.  fCELESTINE  III. 

1192.  Battle  of  Ascalon.  Saladin  defeated  by 
Richard,  Coeur  de  Lion. 

1198.  f  INNOCENT  III. 

1198.  Pope  Innocent  sends  his  orders  to  king  Rich- 
ard of  England,  and  the  archbishop  of  Can- 
teibury,  to  demolish  the  works  of  an  episcopal 
palace  commenced  at  Lambeth,  which  they  re- 
luctantly obeyed  in  the  January  and  February 
following.  With  this  year  the  Annals  of 
Baronius  close,  and  the  Annals  of  Raynaldus 
commence. 

1199.  *JOHN  of  England. 

1202.  Fourth  crusade  sets  out  from  Venice. 

1207.  Pope  Innocent  and  his  legate  excommunicate 
count  Raimond  of  Thoulouse  for  refusing  to 
exterminate  his  heretical  subjects.  Compels  a 
few  monks  at  Rome  to  choose  Langton  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.    Commencement  of  the 


of  Lyons.  The  emperor  Fredeiick  deposed 
by  pope  Innocent  IV.  The  Cardinals  first  dis- 
tinguished in  this  council  by  the  red  hat. 

1248.  Fifth  crusade,  under  St.  Louis  of  France. 

1250.  Frederick  II.  dies  after  a  long  and  successful 
opposition  both  to  the  temporal  and  spiritual 
weapons  of  the  Pope. 

1254.  t  ALEXANDER  IV. 

1261.  t  URBAN  IV. 

1264.  The  festival  of  Corpus  Christi,  or  body  of 
Christ,  in  which  the  consecrated  wafer  is  car- 
ried about  in  procession,  instituted  by  pope 
Urban  IV. 

1265.  t  CLEMENT  IX. 

1265.  Charles  of  Anjou,  at  the  invitation  of  the 
Pope,  invades  Sicily;  kills  Manfred,  son  of 
Frederick  II.,  the  head  of  the  Ghibeline  party, 
and  usurps  his  throne. 

1268.  t  GREGORY  X. 

1272.  *  EDWARD  I.,  of  England. 

1274.  Fourteenth  General  Council.  Second 
of  Lyons.  To  consider  the  re-union  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  churches,  and  the  state  of 
the  Christians  in  Palestine.  Election  of  popes 
in  conclave  decreed. 

1276.  t  INNOCENT  V. 

1276.  t  ADRIAN  V. 

1277.  t  NICHOLAS  III. 

1278.  Pope  Nicholas  III.  obtains  from  the  emperor 
Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  a  deed  of  the  independ- 
ence of  the  Papal  States  on  the  Empire. 

1280.  t  MARTIN  IV. 


Mendicant  orders,  the  Dominicans  and  Fran-    1281.  Pope  Martin  excommunicates  the  emperor 


ciscans. 

1208.  In  consequence  of  king  John's  opposition  to 
Langton,  the  Pope  lays  England  under  an  in- 
terdict. 

1209.  Otho  crowned  Emperor  at  Rome,  after  tak- 
ing an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Pope.  Cru- 
sade against  the  Albigenses  in  France  com- 
menced.   Destruction  of  Beziers,  &c. 

1211.  King  John  excommunicated.  '  »/aur  taken 
by  the  bloody  Montfort  and  the  crusaders  in 
France,  and  the  inhabitants  burnt  for  heresy. 

1212.  FREDERICK  II.,  of  Germany. 

1213.  King  John's  disgraceful  submission  to  Pan- 
dulph,  the  Pope's  Legate.  Yields  up  his  king- 
dom, and  receives  it  back  as  a  vassal  of  the 
Pope. 

1215.  Twelfth  General  Council,  fourth  of 
Laterun.  Transubstantiation  first  declared  an 
article  of  faith.  Auricular  confession  to  a 
priest  enjoined  at  least  once  a  year.  Decree 
of  pope  Innocent  III.  passed  for  the  persecu- 
tion of  heretics,  and  enjoining  upon  all  princes 
the  duty  of  extirpating  them  out  of  their  do- 
minions. In  the  same  council,  Innocent  ex- 
communicated the  barons  of  England,  lor  their 
opposition  to  his  now  faithful  vassal,  king 
John. 

1215.  Magna  Charta,  the  great  charter  of  English 
liberty,  extorted  by  the  barons  of  England 
from  king  John,  who  signs  it  at  Runnymede. 

1216.  *  HENRY  III ,  of  England. 
1216.  jHONORIUS  III. 

1227.  t  GREGORY  IX. 

1228.  The  emperor  Frederick  makes  an  expedition 
to  Palestine,  and  the  Pope  invades  his  do- 
minions in  his  absence. 

1233.  The  Inquisition  established,  and  committed 

to  the  charge  of  the  Dominicans. 
1239.  Frederick  is  publicly  and  solemnly  excommu 

nicated  on  account  of  his  quarrel  with  pope 

Gregory. 
1241.  fCELESTINE  TV. 
1243,  f  INNOCENT  IV. 
1245.  Thirteenth    General    Council.      First 


of  Constantinople. 

1282.  The  Sicilian  vespers,  a  massacre  in  which 
more  than  4000  French  were  destroyed  in 
Sicily. 

1285.  t  HONORIUS  IV. 

1288.  f  NICHOLAS  IV. 

1292.  fCELESTINE  V.,  the  hermit. 

1294.  t  BONIFACE  VIII.  This  haughty  and  ty- 
rannical man  ascends  the  papal  throne  after 
persuading  the  simple-minded  Celestine  to  re- 
sign. 

1298.  OTTOMAN,  or  OTHMAN,  the  founder  and 
firsl  Sultan  of  the  Turkish  empire. 

1300.  Establishment  of  the  Romish  Jubilee.  A 
vast  multitude  at  the  Jubilee  of  Boniface  at 
Rome.  Commencement  of  the  quarrel  be- 
tween pope  Boniface  and  Philip  the  Fair  of 
France.  Boniface  issues  his  famous  bull 
Unam  Sanctam. 

1303.  j  BENEDICT  XI. 

1304.  f  CLEMENT  V. 

1305.  Commencement  of  the  residence  of  the 
popes  at  Avignon  in  France,  frequently  called 
by  the  Romans  the  seventy  years  captivity  in 
Babylon. 

1307.  *  EDWARD  II. 

1309.  Fifteenth  General  Council,  at  Viennc, 
in  France.  The  order  of  Knights  Templars 
suppressed,  and  many  of  them  cruelly  tortured 
and  slain  upon  most  absurd  charges. 

1314    fJOHN  XXII. 

1324.  Birth  of  the  English  Reformer,  John  Wick 
liff,  the  morning  star  of  the  Reformation. 

1327.  *  EDWARD  III. 

1334.  t  BENEDICT  XII 

1342.  f  CLEMENT  VI.,  who  reduces  the  time  of 
the  Jubilee  to  once  in  50  years. 

1347.  Suppression  of  the  Flagellants,  or  self-whip 
pers,  on  account  of  their  sensuality. 

1350.  Celebrated  Jubilee  of  Clement  VI.  at  Rome 

1352.  t  INNOCENT  VI. 

1362.  f  URBAN  V. 


654 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


1371.  fCREGORY  XI. 

1373.  Birth  of  John  Hubs,  the  Bohemian  reformer 
and  martyr. 

1374.  Pope  Gregory  XI.,  at  the  persuasions  of 
Saint  Catherine  of  Sienna,  removes  Ins  conn 
from  Avignon  to  Rome.  End  of  the  seventy 
years'  captivity, 

1377.  *  RICHARD  II. 

1378  *  URBAN  VI.  Tumult  of  the  populace  at 
Rome  for  an  Italian  pope,  in  consequence  of 
which  Urban  VI.  is  elected.  The  cardinals 
retire  to  Fundi,  and  elect  another  pope,  the 
cardinal  of  Geneva,  known  as  Clement  VII. 
This  is  the  origin  Of  the  Great  Western  Schism, 
which  con  inued  till  the  election  of  Martin  V. 
by  the  council  of  Constance,  A.  I).  1417.  John 
iViekliff  writes  his  work  "on  the  Schism  of 
the  Popes." 

1383.  VVicklifl"  completes  his  translation  of  the 
New  Testament. 

1384.  WicklifT  dies,  and  is  buried  in  the  chancel 
of  his  church  at  Lutterworth. 

1389.  f  BONIFACE  IX. 

1399.  *  HENRY   IV. 

1400.  Cruel  outrage  of  the  papists  upon  the  v\  al- 
denses  in  the  valley  of  Pragela. 

1404.  t  INNOCENT  VII. 
1406.  t  GREGORY  XII. 
1409.  t  ALEXANDER  V. 

1409.  Council  of  Pisa,  called  by  some  writers  the 
Sixteenth  General  Council,  assembles  to  heal 
the  papal  Schism,  but  only  makes  it  worse  by 
electing  a  third  pope,  known  as  Alexander  V. 
There  were  now  three  rival  popes,  cursing  and 
excommunicating  each  other. 

1410.  tJOHN  XXIII. 

1410.  John  Huss  excommunicated  by  the  Pope. 

1413.  *  HENRY  V.  of  England. 

1414-1418.  Sixteenth  General  Council,  at  Con- 
stance,  which  condemns  John  Huss  and  Je- 
rome, who  are  burnt  alive,  orders  Wick- 
liff's  bones  to  be  dug  up  and  burnt,  and  ter- 
minates the  Western  Schism  by  the  election 
of  pope  Martin  V. 

1417.  t  MARTIN  V. 

1418.  John  Oldcastle  (Lord  Cobham)  roasted  alive 
by  the  papists  in  England. 

1422.  *  HENRY  VI. 

1421.  Death  of  John  Zisca  of  Bohemia. 

1428.  The  bones  of  WicklifT,  the  first  translator  of 
the  New  Testamei  t  into  English,  dug  up  and 
burned,  44  years  after  his  death,  according  to 
the  sentence  of  the  council  of  Constance. 

1431.  f  EUGENIUS  IV. 

1431-1443.  Council  of  Basil,  regarded  by  some  as  a 
General  Council.  Protracted  quarrel  between 
this  council  and  pope  Eugenius,  with  his  oppo- 
sition council  of  Ferrara. 

1437.  Seventeenth  General  Council,  at  Fer- 
rara, and  afterwards  at  Florence.  Sustains 
the  cause  of  pope  Eugenius  against  the  council 
of  Basil. 

1444.  Invention  of  printing. 

1447.  t  NICHOLAS  V. 

1450.  Jubilee  of  pope  Nicholas  at  Rome.  Acci- 
dent by  which  ninety  seven  persons  were 
thrown  from  the  bridge  of  St  Angelo  and 
drowned,  in  consequence  of  the  throng. 

1453.  Capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks. 

1455.  t  CALIXTUS  III. 

1458.  fPIUS  II.  (.Eneas  Sylvius). 

1461.  *  EDWARD  IV.  of  England. 

1464.  tl'AUL  II. 

1471.  fSIXTUS  IV. 

1472.  PopeSiztus  issues  his  bulls  against  the  free- 
dom of  the  press. 


1483.  *  EDWARD  V.  of  England. 
1483.  *  RICHARD  III.  of  England. 

1483.  Birth  of  Manin  Luther,  the  great  German 
reformer. 

1484.  t  INNOCENT  yill. 

1485.  *  HENRY  VII.  of  England. 

1487.  Pope  Innocent  VIII.  issues  a  violent  bull 
for  the  extirpation  of  the  Waldenses. 

1491  Conquest  of  Granada  by  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella.  End  of  the  Moorish  kingdom  in 
Spain. 

1491.  Birth  of  Ignatius  Loyala,  the  founder  of  the 
Jesuits. 

1492.  t  ALEXANDER  VI.,  the  Devil's  master- 
piece. 

1492.  Columbus  discovered  America. 

1493.  May  2d.  Pope  Alexander  VI.  issues  his  bull 
granting  the  newly  discovered  regions  of 
America  to  the  Spaniards. 

1501.  Pope  Alexander  VI.  decrees  that  no  book 
shall  be  printed  in  any  diocess  without  the 
sanction  of  the  bishop. 

1502.  Tetzel,  the  Dominican  friar,  appointed  seller 
of  indulgences. 

1503.  t  JULIUS  II.,  the  warrior. 

1506.  Foundation  stone  of  St.  Peter's  church  laid 
by  pope  Julius. 

1509.  *  HENRY  VIII.  of  England. 

1510.  Luther  dispatched  on  a  journey  to  Rome  on 
behalf  of  his  monastery  at  Wittemberg. 

1511.  Council  of  Pisa.  They  quarrel  with  pope 
Julius,  and  pass  a  decree  suspending  him  from 
his  office. 

1512-1517.  Fifth  council  of  Lateran.  The  pro- 
ceedings of  the  council  of  Pisa  annulled  and 
condemned  by  order  of  pope  Julius.  Decrees 
passed  forbidding,  under  heavy  penalties,  the 
freedom  of  the  press,  and  enjoining  the  extirpa- 
tion of  heretics. 

1513.  tLEO  X. 

1515.  FRANCIS  I.  of  France. 

1516.  CHARLES  V.,  emperor 

1516.  Zwingle,  the  Swiss  reformer,  begins  to  pub- 
lish the  gospel  at  the  convent  of  Einsidlen. 

1517.  Luther  begins  his  opposition  to' the  proceed- 
ings of  Tetzel,  the  peddler  of  indulgences. 
Oct.  31.  Fixes  his  theses  against  indulgences  to 
the  door  of  the  church  at  Wittemberg. 

1518.  August  23d.  Cardinal  Cajetan  commissioned 
as  lesate  by  pope  Leo  to  reduce  Luther  to  sub- 
mission. 

October  7-17th.    Luther  at  Augsburg  before 

Cajetan. 

November  28th.  Luther  appeals  from  the  Pope 

to  a  general  council. 

December.  Zwingle  appointed  preacher  in  the 

cathedral  of  Zurich,  in  Switzerland. 

1520.  June  15.  Bull  of  pope  Leo  anathematizing  the 
books  and  doctrines  of  Luther. 

October  6th.  Luther  publishes  his  famous 
tract  on  the  Babylonish  captivity  of  the  church. 
December  10th.  Luther  burns  the  Pope's  bull 
in  Wittemberg. 

1521.  Cortez  completes  his  conquest  of  Mexico. 

1521.  January  3d.    Leo  issues  his  hull  excommuni- 
cating Luther  as  an  incorrigible  heretic. 
April  17.  Luther's  first  appearance  before  the 
Diet  of  Worms. 

April  28.  On  his  return  from  the  Diet,  he  is 
seized  and  confined  in  the  c^tle  of  Wartburg, 
where  he  translates  the  New  Testament  into 
German. 

1522.  t  ADRIAN  VI. 

1523.  t  CLEMENT  VII. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


G55 


1525.  Battle  of  Pavia.    Francis  1.  taken   prisonei 

by  Charles  V. 
15-29.  Diet  of  Spires,  in   which  the  popish  party 

triumphed.     Reformers  culled  Protestants 

for  protesting  against  the  decUion  of  this  Diet. 
1534.  fPAUL  III 
1534.  Ignatius  Loyala.  Lainez,  Xavier,   and   four 

others,  form  themselves  into  "the  Society 

of  Jesus." 
1540.  The  order  of  Jesuits  sanctioned  by  a  bull 

of  pope  Paul. 
1540.  Dissolution    of   monasteries  in   England  by 

Henry  V1U. 

1545.  Eighteenth  General  Council  at  Trent 
begins  Dec.  13th. 

1546.  Feb.  18th.  Luther's  death  during  a  visit  to 
his  native  village  at  Eisleben. 

1547.  *  EDWARD  VI.  of  England. 
1550.  t  JULIUS  III. 

1552.  Francis  Xavier,  the  apostle  of  the  Indians, 
dies  in  sight  of  China. 

1553.  *  MARY  of  England. 
1555.  fMARCELLUS  II. 
1555.  fPAUL  IV. 

1555.  Queen  Mary  begins  her  persecutions. 
Oct.  16th.  Latimer  and  Ridley  burnt. 

1556.  March  2!st.  Cranmer  burnt. 
1558.  *  ELIZABETH  of  England. 
1560.  fPIUS  IV. 

1560.  CHARLES  IX.  of  France. 

1560.  Inquiry  in  Spain  relative  to  priestly  solicita- 
tion of"  females  at  confession.  Number  of 
criminals  found  so  great  that  the  Inquisition 
deemed  it  exp.  client  to  hush  it  up,  and  consign 
the  depositions  to  oblivion. 

1560.  Horrible  butchery  of  the  Waldenses  of  Cala- 
bria, by  older  of  Pius  IV. 

1560.  Reformation  in  Scotland,  completed  by  John 
Knox. 

1563.  December  4th.  Closing  session  of  the  council 
of  Trent. 

1566.  tPIUS  V. 

1569.  Pope  PiusV.  issues  his  bull  of  excommuni- 
cation and  deposition  against  queen  Elizabeth. 

1572.  t  GREGORY  XIII. 

1572.  August24.  The  horrible  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's in  France. 

1582.  The  New  Style  introduced  into  Italy  by  pope 
Gregory,  who  ordered  the  5th  of  October  to  be 
counted  the  15th. 

1585.  f  SIXTHS  V. 

1587.  Mary,  queen  of  Scots,  beheaded. 

1590.  t  UR    AN  VII. 

1590.  t  GREGORY  XIV. 

1591.  t  INNOCENT  IX. 

1592.  [CLEMENT  VIII. 

1596.  Baronius,  the  great  Romish  annalist,  raised 

to  the  dignity  of  Cardinal. 
1598.  Tolerating  edict  in  France,  called  the  edict 

of  Nantes 

1603.  *  JAMES  I.  of  England. 

1604.  Jesuits  expelled  from  England  by  royal  pro- 
clamation. 

1605.  The  gunpowder  plot  of  the  Jesuit  Garnet 
and  others  to  blow  up  the  English  king  and 
both  houses  of  parliament. 

1606.  t  LF.O  XI. 
1606.  fPAUL  V. 

1609.  Galileo  discovers  the  Satellites  of  Jupiter. 

1621.  tGKFCJORY  XV. 

1622.  Establishment  of  the  Congregation  De  Pro 
paganria  Fide    t  Rome. 

1623.  f  URBAN  VIII. 


1625.  *  CHARLES  I.  of  Englan.l. 

1627.  Establishment  of  the  College  De  Propaganda 
Fide. 

1631.  Daille  writes  his  celebrated  work  on  the 
Fathers. 

1033.  Galileo  imprisoned  by  the  Inquisition  for  as- 
serting that  Hie  earth  moves. 

1641.  October  23.  Irish  rebellion,  and  bloody  mas- 
sacre of  the  Protestants. 

1643.  LOUIS  XIV.  of  France. 

1644.  t  INNOCENT  X. 

16411.  *  COMMONWEALTH.     Oliver  Cromwell. 

1655.  f  ALEXANDER  VII. 

1660.  *  CHARLES  II.  of  England. 

16U6.  Great  tire  of  London. 

1607.  f  CLEMENT  IX. 

1670.  f  CLEMENT  X. 

1676.  t  INNOCENT  XI. 

1685.  *  JAMES  II. 

1685.  Revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  by  Louis 

XIV.  Renewal  of  cruel  persecutions  in  France. 
1689.  *  WILLIAM  III.  and  MARY  of  Eugland. 
1689.  t  ALEXANDER  VIII. 
1692.  f  INNOCENT  Xll 
1700.  f  CLEMENT  XI. 
1702.  *ANNE  of  England. 
1704.  Pope  Clement  X  I.  decides  against  the  Jesuits' 

mode  of  converting  the  Chinese,  by  adopting 

their  heathen  ceremonies. 

1713.  Pope  Clement's  bull  vniginitus,  against  the 
Jansenist  Ouesnel's  work  on  the  New  Testa- 
ment. 

1714.  *  GEORGE  I.  of  England. 

1715.  LOUIS  XV.  of  France. 

1715.  Pope  Clement's  second  decree  allowing  the 
Chinese  heathen  ceremonies  in  Christian  wor 
ship,  if  regarded  as  civil  and  not  religious  in- 
stitutions. 

1724.  [BENEDICT  XIII. 

1727.  *  GEORGE  II.  of  England. 

1730.  |  CLEMENT  XII. 

1740.  f  BENEDICT  XIV. 

1752.  JVeio  Style  introduced  in  Britain.  Septem- 
ber 3d  reckoned  14th. 

1758.  f  CLEMENT  XIII. 

1759.  Jesuits  expelled  from  Portugal. 

1760.  *  GEORGE  III.  of  England. 

1762.  Martyrdom  of  the  Huguenot  pastor  Pochette 
and  the  brothers  Grenier,  at  Thoulouse  in 
France. 

1764.  Jesuits  expelled  from  France. 

1767.      "  "        from  Spain. 

17G8.      "  "        from  the  Two    Sicilies  and 

Parma. 

1769.  t  CLEMENT  XIV. 

1773.  July  2lst.  Bull  of  pope  Ganganelli,  or  Cle- 
ment' XIV.,  finally  abolishing  thj  order  of  the 
Jesuits. 

1774.  fPIUS  VI. 

1774.  LOUIS  XVI.  of  France. 

1781.  November  7th.  A  woman  burnt  alive  at  Se- 
ville. The  last  public  burning  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion in  Spain. 

1798.  The  papal  government  suppressed  by  the 
French. 

Feb.  26  The.  Pope  quits  Rome,  and  retires  for 
refuge  to  a  convent  near  F'orence.  Afterward 
transfers  d  to  France,  where  he  died  in  Au- 
gust 1799. 
1800.  tP'US  Vlf.  The  Cardinals  at  Venice  elect 
cardinal  Chiarnmonti  as  Pope,  who  is  crowned 
at  Venice  on  the  21st  of  March. 


05G 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


1800.  July  25.  Bonaparte  restores  the  Pope  to  his 
sovereignty  at  Rome,  who  makes  his  pulilic 
entry  July  25th. 

1808.  The  Inquisition  in  Spain  suppressed  by  Bona- 
parte. 

1809.  Pope  Pius  VII.  deposed  by  the  French  (May 
17th),  and  taken  captive  to  France. 

1814.  The  Pope  is  restored  to  freedom  and  power, 
after  a  captivity  of  five  years,  upon  the  over- 
throw of  Bonaparte  by  the  allied  armies. 

1814.  July  21st.  Inquisition  in  Spain  re-established 
upon  the  restoration  of  the  Catholic  king  Fer- 
dinand VII. 

1814.  August  7th.  Bull  of  pope  Pius  VII.  restoring 
the  order  of  the  Jesuits. 

1820.  *  GEORGE  IV.  of  England. 

1820.  Inquisition  In  Spain  finally  suppressed  by 
the  Cortes. 

1822.  t  LEO  XII. 

1825.  The  last  popish  Jubilee  at  Rome. 

1829.  fPIUS  VIII. 

1830.  *  WILLIAM  IV.  of  England. 
1830.  t GREGORY  XVI. 

'837.  Persecutions  by  the  papists  of  the  protestant 
exiles  of  Zillerthal,  who  are  driven  from  their 


homes  in  the  Tyrol,  to  seek  an  asylum  in 
Prussia. 

1837.  *  VICTORIA  of  England. 

1842.  October  27th.  Public  burning  of  bibles  by 
the  Romish  priests  at  Champlain,  N.  Y. 

1841  May  2d.  A  woman  condemned  to  death  for 
heresy  by  the  papists  of  the  Portuguese  island 
of  Madeira. 

1844.  May  8th.  Bull  of  pope  Gregory  XVI.  against 
the  Christian  JHliance  and  Bible  Societies. 

1844.  August  8th.  The  exhibition  of  the  pretended 
hnhj  coat  of  our  Saviour  by  the  Romish  priests 
at  Treves,  which  continues  till  October  6th. 
John  Uonge,  for  protesting  against  this  impos- 
ture, is  excommunicated,  and  forms  a  new 
German  Catholic  church  upon  protestant 
principles. 

1844.  Civil  war  caused  in  Switzerland  by  the  ef- 
forts of  the  Jesuits  to  obtain  the  control  of 
education. 

1845.  The  British  government  (chiefly  by  means 
of  Sir  Robert  Peel)  grants  an  endowment  to 
Mavnooth  Roman  Catholic  College  in  Ireland, 
of  20,000  pounds,  or  over  $120,000,  annually. 
Causes  an  immense  excitement  among  pro- 
tectants in  Great  Britain. 


GLOSSARY 


OP  TECHNICAL  OR  ECCLESIASTICAL    TERMS    CONNECTED  WITH  ROMANISM. 


Abbot  (or  Abbe). — The  chief  or  ruling  monk  of  an  abbey. 
Abbey. — A  monastery  of  persons  devoted  by  vow  to  a  monastic  life. 
Absolution. — The  third    part  of  the   sacrament  of  penance ;  signifying  the 
remission  of  sins. 

Acolyte. — One  of  the  lower  orders  of  the  priesthood  in  the  Roman  church. 

Advent. — The  four  Sundays  preceding  Christmas  day.  The  first  Sunday  in 
Advent  is  the  first  after  November  26th. 

Agnus  Dei  (lamb  of  God). — A  consecrated  cake  of  wax  stamped  with  the  figure 
of  a  lamb,  supposed  to  have  the  power  of  saving  from  diseases,  accidents,  &c. 

Alb. — A  vestment  worn  by  priests  in  celebrating  mass.  So  called  from  its 
color,  alba — white. 

All  Saints. — An  annual  feast  in  honor  of  all  the  saints  and  martyrs,  cele- 
brated on  the  first  of  November. 

All  Souls. — A  festival,  appointed  for  praying  all  souls  out  of  purgatory  ;  prin- 
cipally out  of  regard  to  those  poor  souls  who  had  no  living  friends  to  purchase 
masses  for  them.     Celebrated  November  2d. 

Altars  in  the  Romish  church  are  built  of  stone,  to  represent  Christ,  the  foun- 
dation-stone of  that  spiritual  building,  the  church.  There  are  three  steps  to  an 
altar,  covered  with  carpet,  and  adorned  with  many  costly  ornaments,  according  to 
the  season  of  the  year. 

Amict. — A  part  of  the  emblematic  dress  of  the  priest  in  celebrating  mass.  It 
is  made  of  linen  and  worn  on  the  neck,  and  sometimes  forms  a  sort  of  hood  for 
the  head.     It  is  said  to  represent  how  Christ  was  blindfolded  and  spit  upon. 

Anathema. — A  solemn  curse  pronounced  by  ecclesiastical  authority. 

Annats  or  Annates. — A  year's  income,  due,  anciently,  to  the  popes  on  the 
death  of  any  bishop,  abbot,  parish  priest,  &c,  to  be  paid  by  his  successor. 

Annunciation. — A  festival  celebrated  on  the  25th  of  March,  in  memory  of  the 
annunciation  or  tidings  brought  by  the  angel  Gabriel  to  the  Virgin  Mary  of  the 
incarnation  of  Christ.  On  this  festival,  the  Pope  performs  the  ceremony  of  mar- 
rying or  cloistering. 

Apocrisarius. — A  kind  of  legate  or  ambassador  from  the  Pope  to  the  court  of 
some  sovereign. 

Ash  Wednesday. — The  first  day  of  Lent.  It  arose  from  a  custom  of  sprink- 
ling ashes  on  the  heads  of  such  as  were  then  admitted  to  penance.  The  ashes 
must  be  made  of  the  olive  tree,  laid  on  the  altar,  blessed,  and  strewed  on  the  heads 
of  priests  and  laity. 

Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  a  festival  held  August  15th,  in  memory  of 
the  pretended  assumption  of  the  Virgin  Mary  to  Heaven,  body  and  soul,  without 
dying. 

Augustins. — An  order  of  monks  who  observe  the  rule  of  St.  Augustine,  pro- 
perly called  Austin  friars. 


058  GLOSSARY. 

Auricular  Confession. — Confession  made  in  the  ears  of  a  priest  privately. 

Auto  da  Pe,  or  act  of  faith,  is  a  solemn  day  held  by  the  Inquisition  for  the 
roasting  alive  of  heretics. 

Ave  Maria  (hail  Mary). — A  common  salutation  or  prayer  to  the  Virgin. 

f}AN-. — A  sentence  of  the  Emperor,  by  which  a  person  is  forbidden  shelter  or 
food  throughout  the  empire,  and  all  are  commanded  to  seize  the  person  who  is  put 
under  the  ban  of  the  Umpire.  Charles  V.  put  Luther  to  the  ban  of  the  Empire 
after  the  Diet  of  Worms. 

Bartholomew's  (St.)  Day. — A  festival  celebrated  on  the  24th  of  August;  St. 
Bartholomew  was  one  of  the  twelve  apostles.  On  this  day  was  the  horrid  mas- 
sacre of  Paris  in  1572. 

Beads-man,  from  bede,  a  prayer,  and  from  counting  the  beads.  A  prayer-man. 
one  who  prays  for  anolher. 

Bead-Roll. — This  was  the  catalogue  of  those  who  were  to  be  mentioned  at 
prayers.  The  king's  enemies  were  thus  cursed  by  name  in  the  bead  roll  at  St. 
Paul's. 

Beatification  (from  Bealus,  happy). — The  act  by  which  the  Pope  declares  a 
person  happy  after  death. 

Benedictines. — An  order  of  monks  who  profess  to  follow  the  rules  of  St.  Bene- 
dict. In  the  canon  law  they  are  called  black  monks,  from  the  color  of  their 
habit ;  in  England  they  were  called  black  friars. 

Benison. — A  blessing. 

Bernardins. — A  sect  first  made  by  Robert,  Abbot  of  Moleme,  and  reformed  by 
St.  Bernard,  Abbot  of  Clervaux.     Their  usual  habit  is  a  white  gown. 

Bourdon. — A  staff,  or  long  walking-stick,  used  by  pilgrims. 

Breviary. — The  Roman  Catholic  Common  Prayer-Book,  generally  in  Latin. 

Briefs,  apostolical,  denote  letters  which  the  Pope  dispatches  to  princes  and 
other  magistrates  touching  any  public  affair. 

Brothers. — Lay-brothers  among  the  Romanists  are  those  persons  who  devote 
themselves,  in  some  convent,  to  the  service  of  the  monks. 

Bull. — A  written  letter,  dispatched  by  order  of  the  Pope,  from  the  Roman 
chancery,  and  sealed  with  a  leaden  stamp  (bulla). 

Candlemas  day,  Feb.  2,  called  also  the  feast  of  the  purification  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  Called  Candlemas,  because  on  this  feast,  before  Mass  is  said,  the  candles 
are  blessed  by  the  priests,  for  the  whole  year,  and  a  procession  made  with  them. 

Canon,  i.  e.  rule;  it  signifies  such  rules  as  are  presented  by  councils  concern- 
ing faith,  discipline,  and  manners,  as  the  canons  of  the  council  of  Trent. 

Canons. — An  order  of  religious,  distinct  from  monks. 

Canonical  Hours. — There  were  seven  : — 1.  Prime,  about  six  a.  m.  2.  Tierce, 
aboul  nine.  3.  Sext,  about  twelve  at  noon.  4.  Nones,  about  two  or  three  p.  M. 
5.  Vespers,  about  four  or  later.  6.  Complin,  about  seven.  7.  Matins ;  and  Lauds 
at  midnight. 

Canonization  (Saint  making). — A  solemn  official  act  of  the  Pope,  whereby, 
after  much  solemnity,  a  person  reputed  to  have  wrought  miracles,  is  entered  into 
the  list  of  the  saints. 

Capuchin. — Monks  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis,  so  called  from  capuce  or  capu- 
chon,  a  stuff  cap  or  cowl  with  which  they  cover  their  heads.  They  are  clothed 
with  brown  or  grey,  always  barefooted,  never  go  in  a  coach,  nor  even  shave  their 
beard. 

Cardinal. — A  prince  of  the  church,  distinguished  by  wearing  the  red  hat ;  and 
who  has  a  voice  in  the  Roman  conclave  at  the  election  of  a  Pope. 

Carmelites. — An  order  of  mendicants  or  begging  friars,  taking  their  name 
from  Carmel,  a  mountain  in  Syria,  formerly  inhabited  by  the  prophets  Elijah  and 
Elisha,  and  by  the  children  of  the  prophets,  from  whom  this  order  pretends  to 
descend  in  an  uninterrupted  succession. 


GLOSSARY.  659 

Carozo. — A  kind  of  conical  pasteboard  cap,  with  devils  and  flames  painted  on 
it,  worn  by  the  condemned  victims  of  the  Inquisition,  on  their  way  to  the  flames 
at  the  Auto  da  ie. 

Carthusians. — An  order  of  monks  instituted  by  St.  Bruno  about  the  year  1086, 
remarkable  for  the  austerity  of  their  rule,  which  obliges  them  to  a  perpetual  soli- 
tude, a  total  abstinence  from  flesh,  even  at  the  peril  of  their  lives,  and  absolute 
silence,  except  at  certain  times.  Their  houses  were  usually  built  in  deserts,  their 
fare  coarse,  and  discipline  severe. 

Cassock,  the  gown  of  a  priest. 

Catechumen. — One  who  is  receiving  instruction  preparatory  to  Baptism. 

Cathedral. — A  church  wherein  a  bishop  has  a  see  or  seal  (cathedra). 

Catholic. — Universal  or  general — Charitable,  &c.  This  term  is  monopolized 
by  the  Romish  church,  though  destitute  of  the  slightest  claim  to  it. 

Celebrant. — The  priest  officiating  in  any  religious  ceremony. 

Chalice. — The  cup  or  vessel  used  to  administer  the  wine  in  the  mass. 

Chasuble. — A  kind  of  cape  open  at  the  sides,  worn  at  mass,  with  a  cross  em- 
broidered on  the  back  of  it. 

Childermas  Day,  called  also  Innocents'  Day,  held  December  the  28th,  in  me- 
mory of  Herod's  slaughter  of  the  children. 

Chrism. — A  mixture  of  oil  and  balsam,  consecrated  by  the  bishop  on  holy 
Thursday,  with  great  ceremony,  used  for  anointing  in  Confirmation,  Extreme  Unc- 
tion, &c. 

Christmas  (Christi  missa),  that  is,  the  mass  of  Christ.     A  festival,  celebrated 
December  the  25th,  to  commemorate  the  birth  of  Christ. 
Chrysom. — A  white  linen  cloth  used  in  baptism. 

Cincture. — A  girdle  with  which  the  priest  in  the  mass  binds  himself,  said  to 
represent  the  binding  of  Christ. 

Cistertian  Monks. — A  religious  order  founded  in  the  nineteenth  century  by  St. 
Robert,  a  Benedictine  and  Abbot  of  Moleme. 

Cloister. — A  house  for  monks  or  nuns. 

College. — A  society  of  men  set  apart  for  learning  or  religion,  and  also  the 
house  in  which  they  reside. 

Colobium. — A  tunic  or  robe. 

Commendam,  in  the  church  of  Rome,  is  a  real  title  of  a  regular  benefice,  such 
as  an  abbey  or  priory  given  by  the  Pope  to  a  secular  clerk,  or  even  to  a  layman, 
with  power  to  dispose  of  the  fruits  thereof  during  life. 

Complin. — The  last  act  of  worship  before  going  to  bed. 

Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  a  feast  observed  December  8th. 

Conclave. — The  place  in  which  the  cardinals  of  the  Romish  church  meet,  and 
are  shut  up,  in  order  to  the  election  of  a  Pope.  (From  Latin  con,  and  clavis. 
a  key.) 

Confiteor. — Latin  for  /  confess,  the  term  applied  to  a  general  confession  of  sins. 

Confirmation. — Imposition  of  hands  by  a  bishop,  given  after  baptism.  Ac- 
cording to  the  church  of  Rome,  it  makes  the  recipients  of  it  perfect  Christians. 

Consistory. — A  college  of  cardinals,  or  the  Pope's  senate  and  council,  before 
whom  judiciary  causes  are  pleaded. 

Cope. — An  ecclesiastical  habit.  It  was,  at  first,  a  common  habit,  being  a  coat 
without  sleeves,  but  was  afterwards  used  as  a  church  vestment,  only  made  very 
rich  by  embroidery  and  the  like.  The  Greeks  pretend  it  was  first  used  in  memory 
of  the  mock-robe  put  upon  our  Saviour. 

Corporal. — A  fair  linen  cloth  thrown  over  the  consecrated  elements  at  the  cel- 
ebration of  the  eucharist. 

Corpus  Christi,  or  Corpus  Domini  (the  body  of  Christ  or  of  our  Lord) — a 
feast  held  on  the  Thursday  after  Trinity-Sunday,  in  which  the  consecrated  wafer 
39 


(;60  GLOSSARY. 

is  carried  about  in  procession  in  all  popish  countries,  for  the  adoration  of  the  mul- 
titude. 

Council. — An  ecclesiastical  meeting,  especially  of  bishops  and  other  doctors, 
deputed  by  divers  churches  for  examining  of  ecclesiastical  causes.  There  are 
reckoned  eighteen  general  councils,  besides  innumerable  provincial  and  local  ones. 

C0WL. — A  sort  of  monkish  habit  worn  by  the  Bernardines  and  Benedictines. 
Some  have  distinguished  two  forms  of  cowls,  the  one  a  gown  reaching  to  the 
feet,  having  sleeves  and  a  capuchon,  used  in  ceremonies  ;  the  other,  a  kind  of  hood 
to  work  in,  called  also  scapular,  because  it  only  covers  the  head  and  shoulders. 

Crosier. — The  pastoral  staff,  so  called  from  its  likeness  to  a  cross,  which  the 
bishops  formerly  bore  as  the  common  ensign  of  their  office,  and  by  the  delivery  of 
which  they  were  invested  in  their  prelacies. 

Crucifix. — A  picture  or  figure  of  Christ  on  the  Cross  in  common  use  among 
papists. 

Crusade. — A  holy  war,  or  an  expedition  against  infidels  and  heretics,  as  those 
against  the  Turks  for  the  recovery  of  Palestine,  and  against  the  Albigenses  and 
Waldenses  of  France  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

Curiall. — A  class  of  officers  attached  to  the  Pope's  court. 

Dalmatica. — A  vestment  or  habit  of  a  bishop  and  deacon,  so  called  because  it 
was  first  invented  in  Dalmatia.  It  had  sleeves  to  distinguish  it  from  the  colobium, 
which  had  none.  It  was  all  white  before,  but  behind  had  two  purple  lines,  or 
stripes. 

Datary. — An  officer  in  the  Pope's  court,  always  a  prelate  and  sometimes  a 
cardinal,  deputed  by  the  Pope  to  receive  such  petitions  as  are  presented  to  him 
touching  the  provision  of  benefices.  This  officer  has  a  substitute,  but  he  cannot, 
confer  any  benefice. 

Decree. — An  ordinance  enacted  by  the  Pope,  by  and  with  the  advice  of  his  car- 
dinals in  council  assembled,  without  being  consulted  by  any  person  thereon. 

Decretal. — The  collection  of  the  decrees  of  the  Pope.  Several  forged  collec- 
tions of  the  decrees  of  the  early  popes  have  been  published. 

Degradation. — The  ceremony  of  unrobing  a  priest,  and  thus  degrading  him 
from  the  sacred  office  ;  always  performed  previous  to  delivering  up  a  heretical 
priest  to  the  secular  power  to  be  burnt. 

Dirige. — A  solemn  service  in  the  Romish  church  :  hence,  probably,  our  Dirge. 

Dispensation. — Permission  from  the  Pope  to  do  what  may  have  been  forbidden. 

Dominicans. — An  order  of  mendicant  friars,  called,  in  some  places,  Jacobins, 
Predicants,  or  preaching  friars. 

Dull*,  and  hyperdulia.     (See  Latria.) 

Ember  Weeks  or  Days. — Fasts  observed  four  times  in  the  year ;  that  is,  on 
the  Wednesday,  Friday,  and  Saturday  after  the  first  Sunday  in  Lent ;  after  Whit- 
Sunday  ;  after' the  14th  of  September;  and  after  the  13th  of  December.  Accord- 
ing to  some,  ember  comes  from  the  Greek  hemera,  a  day  ;  according  to  others, 
from  the  ancient  custom  of  eating  nothing  on  those  days  till  night,  and  then  only 
a  cake,  baked  under  the  embers,  called  ember-bread. 

Epiphany,  called,  also,  the  manifestation  of  Christ  to  the  Gentiles.  Observed 
on  the  6th  of  January,  in  memory  of  the  Star  appearing  to  the  wise  men  of  the 
East. 

Eucharist. — A  name  for  the  Lord's  supper. 

Excommunication. — An  ecclesiastical  penalty,  whereby  persons  are  separated 
from  the  communion  of  the  Romish  church,  and  consigned  to  damnation. 

Exorcism. — Ceremony  of  expelling  the  Devil  performed,  preparatory  to  the 
administration  of  baptism,  by  Romish  priests. 

Exor  'ist. — One  of  the  inferior  orders  of  the  ministry,  whose  office  it  is  to 
expel  de  rile. 

Extreme  Unction. — One  of  the  sacraments  of  the  Romish  church,  adminis- 


GLOSSARY.  661 

tered  to  the  dying,  as  a  passport  to  Heaven,  consisting  of  anointing  the  feet,  hands, 
ears,  eyes,  &c,  with  holy  oil  or  chrism. 

Feasts  of  God. — Feles  de  Dieu.  A  solemn  festival  in  the  Romish  church, 
instituted  for  the  performing  a  peculiar  kind  of  worship  to  our  Saviour  in  the 
eucharist. 

Fiancels. — Betrothing. — A  ceremony  performed  by  the  priest,  after  which  an 
oath  was  administered  "to  take  , the  woman  to  wife  within  forty  days,  if  holy 
church  will  permit." 

Franciscans. — A  powerful  order  of  mendicant  friars  in  the  Romish  church,  fol- 
lowing the  rules  of  St.  Francis. 

Friary. — A  monastery  or  convent  of  friars. 

Gipciere. — A  small  satchel,  wallet,  or  purse. 

Good  Friday. — A  fast  in  memory  of  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ,  cele- 
brated on  the  Friday  before  Easter. 

Gradual. — A  part  of  the  mass  service,  sung  while  the  deacon  was  ascending 
the  steps.     (Gradus.) 

Graal. — The  Saint  Gran/,  or  holy  vessel,  was  supposed  to  have  been  the  ves- 
sel in  which  the  paschal  lamb  was  placed  at  our  Saviour's  last  supper. 

Heretics. — A  name  given  by  papists  to  all  Christians  not  of  their  church. 

Hierarchy. — A  sacred  government  or  ecclesiastical  establishment. 

Holy  rood  day. — May  3. — A  feast  in  memory  of  the  pretended  miraculous 
finding  of  the  true  Cross,  by  Helena  in  the  year  326. 

Holy  Water,  a  mixture  of  salt  and  water,  blessed  by  the  priest,  to  which  the 
papists  attribute  great  virtues. 

Host. — A  term  applied  to  the  wafer,  after  it  has  been  turned  into  a  god  by 
the  priest  (from  the  Latin  hostia,  a  sacrifice.) 

I.  H.  S.  and  I.  N.  R.  I. — Letters  on  the  wafer  that  signify  Jesus  hominum  Sal- 
valor,  "  Jesus  the  Saviour  of  men,"  and  Jesus  Nazarenus,  Rex  Judccorum,  "  Je- 
sus of  Nazareth,  the  King  of  the  Jews,"  being  the  initials  of  the  Latin  words. 

Incense. — A  rich  perfume,  burning  of  itself,  or  exhaled  by  fire,  offered  by  Ro- 
manists in  their  worship. 

Indulgence. — In  the  Romish  theology,  the  remission  of  temporal  punishments 
due  to  sin,  and  supposed  to  save  the  sinner  from  purgatory.  The  Popes  have 
made  vast  sums  of  money  by  the  sale  of  them. 

In  petto. — Held  in  reserve. 

Interdict. — A  censure  inflicted  by  popes  or  bishops,  suspending  the  priests 
from  their  functions,  and  consequently  the  performance  of  divine  service.  An 
interdict  forbids  the  performance  of  divine  service  in  the  place  interdicted.  This 
ecclesiastical  censure  has  frequently  been  inflicted  in  France,  Italy,  Germany  and 
England. 

Introit. — The  beginning  of  public  devotions  among  the  Papists. 

Jesuits. — A  famous  religious  order  in  the  Romish  church,  founded  by  Ignatius 
Loyala,  a  Spaniard,  A.  D.  1534. 

Jubilee. — A  grand  church  solemnity,  or  ceremony,  celebrated  at  Rome — now 
every  25  years — wherein  the  Pope  grants  a  'plenary  indulgence  to  all  who  visit  the 
churches  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Rome. 

Kyrie  Eleison. — "  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  me  !"  a  form  of  prayer  often  used. 

Lammas  Day. — August  1.  Celebrated  in  the  Romish  church,  in  memory  of  St. 
Peter's  imprisonment. 

Latria. — The  kind  of  worship  due  to  God  and  to  the  consecrated  wafer,  distin- 
guished from  dulia  or  hyperduliu,  paid  to  the  saints,  relics,  &c.  An  unmeaning 
distinction  invented  by  Romanists  to  shield  themselves  from  the  charge  of  idolatry. 

Legate,  from  Latin  legatus. — A  cardinal  or  bishop,  whom  the  Pope  sends  ais 
his  ambassador  to  sovereign  princes. 


qq2  GLOSSARY. 

Lent,  called  in  Latin  quadragesima. — A  time  of  mortification,  during  the  space 
nf  forty  days,  beginning  on  Ash-Wednesday  and  ending  on  Easter  Sunday 
wherein  the  people  are  enjoined  to  fast,  in  commemoration  of  our  Saviour's  fasting 
in  the  desert. 

Magdalen  (St.)  the  religious  of. — A  denomination  given  to  many  communi- 
ties of  nuns,  consisting  generally  of  penitent  courtesans. 

Malison. — A  curse. 

Maniple. — A  portion  of  the  dress  of  a  priest  in  celebrating  mass,  worn  upon 
the  left  arm. 

Mariolatry. — A  term  frequently  and  justly  applied  by  protestants  to  the  idol- 
atrous worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

j\IASS, — The  office  or  prayers  used  in  the  Romish  church  at  the  celebration  of 
the  eucharist.  The  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  is  the  pretended  offering  in  sacri- 
fice of  the  body  of  Christ  (created  from  the  wafer  by  the  priest)  every  time  the 
eucharist  is  celebrated,  as  a  true  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  the  living  and  the  dead. 
The  word  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from  the  expression  anciently  used,  when  the 
congregation  was  dismissed  before  the  celebration  of  the  sacrament  "  ita  missa 
est'^thus  the  congregation  is  dismissed).  In  process  of  time  the  word  missa 
(mass)  was  employed  to  designate  the  service  about  to  be  performed. 

Maunday  Thursday. — The  Thursday  before  Good  Friday ;  probably  so  called, 
from  the  Latin  dies  mandali ;  that  is,  the  day  of  command  to  commemorate  the 
charge  given  by  our  Saviour  to  his  disciples  before  his  last  supper — or  from  the 
word  mandatum,  a  command,  the  first  word  of  the  anthem  sung  on  that  day  (John 
xiii.,  34),  "  A  new  commandment,"  &c. 

Mendicants. — Begging  friars,  as  the  Franciscans,  Dominicans,  &c. 

Miracle. — A  prodigy.  Some  effect  which  does  not  follow  from  the  known 
laws  of  nature. 

Miserere  (have  mercy). — A  lamentation.  The  beginning  of  the  51st  peniten- 
tial psalm. 

Month's  Mind. — A  solemn  office  for  the  repose  of  the  soul,  performed  one 
month  after  decease. 

Nativity  of  Christ. — Christmas  day,  December  25th. 

Nativity  of  John  the  Baptist. — A  festival  held  on  the  24th  of  June. 

Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary. — A  festival  held  September  8th. 

Novitiate. — The  time  spent  in  a  monastery  or  nunnery,  by  way  of  trial,  before 
a  vow  is  taken. 

Novice. — One  who  has  entered  a  religious  house,  but  not  yet  taken  the  vow. 

Nun. — A  woman  secluded  from  the  world  in  a  nunnery,  under  a  vow  of  perpe- 
tual chastity. 

Nuncio. — An  ambassador  from  the  Pope  to  some  Catholic  prince  or  state. 

Obit. — A  funeral  celebration  or  office  for  the  dead. 

Oblat^e. — Bread  made  without  leaven  and  not  consecrated,  yet  blessed  upon 
the  altar ;  anciently  placed  upon  the  breasts  of  the  dead. 

Orders. — The  different  ranks  of  the  ministry  in  the  Romish  church.  The 
number  of  orders  is  seven,  ascending  as  follows  :  porter,  reader,  exorcist,  acolyte, 
sub-deacon,  deacon  and  priest, 

Oriel. — A  portico  or  court ;  also,  a  small  dining-room,  near  the  hall,  in  monas- 
teries. 

Pall. — A  pontifical  garment  worn  by  popes,  archbishops,  &c,  over  the  other 
garments,  as  a  sign  of  their  jurisdiction. 

Palm  Sunday. — The  Sunday  next  before  Easter,  kept  in  memory  of  the  tri- 
umphant entry  of  Christ,  into  Jerusalem. 

Palmer. — A  wandering  votary  of  religion,  vowed  to  have  no  settled  home. 

Pasch  Eggs. — Easter  eggs,  from  pascha — the  pascha,  the  passover. 


GLOSSARY.  663 

Passion  Week. — The  week  preceding  Easter,  so  called  from  our  Saviour's  pas- 
sion, crucifixion,  &c. 
Paten. — A  little  plate  used  in  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist. 
Paternoster. — (Our  Father)  the  Lord's  prayer.     Also  used  for  the  chaplets  of 
beads,  worn  by  nuns  round  their  necks. 

Patriarch. — A  church  dignitary  superior  to  archbishops. 

Pax,  or  Paxis  (an  instrument  of  peace). — A  small  plate  of  silver  or  gold,  with 
a  crucifix  engraved  or  raised  upon  it,  which,  in  the  ceremony  of  the  mass,  was 
presented  by  the  deacon  to  be  kissed  by  the  priest,  and  then  to  be  handed  round 
and  kissed  by  the  people,  who  delivered  it  to  each  other,  saying,  "  Peace  be  with 
you."     It  is  said  to  be  now  disused. 

Pax. — The  vessel  in  which  the  consecrated  host  is  kept. 

Penance. — Infliction,  public  or  private,  by  which  papists  profess  to  make  satis- 
faction for  their  sins. 

Peter-Pence. — An  annual  payment  from  various  nations  to  the  Pope  ;  at  first 
voluntary,  but  afterward  demanded  as  a  tribute. 

Piscinae. — Sinks  where  the  priest  emptied  the  water  in  which  he  washed  his 
hands,  and  all  consecrated  waste  stuff  was  poured  out. 

Pix,  or  Pyx. — The  box  or  shrine  in  which  the  consecrated  host  is  kept. 
Placebo. — The  vesper  hymn  for  the  dead. 

Planeta. — Gown,  the  same  as  the  chasuble  ;  a  kind  of  cape,  open  only  at  the 
sides,  worn  at  mass. 

Plenary. — Full,  complete.     Plenary  indulgence  is  the   remission  of  all  the 
purgatorian  and  other  temporal  penalty  due  up  to  the  time  it  is  given. 
Portesse,  or  Portasse. — A  breviary,  a  portable  book  of  prayers. 
Prior. — The  officer  in  a  priory,  corresponding  to  an  abbot  in  an  abbey. 
Priory. — A  convent,  in  dignity  below  an  abbey. 

Purgatory. — A  place  in  which  souls  are  supposed  by  the  Papists  to  be  purged 
by  fire  from  carnal  impurities,  before  they  are  received  into  heaven,  unless  deliv- 
ered by  papal  indulgences. 

Requiem. — A  hymn  imploring  for  the  dead  requiem  or  rest. 
Reredoss. — The  screen  supporting  the  rood-loft. 

Rocket. — The  bishop's  black  satin  vestment,  worn  with  the  lawn  sleeves. 
Rogation  Week  (from  Rogo,  to  ask,  pray). — The  next  week  but  one  before 
Whitsunday,  because  certain  litanies  to  saints  are  then  used. 
Rood. — An  image  of  Christ  on  the  cross  in  Romish  churches. 
Rood-loft. — In  churches,  the  place  where  the  cross  is  fixed. 
Rosary. — A  chaplet  or  string  of  beads,  on  which  prayers  are  numbered.    There 
are  ten  small  beads  to  every  one  large  one.     The  small  ones  signify  so  many  Ave 
Marias,  or  prayers  to  the  Virgin.     The  large  ones  so  many  paternosters,  or  pray- 
ers to  God. 

Sacrament. — Thus  defined  by  the  Romish  authors  of  the  catechism  of  the 
council  of  Trent :  "  A  thing  subject  to  the  senses,  and  professing,  by  divine  insti- 
tution, at  once  the  power  of  signifying  sanctity  and  justice,  and  of  imparting  both 
to  the  receiver."  The  sacraments  of  the  Romish  church  are  seven,  Baptism,  Con- 
firmation, Eucharist,  Penance,  Extreme  Unction,  Orders  and  Matrimony. 

Sacring,  Saunce,  or  Saints'  Bell. — A  small  bell  which  is  used  to  call  to  pray- 
ers and  other  holy  offices. 

Sacristy. — The  place  in  a  church  where  the  sacred  utensils  and  the  conse- 
crated wafer  are  kept. 

San  Benito. — The  garment  worn  by  the  victims  of  the  Inquisition,  at  the  Auto 
da  fe,  with  devils  and  flames  painted  on  it.  Those  who  were  to  be  burnt  alive  had 
the  flames  pointing  upward.  Such  as  had  escaped  this  horrible  fate,  pointing 
downward. 


664 


GLOSSARY. 


Santa  Casa,  or  Santissima  Casa,  the  pretended  holy  house  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
carried  by  angels  through  the  air,  from  Nazaretli  to  Loretto  in  Italy. 

Santa  Scodella. — The  pretended  holy  porringer  in  which  the  pap  of  the  infant 
Jesus  was  made,  kept  in  the  Santa  Casa,  and  exhibited  to  the  pilgrims  by  Romish 
priests. 

Saviour,  Order  of  our. — A  religious  order  so  called,  founded  1344,  under  the 
rule  of  St.  Augustine. 

Scapular,  or  Scapulary. — A  badge  of  peculiar  veneration  for  the  Virgin 
Mary,  said  to  have  been  given,  in  person,  by  the  Virgin  Mary  to  a  hermit  named 
Simon  Stock,  to  be  worn  by  her  devotees  as  "  a  sign  of  salvation,  a  safe-guard  in 
danger,  and  a  covenant  of  peace."  It  forms  a  part  of  the  habit  of  several  orders 
of  monks.  Of  the  scapular  there  is  a  friary  or  fraternity,  who  profess  a  particular 
devotion  to  the  virgin.  They  are  obliged  to  have  certain  prayers,  and  observe  cer- 
tain austerities  in  their  manner  of  life.  The  devotees  of  the  scapular  celebrate 
their  festival  on  the  10th  of  July. 

Sclavina. — A  long  gown  worn  by  pilgrims. 

Shrift,  or  Shrive. — Confession  to  a  priest. 

Shrovetide. — The  time  of  Confession. 

Sins,  the  Seven  mortal. — Pride,  idleness,  envy,  murder,  covetousness,  lust, 
gluttony. 

Soutane. — A  cassock,  or  clerical  robe. 

Stole. — A  part  of  the  emblematical  dress  of  the  priest,  worn  in  celebrating 
mass  ;  a  kind  of  linen  scarf,  hanging  loosely  from  the  shoulders  in  front. 

Suffragan. — A  bishop  considered  as  subject  to  the  metropolitan  bishop. 

Thurible. — A  censer  or  smoke-pot  to  burn  incense  in. 

Tonsure. — The  particular  manner  of  shaving  the  head,  as  practised  by  Romish 
priests  and  monks. 

Trinity-Sunday. — A  feast  in  honor  of  the  Trinity  on  the  octave  of  Whit- 
sunday. 

Viaticum  (from  Via,  way). — The  term  applied  to  the  Eucharist,  when  admin- 
istered to  a  dying  person,  or  one  who  is  on  his  way  to  the  unseen  world. 

Vulgate. — A  very  ancient  Latin  translation  of  the  Bible,  made  by  Jerome,  and 
the  only  one  which  "the  church  of  Rome  acknowledges  to  be  authentic.  The 
council  of  Trent  placed  the  Vulgate  higher  in  point  of  authority  than  the  inspired 
Hebrew  and  Greek  texts. 

Unhouselled. — Without  receiving  the  sacrament. 

Ursulines. — An  order  of  nuns,  who  observe  the  rule  of  St.  Augustine ;  chiefly 
noted  for  educating  young  maidens.  They  take  their  name  from  their  institutrix, 
St.  Ursula,  and  are  clothed  in  white  and  black. 

Weeping-Cross. — A  cross  where  penitents  offered  their  devotions. 

Whitsunday,  or  Pentecost  {fiftieth). — A  feast  in  memory  of  the  descent  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  fifty  days  after  the  resurrection.  Called  Whitsuntide  from  the  cate- 
chumens being  anciently  clothed  in  white,  on  this  festival,  at  their  Baptism. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


Acclamation  of  the  Fathers  al  Trent,  535. 

Adolorata  of  Capriana,  631. 

Aistulphus,  king  of  the  Lombards,  168,  172. 

Alaric,  king  of  the  Goths,  ravages  Koine,  42. 
Albanus,  St.,  tlie  protomartyr  of  Great  Britain,  229. 

Albigenses,  299 ;  bloody  crusade  against,  under 
Montfort  ami  the  Pope's  legate,  3U7,  &c. ;  slan- 
ders against  them,  322. 

Aleander,  the  I'epe's  legate,  burns  Luther's  books, 
but  cannot  net  permission  from  Charles  V  ,  or 
the  elector  Frederick,  to  burn  him,  404 

Alexander  111.,  pope,  his  horse  led  by  two  kings, 
274. 

Alexander  VI.,  pope,  his  horrible  crimes  and  de- 
baucheries, 426,  427  ;  dies  of  poison  he  had  pre- 
pared for  the  murder  of  another,  428. 

Alphonsus,  quoted  on  Indulgences,  356. 

Alredus,  the  abbot,  his  description  of  the  vices  of 
priests  and  monks,  22-2. 

Ambrose,  St.,  miraculously  discovers  some  holy 
bones,  without  which  he  could  not  consecrate  a 
church,  94. 

America  discovered,  and  given  by  a  papal  bull  to 
the  Spaniards,  428. 

Ancyra,  council  of,  forbids  marriage  after  ordina- 
tion, A.  D.  314,  72. 

Angelo,  St.,  bridge  of,  accident  at,  during  the  Jubi- 
lee of  1450,  420. 

Anselm  elected  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  203  ; 
his  quarrel  with  king  William  Rufus  and  Hen- 
ry 1.,  268,  270. 

Anthony  the  heimit,  88. 

"        St.,  blessing  of  horses  on  his  festival,  117. 

Apocrypha,  decree  of  Trent  on,  480;  arguments 
against  the  inspiration  of,  481. 

Appeals  to  Rome  encouraged  by  the  Pope,  40,  139. 

Apostolic  succession,  absurdity  of  this  pretence,  48. 

Aquinas,  St.,  quoted  in  favor  of  persecution,  545. 

Aringhus  defends  the  adoption  of  pagan  rites  by 
his  church,  129. 

Arsenal,  a  bishop's  library,  376. 

Ashes,  marking  with,  on  Ash- Wednesday,  256. 

Ass,  festival  of,  213. 

Asses  kneeling  to  the  wafer-idol,  199. 

Attila,  king  of  the  Huns,  lays  waste  Italy,  42. 

Augustin  the  monk  arrives  in  England  from  Rome. 
His  progress  and  success,  228. 

Augustine  quoted  on  Christ  the  Rock,  47 ,  on 
image  worship,  154;  his  contradictory  expres 
sions  about  a  purgatory,  358,  359. 

Authors  in  the  Index  prohibitorius,  497. 
Avignon  popes,  369. 


B. 


Baptism,  decree  of  Trent  on,  510. 

Baronius,  cardinal,  his  account  of  the  origin  of  the 
baptism  of  bells,  207  ;  his  language  in  relation  to 
the  profligate  popes  and  their  harlots  of  the  tenth 


century,  219,  220;   his  annals,  and  continuation 
by  Raynaldus,  349,  note. 

Barons  of  England,  excommunicated  by  pope  in- 
nocent III.,  292. 

Bartholomew,  massacre  of,  587 — 590. 

Becket,  his  quarrel  with  king  Henry  II.,  274—279  ; 
his  death,  canonization,  and  shrine,  279. 

Bede  quoted  on  Christ  the  Rock,  49. 

Bees  worshipping  the  wafer-idol,  198,  199. 

Bellarmine  quoted  on  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope, 
153;  advocates  the  temporal  power  of  the  popes, 
254  ;  his  celebrated  argument  for  burning  here 
tics,  quoted,  546. 

Bells,  baptism  of,  described,  207. 

Benedict  IX.,  a  most  profligate  pope,  221. 

Beienger  of  Tours  opposes  Transubstantiation,  195  ; 
his  persecutions  and  death,  196,  197. 

Beziers,  siege  of,  and  slaughter  of  the  heretical  in 
habitants  by  the  popish  crusaders,  314. 

Bible,  Rome's  hatred  to  it,  621. 

Biel,  cardinal,  blasphemous  expression  of,  203. 

Bigotry  of  the  creed  of  Rome,  539. 

Bishops  and  presbyters  or  elders  the  same  in  primi- 
liie  times,  36,  37. 

Boeton  broken  on  the  wheel  in  France,  607. 

Boniface  III ,  properly  the  fust  pope,  obtains  from 
the  tyrant  Phocns  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop, 
55  ;  exercises  his  new  ly  obtained  power,  64. 

IV.  dedicates  the  Pantheon  to  the  blessed 


Virgin  and  all  the  saints,  124. 

VIII..  his  dispute  with   Philip  the  Fair 

of  France,  352 ;  his  imperious  bull  Unam  Sane 
tarn,  353;  his  death,  354;  his  reign  fatal  to  the 
despotic  [lower  of  the  popes,  308,  369. 

bishop  of  Germany,  takes  an  oath  of  al- 
legiance to  the  Pope,  140. 

Bordeaux  Testament,  523  note. 

Britain,  Great,  statistics  of  Popery  in,  644. 

Brownson,  O.  A.,  quoted  on  the  designs  of  the 
Pope  in  America,  643. 

Bull  Unam  Sanctam,  353;  of  Gregory  XVI.,  in 
1844,  622,  634 

Burning  bibles  at  Champlain,  612;  at  Chili,  South 
America,  625. 

Butler,  Chas.,  quoted  on  Popery  unchangeable,  548. 


Cajetan,  cardinal,  commissioned  by  pope  Leo  X. 

to  reduce  Luther  to  submission,  451 ;  summons 

Luther  to  Augsburg,  but  fails  in  his  attempt  to 

reduce  him  tosubmi>sion,  452 — 459. 
Candles,  burning,  in  the  day-time,  adopted  from 

Paganism,  121. 
Cannibalism  of  Transubstantiation,  201. 
Canonization  made  a  prerogative  of  the  popes,  188. 
Carcassone,  siege  of,  and  escape  of  the  inhabitant"; 

from  the  popish  crusaders,  316. 
Cardinals  made  the  exclusive  electors  of  the  popes, 

238,  239. 
Catharine  of  Sienna,  Saint,  and   her  holy  stigmas 

or  wounds  of  Jesus,  369,  note. 


666 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


Catholic  religion  not  the  right  name  for  Popery,  56. 

Cclestinc  V.,  the  hermit  pope,  331. 

Celibacy,  earlj  superstitious  notions  as  to  its  sup 
posed  merit,  70. 

,  clerical,  gradually  introduced,  70 — 77; 

means  employed  to  enforce  it  in  England,  232, 
235. 

Cerda  the  Jesuit,  confesses  the  use  of  holy  water 
derived  from  Paganism,  110. 

Cevennes,  the  persecutions  in,  COG. 

Chalcedon,  council  of,  41. 

Charlemagne,  sun  of  Pepin,  174, 175  ;  crowned  Em- 
peror  at  Rome  by  the  Pope,  I7(i. 

Charles  of  Anjou,  invited  by  the  Pope  to  invade 
Sicily,  346. 

Chillingworth's  immortal  sentiment  quoted,  G6. 

Chrysostom,  his  Btrange  exposition  of  the  parahl  • 
of  the  ten  Virgins,  ',:>,  ~iii;  extravagant  praise  of 
virginity,  80,  81. 

Cicero  quoted,  122,  129. 

Ciocci,  Raffaele,  narrative  of,  610. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  quoted,  71 

VII.,  rival  of  Urban  VI.,  hfl  election  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Great  Western  Schism,  372. 

Coat,  holy,  of  the  Saviour,  imposture  of,  at  Treves 
636. 

Collvridians,  ancient  worshippers  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  82. 

Conclave,  election  of  the  popes  in,  decreed,  A.  D. 
1274,  248. 

Concubinage  of  the  priesthood.  Concubines  of  the 
priests  confessing  to  their  paramours,  222 ;  pre- 
ferred to  marriage,  223. 

Confession,  auricular,  decreed  by  the  fourth  coun- 
cil of  Lateran,  333;  licentiousness  of  the  priests 
promoted  by  it,  334,  337,  518;  decree  of  Trent 
on,  515 

Confirmation,  decree  of  Trent  on,  510. 

Constance,  council  of,  376. 

Constantine  the  Great,  his  worldly  patronage  of 
the  church  disastrous  to  its  spirituality,  29,  31  ; 
his  supposed  miraculous  conversion,  30. 

Constantine,  pope,  his  visit  to  Constantinople,  142. 

Copronymus,   amusing  anecdote  of, 

86,  note. 

V.,  emperor,  opposes  image  worship, 


161. 

Constantinople,  bishop  of,  becomes  a  rival  to  the 

bishop  of  Rome,  41. 

,  city  of,  taken  by  the  Turks,  A.  D. 

1453,  423. 
Corpus  Christi,  festival  of,  337,  339—341. 
Councils  or  Synods,  origin  of,  38. 

,  first  general,  Nice  I.,  A.  D.  325,  72. 

,  second  general,  Constantinople  I.,  A.  D. 

381.     Chron.  Table. 
,  third  general,   at  Ephesus,   A.   D.  431. 

Nestorianism  condemned,  86. 

.  fourth  general,  at  Chalcedon,  A.  D.  451 


Chron.  Table. 

,  fifth  general,  Constantinople  II.,  A.  D, 

553.     Chron.  Table. 

,  sixth  general,  Constantinople  III.,  A.  D, 


680,  151. 

at  Constantinople,  A.  D.  754,   condemns 

image-worship,  162. 

,  seventh  general,  Nice  II.,  A.  D.  78 


tablishes  image-worship,  104 

,  eighth  general,  Constantinople  IV.,  A.  D. 


869.     Chron.  Table. 

ninth  general, Lateran  I.  (at  Rome).  A.D. 


1122.     thron.  Table 

,  tmth  general.   Lateran  II.,  A.  D.  1139 

Condemns  heretics,  543. 


,  eleventh  general,  Lateran  III.,  A.  D.  1 179 

Decrees  the  extermination  of  heretics,  302,  543. 

,  twelfth  general,  Lateran  IV.,  A.  D.  1215, 

decrees   Transubstantiation,    extermination    of 

heretics,  &c,  197,  331,  543. 

,  thirteenth  general,  Lyons  I.,  A.  D.  1245, 

344. 

,  fourteenth  general,  Lyons  II.,  A.  D.  1274. 

348. 

, fifteenth  grnrral,  at  Vienne,  A.  D.  1309, 

369  anil  Chron.  Table. 

,  of  Pisa,  A.  D.  1409,  assembles  to  termi- 
nate the  great  Western  Schism,  373. 

sixteenth  general,  at  Constance,    A.   I). 

1414,  376;  condemns  the  writings  of  Wicklilf, 
385;  orders  Ins  bones  to  be  dug  up  ana  burnt, 
HSb:  condemns  Muss  to  the  flames,  401—404  ;  and 

Jerome,  4li,  412;    close  of,  the  members  dis 

missed  with  indulgences  as  a  titling  reward, 
415,  410. 

—  of   Basil,   A.  D.    1431 ;   its  contest   with 

pope  Eugenius,  418 — 420. 

,  seventeenth  general,  at  Ferrara  and  Flo- 
rence, A.  D.  1437,  419  and  Chron.  Table. 

,  fifth  of  Lateran,  A.  D.  1512,  434. 

,  eighteenth  general,  Trent,  A.D.   1545 — 

1503,  475—540. 

Cranmer,  his  martyrdom,  556. 

Creating  God  the  Creator  of  all  things,  203. 

Creed  of  pope  Pius  IV.,  537. 

Crema,  cardinal,  detected  in  gross  licentiousness, 
271. 

Cromwell,  his  interposition  on  behalf  of  the  per- 
secuted Waldenses,  585. 

Cross,  figure  of,  105  ;  incensing  one,  259. 

Crusades  to  Palestine,  resolved  upon  by  pope  Ur- 
ban II.,  in  the  council  of  Clermont,  A.  D.  1095, 
259—263. 

Effects  of,   in  enriching  the  church  and 

the  clergy,  2G5  ;  crusade  against  the  Albigenses 
of  the  south  of  France,  under  Muntfort  and  the 
Pope's  legate,  307. 

Cup  denied  to  the  laity  by  the  council  of  Constance, 
416  ;  by  the  council  of  Trent,  527. 

Curse,  annual,  upon  heretics  at  Rome,  &c,  617. 

Cyprian  of  Carthage,  excommunicated  by  Stephen, 
bishop  of  Rome,  33;  the  act  of  no  authority,  be- 
cause papal  supremacy  was  not  established,  34. 

quoted,  71. 


D. 


Damasus  and  Crsicinus,  bloody  contest  between 
them  for  the  popedom,  35. 

Daniel  the  prophet,  meaning  of  the  little  horn,  133. 

Death  tor  heresy,  first  instance  in  England,  272,273. 

Decretals,  forged,  182—185,224,225;  YVicklifT con- 
demised  by  the  council  of  Constance  for  denying 
their  authority,  386. 

Degradation,  ceremony  of,  and  reason,  551. 

De  Maistre,  his  treatise  published  in  1819,  advocat- 
ing the  temporal  mi.  remacy  of  the  popes,  and 
defending  to  the  fullest  extent  the  doctrines  of 
pope  Bildebrand  or  Gregory  VII.,  254. 

Dens  quoted  on  the  papal  supremacy,  44. 

Uesubas,  martyrdom  of,  in  1745,  608. 

Deylingius,  his  eleven  propositions  on  the  gradual 
lise  of  the  popes'  tyrannical  power,  255. 

Diagoras,  the  philosopher,  anecdote  of,  122. 

Dictates  or  maxims  of  Bildebrand,  252,  253. 

Dominic,  St.,  his  history,  324  ;  his  wonderful  mira- 
cles, 325 

Dominican  friars,  324  ;  great  champions  of  the  Vir- 
gin, 326. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


667 


Donation  of  Constanline,  forged,  182,  183;  remark 

of  J_>;iil U-  on,  224. 
Dotage,  Popery  is  in  its,  notwithstanding  its  boasted 

numbers,  64  t 
Drithelm,  Ins  visit  to  purgatory,  301. 
Dublin,  baptism  of  bells  at,  211. 
Dunstan,  St.,  Ins  uirth,  life,  and  miracles,  230—235. 

E. 

East,  worshipping  towards,  adopted  from  Pagan- 
ism, 114. 

Easter,  dispute  concerning,  32. 

Echthesis,  the  decree  called,  134,  147,  148,  150. 

Ecstatica  of  Caldaro,  631. 

Edgar,  kins.'  of  England,  persecutes  the  married 
clergy,  232,  233. 

Eligius,  bishop  of  Noyon,  specimen  of  his  doc- 
trine, 144.  145. 

Elizabeth,  queen,  excommunication  of,  bv  Done 
Pius  V.,  503.  '    P 

End  of  the  world   in  the  year  1000,  widespread 

panic,  260. 
England,  popery  in,  prior  to  the  conquest,  227— 

235  ;  after  the  conquest,  200-292. 

,  the  kingdom  of,  laid  under  an  interdict, 

286. 

Epiphanius,  in  the  fourth  century,  tears  a  painting 
down  from  a  church,  98. 

Elheldreda,  queen  of  Northumberland,  forsakes  her 
husband,  and  retires  to  a  monastery,  139. 

Etna,  howling  of  devils  in,  heard  by  Odilo,  191,  300. 

Excommunication  and  interdict,  fearful  conse- 
quences of,  225. 

Extreme  unction,  decree  of  Trent  on,  524. 

F. 

Faith,  none  to  he  kept  with  heretics,  134,  309,  316, 
325  (nutt ■).  400.  Decrees  of  the  council  of  Con- 
stance establishing  this  doctrine,  413;  plainly 
avowed  by  pope  Martin  V.  in  1421,  414;  also  by 
Innocent  VIII.,  426. 

Fasts,  decree  of  Trent  on,  533. 

Feast  of  All  Saints,  established  by  pope  Boniface 
IV. 

of  All  Souls,  to  prav  souls  out  of  Purgatory, 

established  by  Odilo,  191,  360. 

Felix,  bishop  of  Ravenna,  his  eyes  put  out  by  the 
Pope  and  the  Emperor,  141. 

Festivals  or  saints'  days  increased,  188. 

of  the  Ass  described,  213. 

— -  of  Corpus  Christi  established,  337  ;  man- 
ner of  observing  it  in  Spain,  338  :  in  Rome,  341. 

Fornication  sanctioned  by  the  popish  council  of 
Toledo,  223. 

Francis,  St.,  his  life,  320. 

Frauds  and  lying  wonders  of  Romanists,  99.     

Frederick  1.,  Barbarossa,  emperor,  his  dispute  with 
the  Pope,  293  ;  deposed  by  pope  Alexander  III., 
294;  his  submission,  leads  the  Pope's  horse,  294. 

Frederick  II.,  emperor,  his  quarrel  with  the  popes, 
342-345. 

Fuller,  the  historian,  his  remark  on  the  ashes  of 
Wicklitf  cast  into  the  river  Severn,  387. 


C. 


Garden  of  the  Soul,  its  indecent  confessional  ques- 
tions for  females  relative  to  the  seventh  com- 
mandment, 517 

Genseric.  king  of  the  Vandals,  takes  and  pillages 
Rome,  42. 

Glastonbury  Abbey,  231. 

Golden  age  of  Popery  the  iron  age  of  the  world,  220. 


Gregory  the  Great,  bishop  of  Rome,  his  letters  re- 
lame  to  what  he  calls  the  blasphi  mous  and  in- 
fernal title  of  Universal  Bishop,  52-55. 

—  his  flattery  of  the  tyrant  Phocas,  61  ;  his 

abuse  ol  the  emperor  Mauritius  alter  Pbocas  had 
murdered  him,  62-63  ;  his  inhuman  severity  to  a 
poor  monk,  91  ;  his  letter  to  the  Empress  in  re- 
ply to  her  request  for  the  head  of  St.  Paul,  107; 
Ins  letters  to  Augustin  and  Serenus,  directing 
them  to  connive  at  pagan  rites,  130,  156,  228. 

II.,  pope,  his  abusive  letter  to  the  emperor 

Leo  for  his  opposition  to  images,  158,  159. 

HI.,  his  letter  to  the  Emperor  on  image- 
worship,  160. 

encourages  the  worship  of  images,  saints, 

and  relics,  161. 


VII.,  pope,  238.  &c. ;  his  inordinate  am- 
bition and  plans  for  universal  empire,  240;  his 
violent  uispute  with,  and  excommunication  of 
the  emperor  Henry  VI.,  243-248;  several  other 
instances  of  his  tyranny  and  usurpation  over 
nations  and  kings,  249-252;  his  dictates,  or  max- 
ims, 252,  253;  made  a  Saint,  and  reverenced  as 
such  on  the  festival  day  of  Saint  Gregory  VII., 
May  25lh. 

IX.,  pope,  his  quarrel  with  the  emperor 

Frederick  II.,  342,343. 

X.,  349. 


XVI.,  his  encyclical  letter  of  18C2,  619, 

620;  his  bull  of  1844,  622,  634. 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  his  eulogy  on  the  monastic 

life,  89. 

,  his  invocation  to  his  departed 

father,  and  to  St.  Cyprian,  97. 
Guibert  of  Nogent,  his  account  of  the  multitudes 

that  engaged  in  the  crusades,  263,  264. 

H. 

Heathen  rites  adopted  at  Rome,  43;  also  in  Eng- 
land, 228. 

Helena,  the  discoverer  of  the  wood  of  the  true 
crotx,  (?)  31. 

Henry,  bishop  of  Liege,  his  horrid  profligacy,  348. 

Henry  I.,  king  of  England,  his  quarrel  with  arch- 
bishop Anselm,  269,  270. 

Henry  II.,  his  quarrel  with  Becket,  274-279. 

Henry  IV.,  emperor,  excommunicated  by  Gregory 
VII.,  243;  stands  three  days  at  the  Pope's  gate 
before  bring  admitted  to  kiss  his  toe,  244  ;  his 
subsequent  misfortunes  and  death,  247-249. 

Heretics,  decrre  for  the  extermination  of,  by  the 
third  council  of  Lateran,  30i ;  another  of  pope 
Lucius,  304  ■  another  of  the  emperor  Frederick, 
issued  to  oblige  the  Pope.  305;  bull  of  Innocent 
III.  against  Albigenses,  309,  right  to  extirpate, 
claimed  by  the  Romish  church,  320;  decree  of 
the  fourth  council  of  Lateran,  commanding 
p:inces  to  extirpate  them,  332;  bull  of  Innocent 
VIII.,  against  them,  425 ;  decree  against,  by  the 
fifth  council  of  Lateran,  434;  cursed  by  the 
fathers  of  Trent,  536. 

Hilarion,  the  Syrian  hermit,  88. 

Hilary,  quoted  on  "the  Rock,"  47. 

Hildebrand,  or  Gregory  VII.,  238,  &c. 

Holy  water,  99. 

,  use  of.  rdopted  from  Paganism,  116. 


Honorius,  pope,  140,  147 

condemned  anil  anathematized  for  heresy 

by  a  general  council,  152. 
Horses,  blessing  and  sprinkling,  on  St.  Anthony's 
day,  117. 

kneeling  to  the  wafer-idol,  199. 

Host,  or  consecrated  wafer,  worship  of,  204,  337. 
Huss,  John,  of   Bohemia,  preaches   against   pope 

John's  murderous  crusade  against  Lailislaus.  375; 

his  early  life,  387 :  excommunicated  by  pope 

John  XXIII.,  390;  his  opposition  to  indulgences, 


068 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


392,  writes  the  Six  Errors,  Members  of  anti- 
Christ,  &c  ;ui(l  is  summoned  i"  the  council  of 
Constance,  3.i7  ;  imprisoned  in  violation  of  his 
safe-conduct,  400;  his  condemnation  and  degra- 
dation, 401 ;  his  martyrdom,  4u3,  4j4. 


1. 


Idols  of  the  heathen  turned  into  popish  saints,  124, 
125. 

[gnorance  of  the  bishops  of  the  seventh  century, 
144. 

[mage  worship,  condemned  by  Justin  martyr,  Au- 
gustine, Origen, &c,  154;  gradual  introduction  of, 
155,  156;  opposed  by  the  emperor  Leo,  157,  &c; 
condemned  by  the  council  of  Constantinople, 
A.  H.  754,  10'i;  established  by  the  seventh  »nie 
ral  council  at  Nice,  A.  D.  787,  104  ;  decree  of 
Trent  on,  5:34. 

Incense,  use  of,  adopted  from  Paganism,  115. 

Index  of  prohibited  books,  ten  rules  on  at  Trent, 
491. 

Indulgences,  granted  to  the  crusaders  to  Palestine, 
362;  for  destroying  the  Waldensian  heretics, 
309,362;  origin  and  history  of,  356-300;  granted 
as  a  reward  to  the  members  of  the  council  of 
Constance,  415,  410;  the  preaching  of  by  Tetzel 
the  occasion  of  the  reformation,  430 ;  decree  of 
Trent  on,  583. 

Infallibility  of  the  popes,  disproved,  153. 

advocated   by   Bellarmine  and   Lewis 

Capsensis,  153. 

Infidelity  gains  nothing  from  the  abominations  ol 
Popery,  because  Popery  is  not  Christianity,  and 
therefore  not  chargeable  with  them,  040. 

Innocent  III.,  pope,  establishes  Transubstantiation, 
197;  his  tyrannical  treatment  of  king  .John  of 
England,  282-291  ;  his  tyranny  toward  other 
nations,  294-299;  his  bloody  crusade  against  the 
Albigenses,  307 ;  favors  the  establishment  of  the 
Mendicant  Orders,  324, 

Innocent  IV.,  pope,  issues  a  sentence  of  deposition 
against  the  emperor  Frederick  II.,  341;  his  joy 
at  Frederick's  death,  345. 

VIII.,  pope,  and  his  seven  bastards,  425; 

his  furious  bull  :  gainst  the  Waldenses,  4^5,  420. 

Inquisition,  its  victims,  tortures  fcc.,  508  ;  burns  a 
woman  in  1781,019;  suppressed  by  Napoleon, 610. 

Intention,  doctrine  of,  decreed  at  Trent,  its  ab- 
surdity, 506;  anecdote  relative  to,  509 

Interdict,  fearful  consequences  of,  225;  laid  upon 
England,  its  effects  described,  286. 

Intolerance  of  Popery,  200 ;  still  the  same,  612-618 

Investiture  of  bishops  with  ring  and  crosier,  dis 
pute  about,  241,  242. 

Ireland  given  to  king  Henry  by  the  Pope,  272, 


the  lives  of  princes,  003;  their  suppression,  604  ; 
their  oath,  0.J5  ;  then  recent  proceedings  in  Swit- 
zerland, 639. 

.leu.  unbelieving,  fetches  blood  from  the  conse- 
crated  u  afer,  200 

Jewish  priesthood,  rights  ami  privileges  of,  claimed 
lor  the  Christian  clergy,  38. 

w's  dog  worships  the  wafer-idol,  199. 
John,  king  of  England,  commencement  of  his  dis- 
pute with  pope  Innocent,  282;  bis  kingdom  laid 
under  an  interdict,  2-0;  excommunicated,  287 ; 
Ins  degrading  and  abject  submission  to  the  ty- 
ranny and  insolence  of  the  Pope  and  his  legate, 
Pandulph,  2,-8-291. 

—  VIII.,  pope,  a  most  profligate  pontiff,  216. 

—  X.,  XL,  XII,  popes,  their  horrible  licentious- 
ness  and  profligacj ,  217,  218. 

—  Will.,   pope,   his  ferocious  crusade  against 

Ladislaus,  375. 
Jovinian  and  Vigilantius,  early  reformers,  78. 
Jubilee,    popish,    established    by   Boniface   VIII., 

A.  D.  1300,  364  ;  Jubilee  bull  of  la24,  303. 

on  a  smaller  scale,  364. 

of  pope  Clement  in  1350,  366. 

Julius   11..    pope,  absolves  himself  from  his  oath, 

429  ;  a  warlike  Pope,  his  battles  and  slaughters, 

433. 
Justification,   decree  of  Trent    on,    499;    Tyndal 

quoted  on,  502  ;  Luther's  experience  on,  502. 
Justinian,  the  tyrant,  kisses  the  Pope's  foot,  142; 

his  cruelties  and  tyranny,  142,  143 
Justin  Martyr  quoted  on  image-worship,  154. 

K. 

Kincaid,  Rev.  Eugenio,  letter  of,  on  resemblance 
In  tween  Bhoodhism  and  Popery,  628. 

Kissing  the  Pope's  toe,  imitated  from  the  pagan  ty- 
rant Caligula,  126;  done  by  the  emperor  Jus- 
tinian, 141. 


Ladislaus,  king  of  Hungary,  crusade  against  him 

by  pope  John  XXUL,  374,  375. 
Lainez,  the  Jesuit,  at  Trent,  527,  note. 
Lambeth  palace,  the  building  of,  stopped  by  order 

of  pope  Innocent  III.,  280,  281. 
Lancaster,  duke  of,  favors  VVickliff's  bible,  383. 
Langton,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  285. 
Later.in,  third  council  of,  its  cruel  decree  against 

the  heretical  Waldenses,  302-304. 

,  fourth,  ditto,  332. 

,  fifth,  ditto,  434. 


Irene,  the  wicked  empress,  her  cruelties  to  her  son    Latimer  and  Ridley,  martyrdom  of,  550. 


Constantine,  163;  favors  image-worship,  164. 
Iron  age  of  the  world.  Popery  in  its  glory,  181,  &c. 
Iron  age  of  the  world  the  golden  age  of  Popci  \ .  226. 


Janscnists,  opponents  of  the  Jesuits,  6!)!. 

Januarius,  St.,  miracle  of  liquefying  his  blood,  GJ9. 

Terome's  abuse  of  the  heretic  Vigilantius,  78,  note; 
his  definition  of  idols,  123. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  391-396  ;  sets  out  for  Constance, 
flees  ill  alarm,  and  is  arrested,  4(17  ;  his  cruel  im- 
prisenment.  recants,  but  soon  renounces  his  re- 
cantal ,408;  his  noble  and  eloquent  protesta- 
tions before  the  council,  409;  his  sentence,  411  ; 
martyrdom,  412. 

Jerusalem  taken  by  the  crusaders,  A.  D.  1099,  204. 

Jesuits,  establishment  of  the  order  of.  473 ;  Iheir 
missions  in  China,  &x.,  599;  their  plots  against 


Latin  tongue,  mass  to  be  performed  in,  529. 

Lavaur  taken  by  the  popish  crusaders,  and  the 
heretics  burnt  "with  infinite  joy,''  319, 

Le  Febvre,  his  sufferings  in  France,  595. 

Leo  the  Great,  bishop  of  Rome,  41,  42. 

III.,   emperor,   issues  his  first  decree   against 

images,  A.  1)  720.  157;  his  second  decree,  which 
causes  tumults,  158, 160. 

X.,  pope,  his  accession.  434;  his  careless  re- 
mark concerning  Luther,  448. 

Letter  from  St.  Peter  in  heaven  to  king  Pepin,  171. 

Liberty  of  opinion  and  press,  Popery  opposed  to, 
920. 

Licence  to  read  heretical  books.  Copy  of  one 
grunted  to  Sir  Thomas  More,  497. 

Lodi.  the  popish  bishop  of,  his  ferocious  harangue 
,-it  the  condemnation  of  Muss,  401;  and  of  Je- 
rome, i:i  which  be  mourns  that  he  had  not  been 
tortured,  410,  411. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


069 


Lollard's  tower  described,  281,  282. 

Loretto,  miracle  of  the  holy  house,  and  porringer, 
flying  through  the  air,  030. 

Loyala,  Ignatius,  the  founder  of  the  Jesuit?,  47;! ; 
popish  parallel  between  him  and  Luther,  473. 

Louis  XII.,  of  France,  his  quarrel  with  the  war- 
rior-pope Julius,  433. 

Luitprand,  king  of  the  Lombards,  166. 

Luther,  the  great  German  reformer,  425,435;  h 
opposition  to  Telzel  and  indulgences,  440  ;  writes 
to  pope  Leo,  and  sends  a  copy  of  his  solutions, 
449;  appears  before  cardinal  Cajelan  at  Augs- 
burg, his  noble  constancy,  and  return  to  Wittem- 
berg,  454-459;  discovers,  by  reading  the  Decre- 
tals, that  the  Pope  is  anti-Christ,  459,  400;  dis- 
putes with  Doctor  Eck  on  the  primacy  of  the 
Pope  at  Leipsic,  460;  burns  the  Pope's  bull  at 
Wittemberg,  463;  finally  excommunicated  as  an 
incorrigible  heretic,  463,  464  ;  appears  before  the 
Diet  of  Worms,  466-468;  is  seized  and  con- 
fined in  the  castle  of  VVartburg,  469;  translates 
the  New  Testament,  471  ;  his  death,  472 ;  his 
experience,  relative  to  justification,  503. 


HI 


Mabillon,  his  confession  of  fictitious  Romish  saints, 

100. 
Madeira,  a  woman  condemned  to  death  for  heresy- 
there  in  1844,  614. 
Mahomet,  145. 
Man,  Isle  of,  made  a  fief  of  the  Romish  church, 

342. 
Manfred,  son  of  the  emperor  Frederick,  345-347. 
Marolles,  his  sufferings  in  France,  596. 
Marriage,  according  to  Taylor  and  Elliott,  a  neces- 
sary qualification  for  a  minister,  69,  note. 

of  the  clergy,  efforts  to  suppress,  232,  235, 

271,  272. 
Mantel,  Charles,  166. 

Martin,  bishop  of  Tours,  his  rudeness  to  the  em- 
peror Maximus,  35;  his  character  by  father  Ga- 
han,  35;    his  funeral   attended   by  2000  of  his 
monks,  89. 
Martin  I.,  pope,  banished  by  the  Emperor,  151. 

IV.,  pope,  deposes  Don  Pedro,  king  of  Ar- 

ragon,  350. 

V.,  pope,  advocates  the  doctrine  of  no  faith 

with  heretics,  414  ;  his  lofty  titles,  418. 
Mary,  bloody  queen,  her  persecutions,  549. 
Mass,    defects  in,   curious  extract   on,    from   the 
Romish  missal,   507;   decrees  of  Trent  on  the 
mass,  528. 
Matrimony,  sacrament  of,  decree  of  Trent  on,  531. 
Mauritius,  emperor,  and  his  family,  murdered  by 

the  tyrant  Phocas,  58,  59. 
Mauru,  Pierre,  his  sufferings  as  a  galley  *ave,  596. 
Maximus,  the  monk,  148;  disputes  with  Pyrrhus, 

149. 
Medal,  miraculous,  632. 

Mendicant  orders,  establishment  of,  323;  their  vast 

increase,  330,  331  ;  reproved  by  Wickliff  on  his 

sick  bed,  380. 

Menerbe  taken  by  the  popish  crusaders,  and  140  of 

the  VValdensian  inhabitants  burnt  in  one  fire,  318. 

Middleton,   Dr.  Conyers,  letters  from  Rome,  100, 

112,  &c. 
Midnight  of  the  world,  Popery  in  its  glory,  181,  &c. 
Miltitz  dispatched  to  Germany  as  legate  to  reduce 

Luther  to  submission,  459. 
Milton,  his  sonnet  on  the  slaughtered  Waldenses, 

585. 
Miracles,  pretended,   of  the  Virgin,   189,  100;    to 
establish  the  belief  in  the  wafer-idol,   198    199, 
226  ;  to  enfoice  clerical  celibacy  in  England,  232  ; 
of  St.  Dunstan,  231-235;    of  St.  Dominic,  325; 


of  the  Virgin  and  the  Rosary,  326  ;  of  St.  Fran- 
cis, 330  ;  Januarius,  St.,  629  ;  Loretto,  63J  ;  weei)- 
ing  image,  031.  y 

Monasteries  erected,  90  ;  fertile  in  pretended  saints, 

Monkery,  its  early  origin  and  growth,  87-92  •  imi- 
tated trom  Paganism,  128;  increase  of  reverence 
for,  185. 

Monks,  profligacy  of,  323. 

Monothelite  controversy,  origin  and  history  of,  146- 

Monte,  De,  cardinal,  legate  at  Trent,  477 ;  chosen 
pope  though  a  Sodomite,  511. 

Montfaucon,  his  reflection  on  pagan  tricks,  equally 
applicable  to  popish,  122. 

Montfort,  leader  of  the  crusades  against  the  here- 
tical Albigenses,  or  Waldenses,  307;  his  horrible 
cruelty,  317,  318. 

Montreal,  baptism  of  bells  at,  207. 

Morse,  professor,  abused  at  Rome  for  not  bowing 
to  the  popish  idol,  341. 

Mount  Soractc  changed  into  St.  Oreste,  and  wor- 
shipped, 100. 


Nantes,  revocation  of  edicr  of,  and  cruel  persecu- 
tions which  followed,  593-598. 

Naples,  baptism  of  bells  at,  207. 

Nestorian  controversy,  origin  of,  86 

Nice,  council  of,  A.  D.  325,  72. 

Nicholas,  III.,  pope,  formerly  cardinal  John  Caje- 
tan,  secures  the  independence  of  the  popedom 
on  the  empire,  350. 

Nuns,  crowning  and  consecrating  of,  72. 

O. 

Oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  the  first  instance, 
140 ;  form  of  one  taken  by  the  emperor  Oiho,  of 
allegiance  to  pope  Innocent  111.,  298  ;  the  Jesuits', 
605  ;  the  bishops',  615. 

Oaths,  right  of  dissolving  claimed  by  popes,  312, 
429,  430. 

Odo,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  his  haughty  pre- 
tensions and  letter,  230. 

Odoacer,  king  of  the  Heruli,  subverts  the  western 
Roman  empire,  A.  D.  476,  42. 

Orders,  sacrament  of,  decree  of  Trent  on,  530. 

Origen  quoted  on  image  worship,  154. 

Original  sin  decree  of  Trent  on,  499. 

P. 

Pagan  rites  imitated,  98,  109-132,  228. 

,  close  resemblance  between  popish  and. 

110,  &c. 

Pandulph,  the  Pope's  legate  in  England,  287,  290, 
291. 

Pantheon,  dedicated  to  the  Virgin  and  all  the  saints, 
124. 

Papal  States,  178,  179,  633. 

Paphnutius  opposes  the  progress  of  clerical  ce- 
libacy, 72. 

Pascal,  his  provincial  letters,  602. 

Paschasius  Radbert.  in  the  ninth  century,  invents 
the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation,  194. 

Patriarch,  title  and  office  of,  31,  38. 

Paul  the  hermit,  88. 

,  saint,  his  leaping  head,  and  the  fountains,  113. 

Penance,  decrees  of  Trent  on,  514;  "doing  pen- 
ance," false  translation,  522. 

Pepin,  mayor  of  the  palace  to  the  king  of  France, 
under  the  advice  of  the  Pope,  dethrones  his  so- 
vereign, 'Jhilderic  HI.,  167,  168;  succors  Rome  at 
the  application  of  pope  Stephen,  172. 


670 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


Persecution,  purifying  inlluence  of,  on  the  primitive 
chin  i'Ii,  36 ;  origin  of  doctrine  of  the  right  of,  105; 
first  instances  of,  in  England,  272,  273;  of  the 
Albigenses,  307-319;  nm:  hundred  and  forty 
bunu  in  one  fire  at  Menerbe,  3IH;  an  essential 
attribute  of  Popery,  320;  bay  millions  ol  vie 
lims,  54! ;  enjoined  by  its  general  councils,  542. 
Peter,  no  proof  that  he  was  ever  at  Koine,  much 
less  thai  he  was  bishop  of  Rome,  -to;  no  proof 
that  he  was  ever  constituted  by  Christ  head  of 
the  church,  40. 
Peter,  Saint,  consecrating  a  church  in  person  at 

Westminster,  (!)  144. 
Peter's,  St.,  church,  described,  423. 
Peter  the  hermit  preaches  the  Crusades,  259,  261. 
Petrus  Vallensis,  the  monkish  historian  of  the  cru- 
sades against  the  Albigenses,  his  rapture  at  the 
success  of  the   popish  crusades,  and  at  the  burn- 
ing of  the  heretics,  317-319 
1'hocas  the  tyrant  grants  to  pope  Boniface  the  title 

of  Universal  Bishop,  55. 
Pilgrimages  to  Palestine,  98;    encouraged  by  St. 

Gregory,  108  ;  previous  to  the  crusades,  209. 
Pious  frauds,  doctrine,  105. 

Polydore  Virgil   confesses  wax  images  as  votive 
offerings,    to    be   derived   from   Paganism,    122; 
quoted  on  indulgences,  57. 
POPE,   establishment  of  his  spiritual  supremacy, 
A.  D.  bl)6,  55. 

of  his  temporal  sovereignty, 

A.  D.  756,  172,  173. 
Popery  a  subject  of  prophecy,  27. 

.properly   so  called,  established  in  60(5,  56 ; 

according  to  its  advocates,  uncaangable,  292,  548, 
618. 
Prffitextatus,  a  heathen,  his  remark  upon  the  ex- 
travagance of  the  Roman  bishops.  34. 
Press,  freedom  of,  forbidden  bv  pope  Sixtus,  A.  D. 
1472,  by  Alexander  VI.,  A.  D.  1501,  and   by  the 
fifth  council  of  Lateran,  and  Leo  X.,  A.  D.  1517, 
434 ;  decree  against  at  Trent,  488 ;  rules  of  the 
Index,  491. 
Primitive  churches,  the  simplicity  of  their  organiza- 
tion and  government,  according  to  VVaddinglon, 
36  ,  to  Gieseler  and  Mosheim,  37. 
Printing,  invention  of,  a  great  blow  to  Popery,  434. 
Private  judgment,  decree  against  at  Trent,  488. 
Processions  of  worshippers  and  self -whippers,  imi- 
tated from  Paganism,  127. 
Profligacy  of  popish  priests,  274,  348,  349. 
Profligate  popes— John   VIII.,  216;    Sergius  III., 
217;   John  X.,   217;  John  XI.,  217;  John  XII., 
218;  Benedict  IX.,  221 ;  Alexandei  VI.,  426. 
Prohibited  books,  rules  on,  at  Trent,  491. 
Purgatory  advocated  by  St  Gregory,  108;  his  con- 
tradictory expressions,  359,300;  fears  of.  in  the 
dark  ages.  190,  361  ;  this  fiction  the  cause  of  in- 
dulgences, 357,361,  362;  description  of  the  tor- 
ments in,  361 ;  decree  of  Trent  on,  532. 
Puseyism,  or  Oxford  Romanism,  rise  of,  634. 
Pyrrhus,  bishop  of  Constantinople,  147,   148;  ex- 
communicated  by  the   Pope,   and   the  sentence 
signed  with  the  consecrated  wine  of  the  sacra- 
ment, 149,  150. 


Quesnel,  Father,  his  rejections  ou  the  New  Testa- 
ment condemned,  602. 


Kabanus  Hauruain  the  ninth  century  writes  ncainst 
the  newly- invented  doctrine  of  Transubstautia- 
tion,  194,  195. 


Raimond,  count  of  Thoulouse,  refuses  to  butcher 
his  heretical  subjects,  30i  ;  excommunicated, 308; 
bis  submission  and  degrading  penance,  whipped 

on  the  naked  shoulders  by  the  Tope's  legate,  313  ; 
his  dominions  given  to  the  earl  ol  Montlbrt,  332. 

Reformation,  account  of  the,  436,  &.C. 

Relics  enshrined  in  churches,  93,  94  :  reverence  for, 
105,106,  185;  spurious,  186;  traffic  in  England, 
229;  -pinions  brought  in  vast  quantities  from 
Palestine  by  the  crusaders,  265,  260;  decree  of 
Trent  on  reverence  to,  533. 

Reverence  of  the  barbarian  conquerors  for  the 
priests  of  Koine,  transferred  to  them  thu  reverence 
they  bure  to  their  heathen  priests,  43. 

Rhemish  testament,  77,  note;  quoted  on  clerical 
celibacy,  78  ;  translated  from  the  Vulgate,  488. 

Road-gods  of  the  heathen  imitated  liy  papists,  125. 

Robert  the  monk,  his  account  of  pope  Urban's 
speech  on  the  Crusades,  262,  263. 

Robert  of  .Normandy  acknowledges  himself  a  vas- 
sal of  the  Pope,  238. 

Rochette,  martyrdom  of,  in  1702,  608. 

Kock  on  which  the  church  is  built  not  Peter,  but 
Christ,  46. 

Roger,  count  of  Beziers,  his  treacherous  and  cruel 
treatment  by  the  Pope's  legale,  315. 

Rouge,  his  noble  expostulation  against  the  impos- 
ture of  the  holy  coat  at  Treves,  637  ;  founds  a 
new  church  in  Germany,  638. 

Rosary  of  the  Virgin  described,  189;  pretended 
miracles  performed  by  means  of,  326 

S. 

Sacraments,  decree  of  Trent  on,  505. 

Sardis,  council  of,  39. 

Satisfaction,  decree  of  Trent  on,  522. 

Saints,  pretended,  lives  of,  92;  invocation  of,  93; 
decree  of  Trent  on,  533  fictitious,  St.  Viar,  Am- 
phibolus,  Veronica,  &c,  101  ;  multiplication  of 
new,  186,  187. 

Schism  in  the  Popedom,  between  Damasus  and 
(Jrsicinus  in  366,  accompanied  with  civil  war 
and  bloodshed,  35;  between  Syniinachus  and 
Laurentius,  atiout  A.  D.  500,  50. 

Schism,  Great  Western,  370-377,  revived,  420. 

Scriptures,  a  popish  priest's  lament  that  they  should 
be  im.de  common  to  the  laity  and  to  women, 
383,417;  noble  defence  of,  by  W'ickliff,  384;  re- 
garded by  Huss  as  the  only  infallible  authority, 
389;  and  by  Jerome,  410. 

Seneca  quoted  on  the  heathen  self-whippers,  128. 

Sepulchres,  praying  at,  105. 

^•erenus,  bishop  of  Marseilles,  destroys  images,  but 
is  directed  by  Saint  Gregory  to  connive  at  them 
to  gratify  the  pagans,  131. 

Sergius  I.,  pope,  pays  the  exarch  of  Ravenna  100 
pounds  of  gold  lor  securing  his  election,  135. 

111.,   pope,   the   father  of   pope  John  the 

bastard,  by  the  harlot  Maro/.ia. 

Sicilian  vespers,  318. 

Sigismund.  the  emperor,  his  safe-cmiducl  of  Huss, 
398;  the  safe-conduct  shamefully  violated,  400  ; 
his  blushes  at  his  baseness.  102,   I   8. 

Siricius,  bishop  of  Rome,  decrees  ihc  celibacy  of 
the  clergy,  about  A.  I).  385,  77. 

Solicitation  of  females  at  confession,  instances  of, 
336. 

Sovereignty,  temporal  of  the5  Pope  established, 
A.  D.  750,  172,  173.  177,  178,  350. 

Spain,  iguorance  of  the  Bible  there,  224,  note. 

Stephen,  bishop  of  Koine,  excommunicates  St 
Cyprian  of  Carthage,  33;  his  tyranny  disre- 
garded, 34. 

,  pope,  forges  a  letter  from  St.  Peter  in 

heaveu  to  king  Pepin,  171. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


G71 


Stubbes,  old  Philip,  his  curious  account  of  the 
baptism  of  bells,  A.  D.  1598,  -212. 

Supererogation,  works  of.  303;  still  believed  by 
papists  evident  from  Jubilee  bull  of  1824,  303. 

Supremacy,  papal,  not  established  in  the  fourth 
century,  39;  steps  toward  it,  39-44  ;  divine  right 
of,  claimed  after  the  fall  of  Koine,  44;  this  claim 
disproved,  44-50  ;  finally  established  by  the  favor 
of  Phocas  the  tyrant,  A.  D  000,55;  immediate 
consequences  of  its  establishment,  57. 

Switzerland,  recent  proceedings  of  the  Jesuits  in, 
639. 

Sylvius,  iEneas,  afterwards  pope  Pius  II.,  388, 418- 
4-23  ;  when  Pope,  renounces  his  former  opinions 
against  the  supreme  authority  of.  the  popes,  and 
condemns  his  former  self,  424. 

Symmachus  and  Laurentius,  bloody  struggle  be- 
tween them  for  the  popedom,  50. 

Symeon,  the  pillar  saint,  90. 

.Synods,  or  Councils,  origin  of,  38. 


Tax-book  for  sins,  extract  from,  437;  its  different 
editions  and  genuineness  proved,  437,  438. 

Temperance  argument,  against  the  inspiration  of 
the  Apocrypha  484. 

Tertullian  quoted,  28,  70. 

Tetzel,  the  famous  peddler  of  indulgences  for  pope 
Leo  X.,  439 ;  his  mode  of  disposing  of  his  com 
modifies,  440-445;  burns  Luther's  theses  against 
indulgences,  447 ;  his  own  theses  burnt  by  the 
students  of  YViltembeig,  448. 

Theodore,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  135 ;  tarries 
three  months  to  have  his  head  shaved,  139. 

Tonsure,  disputes  about  different  forms,  136. 

Tradition  regarded  by  the  papist  and  the  Puseyite 
as  of  equal  or  superior  authority  to  the  Bible,  08; 
decree  of  Trent  on,  479. 

Transubstantiation,  the  most  absurd  of  all  inven- 
tions of  the  dark  ages,  192;  its  origin  in  the  eighth 
and  ninth  centuries,  193,  194;  decreed  by  the 
fourth  council  of  Lateran  in  1215,  197,  337; 
anecdote  to  show  its  absurdity,  197 ;  its  canni- 
balism, 201  ;  curses  of  Trent  against  those  who 
refuse  to  believe  it,  205  ;  the  great  burning  arti- 
cle, 337 ;  decree  of  Trent  on,  511. 

Trent,  council  of,  475-540. 

Turubull,  Rev.  Robert,  his  letter  on  Popery  in  Italy, 
626. 

Tyudal  quoted  on  Justification,- 502. 

Type,  the  decree  called,  150. 


U. 


United  States,  Romish  missions  in,  641 ;  statistics 
of  Romanism  in,  642. 

Universal  Bishop,  contest  about  this  title  between 
the  bishops  of  Rome  and  Constantinople,  51  ;  St. 
Gregory  writes  against,  52-54  ;  pope  Boniface, 
his  successor,  a  few  years  later,  solicits  and  ob- 
tains it,  55. 

,  the  badge  and  the  brand  of  anti- 
Christ,  64. 

Urban  II„  pope,  horribly  blasphemous  expression 
of,  203,  269  ;   his  eloquent  speech  in  the  council 


of  Clermont  on  behalf  of  the  crusades  to  Pales- 
tine, 262,  263. 

VI.,    election    of,    commencement    of   the 

Great  Western  Schism,  371,  372;  raises  a  cru- 
sade  against  his  rival  pope,  378 ;  against  which 
Wickliff  protests  in  England,  378 


Valentinian  the  emperor,  law  of,  favoring  the  pow- 
er of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  40. 

Veronica,  St.,  and  the  holy  handkerchief,  102. 

Vicini,  his  insurrection  in  1832,  in  the  papal  States, 
033. 

Victor,  bishop  of  Rome,  presumes  to  excommuni- 
cate his  brethren  of  the  East,  32. 

Vigilantius  and  Jovinian,  the  early  reformers,  78. 

Virginity,  Chrysostom's  extravagant  praise  of,  75, 
80. 

Virgin  Mary,  early  superstitious  notions  concerning 
her,  81 ;  worship  of,  82-80,  189 ;  her  pretended 
miracles,  189,  190,  326,  631. 

Virgins  of  tire  Tyrol  and  their  stigmata,  630. 

Vomit  of  the  wafer  ordered  in  the  Romish  missal 
to  be  swallowed  again  by  the  priest,  509. 

Votive  gifts  and  offerings,  imitated  from  Paganism. 
121. 

Vulgate,  Latin,  decree  of  Trent  establishes  it  as 
authentic,  486;  two  infallible  editions  of,  with 
2,000  variations  between  them,  487. 

W. 

Wafer-idol,  worship  of,  worse  than  heathenism, 
204. 

Walch  quoted  on  the  uncertainty  of  the  first 
bishops  of  Rome,  48,  note. 

Waldenses,  testimonies  to  their  characters  and  mo- 
rals, by  Evervinus, 299, 300 ;  by  Bernard,  Claudius, 
and  Thuanus,  301;  persecution  of,  304,  314-319, 
579-586. 

Waldo,  Peter,  304 

Whately  quoted  on  uncertainty  of  the  apostolic 
succession,  49,  note. 

Wickliff,  his  birth,  life,  and  death,  377-383;  speci- 
men of"  his  translation  of  the  New  Testament, 
380;  his  bones  dug  up  and  burnt  by  the  papists 
44  years  after  his  death,  386. 

Wilfrid,  bishop  of  York,  appeals  with  success  to 
the  Pope,  139. 

William  the  Conqueror  appeals  to  the  Pope  to  li- 
cense his  invasion  of  England,  266;  pays  Peter- 
pence,  but  refuses  to  do  homage  to  pope  Gregory 
for  the  kingdom  of  England,  252;  arrests  Odo, 
bishop  of  Bayeux,  not  as  a  bishop,  but  as  an  earl, 
267. 

William  Rufus,  267. 

Worms,  Diet  of,  and  Luther's  noble  defence  before 
it,  465-468. 


Zillerthal,  exiles  of,  in  the  Tyrol,  612. 
Zwingle,  Ulric,  the  Swiss  reformer,  461. 


INDEX  OF  ENGRAVINGS. 


Paok. 

1.  Frontispiece.     Elevation  and  worship  of  the  wafer  at  Mass. 

2.  Emblematical  title-page. 

3,4.  Crowning  of  Nuns  and  anathema  against  false  Nuns,        ....  73 

.').  Way-side  shrine  of  the  Virgin.     Calabrian  minstrels  playing  in  her  honor,  83 

<;.  Worship  of  the  image  of  the  Virgin  in  a  church,        -----  83 

7.  Relics  carried  in  procession  to  a  church  to  be  consecrated,  -         -         -  95 

8.  The  Bishop  closing  up  the  Relics  in  the  Altar,  -         -         -         -         -  95 

9.  Praying  at  the  Tombs  of  the  Martyrs, 103 

10.  Sprinkling  and  blessing  of  horses  at  Rome  on  St.  Anthony's  day,         -         -  119 

11.  Different  forms  of  priestly  tonsure,  or  shaving  heads,          -  137 

12.  Consecration  of  an  Abbot  by  the  imposition  of  hands,        ...         -  137 

13.  St.  Peter's  Church,  with  the  Piazza,  Colonnade,  Obelisk,  and  Fountains,  -  170 
1 1.  Romish  ceremony  of  the  Baptism  of  Bells,          -         -         -         -         -      ,  -  209 

15.  Remains  of  Glastonbury  Abbey,  the  scene  of  St.  Dunstan's  miracles,          -  233 

16.  The  Emperor  Henry  IV.  doing  penance  at  the  gate  of  the  Pope's  palace,     -  245 

17.  Marking  the  foreheads  of  the  people  with  ashes  on  Ash-Wednesday,          -  257 
IS.  The  ceremony  of  Incensing  a  Cross,           -------  257 

19.  Two  kings  leading  the  Pope's  horse  at  the  castle  of  Toici,  in  France,           -  275 

20.  View  of  Lambeth  palace,  near  London, -         -  283 

21.  Doorway  in  the  Lollard's  tower,  an  apartment  of  the  palace.       ...  2S3 

22.  King  John  delivering  up  his  crown  to  Pandulph,  the  Pope's  legate,    -         -  289 
J3.  Emperor  Barbarossa  leading  the  Pope's  mule  through  St.  Mark's  square,      -  295 

24.  Count  Raimonds'  degrading  penance — whipped  around  the  monk's  tomb,     -  311 

25,  26,  27.  The  Scapular,  Rosary,  Consecrated  Wafer,  Standards  of  Inquisition,  &c.  327 

23.  Procession  of  Corpus  Christi  at  Rome.    Colosseum,  in  the  foreground,           -  339 

29.  Wickliff  rebuking  the  Mendicant  Friars, 38] 

30.  The  dead  body  of  a  Pope  lying  in  state,     -------  351 

31.  32.  Jerome's  contrast.    The  Master  and  the  Servant.     Christ  and  the  Pope,  393 

33.  Burning  of  John  Huss  at  Constance,           -------  405 

34.  Rome  and  St.  Peter's  from  the  bridge  of  St.  Angelo.     Accident  at  Jubilee,  421 

35.  The  Pope  as  a  warrior.     Pope  Julius  in  battle,  ------  431 

36.  The  Pope  as  a  God.     Adored  on  the  high  altar  of  St.  Peter's,     -         -         -  431 

37.  Tetzel  selling  indulgences, 411 

38.  Burning  of  Bibles  by  Romish  Priests  at  Champlain,  N.  Y.,         -         -         -  ill 

39.  40.  Auricular  Confession  in  a  church,  and  in  a  sick  chamber,      -         -         -  519 

41.  Ceremony  of  the  degradation  of  a  Priest,  previous  to  Martyrdom,        -         -  553 

42.  Burning  of  Latimer  and  Ridley  at  Oxford,           --.-..  ,->.">.'i 

43.  Cranmer's  renunciation  of  his  Recantation,  in  St.  Mary's  Church,  Oxford,  559 

44.  Martyrdom  of  Cranmer, — "  This  hand  hath  sinned,  this  hand  shall  suffer,"  55'J 

45.  Prison  of  the  Inquisition  at  Cordova,  in  Spain,  ------  535 

46.  Tortures  of  the  Inquisition.     Pulley,  and  roasting  the  feet,         -         -         -  571 

47.  Lady  after  torture  brought  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Holy  Office,         -         -  571 

48.  Procession  of  heretics  condemned  by  the  Inquisition  to  an  Auto  da  fe,          -  577 

49.  Cruelties  of  the  Popish  Piedmontcse  soldiery  to  the  Waldenses,          -         -  5S3 

50.  Children  forcibly  taken  from  their  parents  to  be  brought  up  as  Papists,        -  583 

51.  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's,  in  Paris,  in  1572, 591 

52.  Fac-simile  of  Papal  Medal  in  honor  of  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's,        -  593 


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